For 21 years the Collaborative Center for Justice has said that budgets are moral documents. As the end of the fiscal year coincides with uprisings against police brutality, many people are scrutinizing the proportion of tax dollars used to fund policing compared to needs such as public health and addressing homelessness. See our letter below to Mayor Bronin and members of the Hartford City Council on the 2021 recommended Hartford city budget. We join our voices to national calls to redistribute funds from prisons and policing to agencies that directly support human flourishing, as we did in our statement in solidarity with protesters.
If you are a Hartford resident, it is not too late to contact members of the City Council via email to comment on the recommended budget.
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Dear Mayor Bronin,
We write from the Collaborative Center for Justice, a faith-based social justice advocacy organization in Hartford. We are sponsored by six Congregations of Women Religious across Connecticut. We are writing to urge you to reduce the FY-2021 budget for public safety expenditures and instead reallocate a significant portion of the funds to programs and services that will directly support human flourishing.
A budget is a moral document, as it reflects beliefs about what is valued. A city budget in which 8% is designated for police, but less than 1% is dedicated to each Health and Human Services and to Families, Children, Youth, and Recreation sends a message that many of the programs that increase resident well-being are not a priority. We urge your Administration to increase funding to these departments in order to increase the availability of critical supports such as early childhood programs, youth jobs programs, and supportive services to families and older adults.
It is striking to see that there is not a funding increase for Health and Human Services, which is the department charged with leading a citywide public health response to COVID-19. Per the state’s reporting, the death rate from the virus in Hartford County, 12 percent, is twice that of the national rate. Black and Brown communities have disproportionately suffered poor outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic, and continue to suffer from the spread of this virus. There remains an urgent need for additional testing capacity in communities of color in Hartford. We urge your Administration to move funds from policing to vital public health services to address the present crisis.
Respectfully,
Dwayne David Paul – Director & Hartford resident
Rachel Lea Scott – Associate Director
