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Community Board 2 executive committee launches equity working group, circulates solidarity letter
Summary
The Community Board 2 executive committee on June 16 created an equity working group and circulated a draft letter of solidarity and action on racial justice; co-chairs Mar Fitzgerald and Patricia Larry asked the executive committee to invite board members to affix their names when the letter is presented to the full board.
The Community Board 2 executive committee voted to form an equity working group and circulated a draft letter of solidarity addressing recent racial-justice protests and systemic inequities.
The letter, drafted by the working-group co-chairs, is intended as a statement from individual board members to the community and — pending executive feedback — will be offered under “new business” at the full board meeting on Thursday for members to “affix their name,” Chair Carter said.
Board members said the statement is timely and broadly supported, but debated specific language and the working-group name. Mar Fitzgerald and Patricia Larry, named as co-chairs, described the letter as an outreach to the community and a commitment to examine the board’s own policies.
“We wrote the statement to address what’s happening currently in our nation and in our world, because it’s a life or death situation for black and brown people,” Mar Fitzgerald said. Patricia Larry said, “We would love your support. It's an honor to be able to do this important and good work.”
Discussion at the executive committee focused on wording and scope. Several members urged stronger, explicit language naming racial inequities; some suggested adding or changing the working group title to “Racial Equity Working Group” to reflect the group’s emphasis. Others suggested small textual edits (for example, replacing slashes with commas for clarity) and debated a particular sentence that mentioned historical communities such as Little Africa and the Lenape.
Board members also discussed how names would be collected and published. The chairs said the letter would be shared with the entire board in advance of Thursday’s meeting and posted on the board’s website; board members would be asked whether they want their names listed under the statement.
The working group will be asked to refine the draft based on comments from the executive committee and to return a revised text for distribution to the full board. Carter said the executive committee will send the revised version to board members separately from the full meeting packet so members have time to review it before Thursday.
The working-group chairs requested volunteers and indicated that the group will examine both short-term steps and longer-term institutional changes, including internal board policies and outreach to the broader community.
