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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> because in every way, shape and fashion, she has supported and tried to bring this together and
<br /> expand it within the community but there are so many things that need to be done. Now I have
<br /> been in business in the City of South Bend for forty-two (42) years, so I know what business is. I
<br /> started out with IBM and I left there, and I was the one in the Redevelopment Commission for
<br /> almost ten(10)years. So, I understand the things that need to be done and we're trying to do them,
<br /> but it takes money to do it. And one (1) way to kill a program is cut the funds. And if Christina
<br /> puts together a budget, she knows what she needs. Now, I don't think people who don't know what
<br /> she needs should cut it. She probably needs to double what she asked for.
<br /> Pastor Michael Patton, 707 Sherman Avenue, stated, Good evening. I am the pastor at Kingdom
<br /> Life Christian Cathedral. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to come and share with each
<br /> of you the importance of supporting Christina Brooks and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. I
<br /> believe that we hired, first (iSt) off, the right person. I have been able to watch and sit down with
<br /> Christina over a course of time and as well to view some of the incentives and some of the
<br /> initiatives that she's been able to implement in our community based upon not having a budget for
<br /> one (1) to support really the initiatives that she's wanted to apply to our City to bring change. All
<br /> of us, certainly, as the Council is sitting here,have looked at the Prosperity Now report. You have
<br /> seen the challenges of that report, as well. And then I'm not sure in regard to the recent report that
<br /> has been created to give us some data about our City,but I'm looking forward to the results of that
<br /> so that I'm able to better understand how our City has been affected and as well what has been
<br /> happening over the course of time. But I believe in this Office and what it has the potential to do
<br /> for our City and bringing diversity and addressing economics, addressing entrepreneurship, and
<br /> addressing employment. We recognize that when we talk about disparities, generally that lies in
<br /> the African American or brown skinned communities and certainly that has to be a challenge to
<br /> each of you as it is to our community, as well. These are things that we have to make a priority.
<br /> And I believe that this Office has,as best that it could,made it a priority without the proper budget.
<br /> I would suggest and push that we certainly look at the budget that has been created. And I concur
<br /> with Pastor Blake that the budget probably needs to be doubled in order for her to efficiently and
<br /> effectively address what's in front of us. And so, I'm hopeful that our community can unify, and
<br /> we can work together, and we can support this effort in addressing diversity and inclusion in this
<br /> Office and in Christina's position. Thank you for your time.
<br /> Eli Cantu, 1813 Douglas Street, stated, Good evening. The thing I want to say is, like everybody's
<br /> been saying, I want to support the programs that Christina Brooks is bringing. However, I would
<br /> like to see a plan presented on how exactly it's going to cater to minorities, women and minorities.
<br /> So, like Blake said, for the past thirty (30) years, it has been a problem. So, every measure that
<br /> we've used so far, obviously hasn't worked. What are we going to do to be inclusive to businesses,
<br /> minority businesses especially? I remember taking a tour not too long ago with Aaron Perri. We
<br /> took a tour around the parks to see the work that's being done. One (1) of the parks that we toured
<br /> was Freemont Park and it's kind of funny because as soon as we were approaching, I was giving
<br /> them an example, I was telling them about how we should have hired more minorities for these
<br /> types of projects. He mentioned the concern about, well these are projects that are for the State,
<br /> for the City, everybody's benefiting from this and we've got to make sure we get reliable
<br /> contractors. As we turned the corner,there was a sewer with an angle, you know, when you make
<br /> sewers there has to be an angle for the water to go down to the sewer. So, as we hit the corner on
<br /> Fremont and Marquette, clearly it was just re-done, but the sewer was here and there was a big
<br /> puddle. It was built wrong is what I'm trying to get to. And these are businesses that we're, we are
<br /> trusting. So, we can take these risks with these well-established businesses, but can we not give
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 1574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 vvwva.southbendin.gov
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