Event Recap: Achieving Equitable Economic Recovery

Note: This event was held before the national wave of protests calling for racial justice catalyzed by the unjustified police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Many of these topics were pressing at the time, but may seem far away now. 

What does it mean to bring equity to the center of our economic recovery? How do we best amplify the voices that are most impacted by the pandemic? These are the questions that we sought to discuss during our first-ever virtual panel discussion on last month. Partnering with Greater Greater Washington, we hosted a great set of experts to talk about these issues. Emiko Atherton from Smart Growth America, Maura Brophy from the Federal City Council, and GGWash's own Ron Thompson all brought a different perspective to the topic. 

Our key takeaways from the event are resoundingly clear: 

1. Public transportation is crucial to our economic recovery in general, and is doubly important in connecting low-income communities to their (oftentimes essential) jobs. 

2. The D.C. region is unique in positive and negative ways. The array of different regional stakeholders can create a chaotic environment, but also forces us to focus on ways to build resilience. 

3. The trend of open streets is an important case study in a few ways. First, we are seeing advocates and local governments reevaluate their own public space at a rapid pace. Second, these efforts are inspiring some mayors to permanently make those streets open. Most importantly, we aren't seeing enough consideration given to who actually needs open streets - poorer, less dense communities may not benefit at all from banning cars near grocery stores and other essential retail businesses.