By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Political writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Mayor Brandon M. Scott and other legislators across the city and state gathered in support of the new legislation, the Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households Grant Program (ENOUGH Act), SB482/HB694.
“As legislators, we get tens of hundreds of emails, sometimes tens of thousands of emails, that come into our inbox about resources needed for different families the violence that is erupting in our communities,” said Baltimore City Councilwoman Phylicia Porter (D-District 10) on Jan. 29. “The ENOUGH Act provides us with the political will, action to make meaningful changes. Not only within our policy but within our people that serve you all every single day.”
The ENOUGH Act aims to eliminate poverty in Maryland communities by putting state money into impoverished neighborhoods and building partnerships based on data. The bill requires the governor to allocate $15 million to fund the initiative’s first year.
“For most of our city’s history, as you all know, communities just like the one we’re in today in Brooklyn have been neglected, ignored, disinvested,” said Scott at L.I.F.E Church Ministries in Baltimore.
According to Moore, the median household income statewide is $98,000 but in Brooklyn, the median income is $35,000.
“We’ve always known that in order to fully tackle this effort of overcoming this historic disinvestment, we need to work together. We need to utilize every tool available to all of us, and we need to all share the same goal,” continued Scott. “I knew the moment that they declared victory for Governor Moore and his administration, that we finally have the type of partner in Annapolis, Md., that so many Baltimoreans have been waiting a lifetime for.”
Moore said what makes this bill unique is that it’s people-led.
“This legislation calls on community leaders to come together and create comprehensive plans on how to make their neighborhoods better,” said Moore. “Leaders in our communities will provide the vision, the state will provide the support and not the other way around.”
“The only way for a community to be able to participate in ENOUGH is if the leadership comes from them,” said Moore to reporters after the event. “They have to be the ones to submit the applications. They have to be the ones who initiate the partnerships.”
Moore said the state, through the Governor’s Office for Children, will assist interested community partners along the way.
“They don’t have to do this on their own,” said Moore.
Tashi Mcqueen is a Report For America corps member.