By Mayor Edward “Eddie” Sundquist
In case your municipality is like mine, infrastructure is a serious coverage focus—and for good motive. From the bodily to the digital, trendy and sustainable infrastructure is a core constructing block of a thriving group. It fuels financial growth, promotes progress and improves the standard of life for residents. And because of some thrilling federal initiatives, nice alternatives presently exist round infrastructure funding.
As we, as metropolis leaders, capitalize on these federal packages and alternatives, we must be factoring inclusion into our infrastructure endeavors. As a result of, to really succeed, advances in infrastructure have to be equitable and inclusive of all residents, together with these from traditionally underserved communities.
As Mayor of Jamestown, New York, I’m proud to be a champion of inclusive infrastructure initiatives. I imagine it’s crucial to develop a extra equitable and accessible metropolis for all Jamestown residents—and, specifically, these with disabilities. Why? As a result of 11.0% of adults between the ages of 18 and 64 have a incapacity, in line with the 2022 American Neighborhood Survey. Whether or not we’ve got or know somebody with a incapacity, or develop one later in life, it’s one thing that impacts all of us. Once we infuse common design and accessibility into all ranges of our infrastructure, we make life higher for everybody.
So, what precisely have we been doing in Jamestown to advance inclusive infrastructure? As one instance, we have been the primary metropolis within the state of New York to carry out a feasibility examine for a municipally-owned broadband community. We see pursuing this purpose as essential to addressing the digital divide and attracting funding in our metropolis. We’re going to make sure that the workforce that builds our city-owned fiber-optic infrastructure is inclusive of individuals with disabilities. In fact, the advantages of a municipal broadband community received’t simply impression our disabled residents. Inexpensive and accessible know-how will enhance employment alternatives for everybody and create devoted telehealth, training and emergency service channels.
On the workforce growth entrance, we partnered with the NLC/U.S. Division of Labor Good Jobs, Nice Cities Academy, which convened 30 businesses to give attention to inclusive jobs initiatives. By way of this and different efforts, we’re targeted on participating our communities as a way to prepare and put together individuals, together with these with disabilities, to be part of the brand new workforce that can improve our metropolis’s infrastructure. Our county can be engaged in quite a few partnerships and coaching labs geared toward encouraging extra individuals of coloration, girls, veterans and people with disabilities to pursue manufacturing jobs, entrepreneurship alternatives and extra.
We’re additionally making our metropolis extra bodily accessible. By way of our Downtown Revitalization Initiative, we upgraded pedestrian amenities by putting in new curb ramps and crosswalks, and new pedestrian alerts with countdown timers, which has helped create a very inclusive, year-round downtown for our residents, staff and guests. Additional, we redeveloped an thrilling arthouse on a premier waterfront location, which is offering an inclusive artist hub for disabled individuals and the group at massive.
Infusing fairness and incapacity inclusion into infrastructure initiatives isn’t arduous—it merely takes recognition and a dedication to addressing it on the outset of our initiatives. I imagine that, as metropolis leaders, we’re uniquely outfitted to make developments on this space as a result of we perceive funding nuances and may convey the correct stakeholders to the correct desk on the proper time. Ready for change to occur organically just isn’t an choice. So, I invite my fellow municipal leaders to “leap in” and make inclusion a core tenet of their infrastructure efforts.
Edward “Eddie” Sundquist is the Mayor of Jamestown, New York, and a member of NLC’s Board of Administrators, who was a current panelist on NLC’s webinar on inclusive infrastructure, an occasion hosted in collaboration with the U.S. Division of Labor’s State Alternate on Employment & Incapacity (SEED). To study extra about SEED and obtain steering on disability-inclusive policymaking, go to dol.gov/businesses/odep/state-policy.
