MEDFORD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn has laid out a roadmap to address racism and equity issues across the city.
Mayor Lungo-Koehn declared racism a public health crisis back in June, and she said the city has since laid out a framework to fight those issues on a local level.
“I was getting emails once a week or phone calls: what are we doing, what are we doing?" Lungo-Koehn told WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas. "And so what I was able to tell people is we're working on a document that will outline everything altogether, and we were able to do that.”
The 36-page report addresses problems people of color face in areas like housing, business development, interactions with police and more.
The city developed the plan with local police, the Medford Human Rights Commission, the Board of Health and other agencies. Mayor Lungo-Koehn said it outlines what has already been done to fight racism, and what still needs to be done.
"We are going to continue to work on it and make changes and its really driven by the community," she said. "We are doing a lot of listening, we are doing a lot of outreach.”
Mayor Lungo-Koehn said she recently held a zoom meeting where over 250 residents shared their personal experiences of systemic racism and inequity.
"Tell your story, tell your lived experiences if you are a person of color," Lungo-Koehn said. "Because it does help those in leadership navigate how to fix the problems.”
WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas (@JamesRojasWBZ) reports.
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(Photo: City of Medford Website)