King Boston donates $1M to Twelfth Baptist Church
Baker pushes his plan for federal aid
Gov. Charlie Baker joined Boston’s Black leaders to celebrate a $1 million gift from the nonprofit King Boston to Twelfth Baptist Church, where he again plugged his plan to spend billions in federal coronavirus relief dollars.
“This initiative, symbolically important, but substantively so much more, has the potential to not only change the conversation but change the condition of the issues associated with equity, race and justice here in the commonwealth,” Baker said, speaking at the church on Monday morning.
Baker said the “windows are open, the door is ajar” for transformation spending to make substantive changes to address economic inequalities and the state’s widening wealth gap and to help communities of color who were hard-hit by the pandemic recover.
“We have a billion dollars currently pending before the Legislature to spend on housing and homeownership in communities of color that were hard hit by the pandemic. If there’s one thing we learned during this pandemic, it’s that housing insecurity is a public health issue,” the Republican governor said.
“We have significant opportunities right in front of us to do great work in this space if we reach out with each other, grab it and run with it.”
Last week Speaker of the House Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, said it is his “hope” that lawmakers would agree to where the ARPA money will be spent by Thanksgiving.
The Legislature seized control of about $4.8 billion of federal American Rescue Plan Act money in June, and the Baker administration has been increasing pressure on Beacon Hill politicians to dole the funds fast.
A proposal from Baker would allocate about $2.9 billion — more than half of what’s left from the coronavirus relief funds.
The King Boston gift will immediately be put to work to address inequities in the Black community and amplify the church’s work.
“This gift is important because it will help continue that work around food insecurity, the work that the Black church has always done. A place where folks have organized, a place where people have sought refuge from the storm,” Acting Mayor Kim Janey said.
“The storm, still with us as we know as COVID cases continue throughout our city and throughout our country and throughout the world, but we have more work to do.”
King Boston is a privately funded nonprofit created to honor the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King and of Coretta Scott King.
Its mission is to address economic and racial inequities through service work.
King Boston is also working to install a new sculpture in Boston Common commemorating Dr. King’s 1965 speech in downtown Boston.