$15K to help black firms damaged in protest

URA, Citizens Bank give aid to businesses

The Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority is contributing $10,000 to a fund to help African American-owned businesses damaged by violence that took place in Downtown after the death of George Floyd.

Its contribution came as URA board chairman Sam Williamson vowed that the agency would do more to “promote true economic equality in the city and to make up for the harm that the URA over the years has either caused or tolerated, directly or indirectly.”

“We’re the city’s economic development authority. We bear some direct responsibility for rooting out systemic racism both within our own organization and across our economy — not only because the actions of this organization for many years did help to reinforce and deepen this same oppressive system, but also simply because it’s the right thing to do, the only thing to do,” he said.

The URA is providing $10,000 to the Cocoapreneur Pittsburgh Black Business Relief Fund. Citizens Bank is adding another $5,000. The fund was established to provide money to African American businesses to make repairs, replace inventory and cover other expenses caused by damage during protests triggered by the death of Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

Organizers have said that the protests, which started peacefully, were hijacked by others with their own agendas.

URA board member R. Daniel Lavelle, a city councilman, had urged the authority to make the donation to the Cocoapreneur fund.

“Unfortunately, given our local economy, we know it is both harder for black businesses to become established as well as thrive. This also means it will be harder for them to recover from the damage done to their businesses,” he said in a statement.

“This is a small but truly meaningful donation that goes a long way toward us demonstrating our commitment to both support and grow the black business community.”

In his remarks at the start of the URA board meeting Thursday, Mr. Williamson said the authority planned an executive session afterward to start the discussion on “what the URA’s role can be and should be in dismantling systemic racism in the city’s economy.”

That could include ways to accelerate commitments to affordable housing and to neighborhood development, especially in African American communities at risk of displacement and gentrification, he said.

The URA also needs to find ways to increase rates of African American homeownership and to “make sure that developers do way more than simply make a good faith effort to hire black workers for their projects,” Mr. Williamson added.

“We’ve got to make sure that every investment we make is creating good jobs for every worker, but especially for black workers. We’ve got to find ways to improve access to capital for African American developers and businesses. We’ve got to focus intentionally on rebuilding and building out the black middle class in this city.”