SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento leaders want more long term funding made for underserved communities.
The Black Child Legacy Campaign and local leaders held a news conference Friday to address their concerns after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and 5-year-old Ziyon Butler at Discovery Park.
“We die multiple times,” said Pastor Les Simmons of South Sacramento Christian Center. “We’ve seen the deaths in our community... from the impact of the virus [and] the lack of consistent support for economic recovery.”
The community leaders and activists said they’ve seen some investments such as community pop ups.
Sacramento allocated more than a million dollars toward them this year which was set to end at the end of June. It was in response to a handful of brawls at Arden Fair Mall in 2018.
However they say the money has been temporary and there needs to be something more long term.
“I think I get frustrated because I think we go over this over and over again and the needs are never met,” said Berry Accius of Voice of the Youth. “We try to cure cancer with putting a band-aid on it and it continues to be the cancer.”
They’re asking for Sacramento City Council to consider them on CARES Act funding.
“Invest CARES Act money for violence prevention and intervention,” said Gabby Trejo with Sacramento Area Congregations Together. “That is key because what the CARES Act money is for is to care for people.”
In addition to violence prevention, they want to see long term funding for mental health, job development, and immediate needs for families and neighborhoods.
“I fear if we continue on this route we will not have this discussion on this kind of level,” Accius said. “It will be a more unfortunate discussion because we’ll have more lives lost. We can prevent that. The question is what are we going to do about that?”
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WATCH MORE: The Black Child Legacy Campaign & local leaders speak out to address community needs | May 29, 2020
The Black Child Legacy Campaign held a press conference to address the needs of local Black and Brown individuals, families and neighborhoods.