Marshawn Wolley: Coalition’s Black agenda sees progress, continues on

A Black agenda has been unfolding in this city for the last couple of years. While we’ve learned a lot and made progress on the Black community’s objectives—there is still more work to do.

With many social and economic indicators going the wrong direction, Black leaders developed Black agendas that highlighted problems and focused on solutions. The decline of the Black community in Indianapolis portends negative consequences for not only the city, but also the region and potentially the state. The African American Coalition of Indianapolis’ Community Concerns and Recommendations document was a robust response to statistical decline and an attempt to stave off community-wide demoralization. It would lead to the city’s first mayoral debate on a Black agenda.

Originally, even Black politicians were nervous about a Black agenda. At least one asked if the AACI had engaged even 10% of the Black community in Indianapolis. A friendly observation that, as elected officials, there was a failure to meet that threshold silenced that concern.

Armed with data and a statistically significant survey sample of Black Indianapolis residents’ thoughts on a Black agenda and one-on-one interviews and focus groups with various segments of the Black community—ranging from single parents to students, returning residents, entrepreneurs and young and emerging leaders—elders in the community supported the resolve to continue.

Progress is hard, and we’ve learned a lot.

As part of the Black agenda, there were things the AACI and Black leaders committed to doing for ourselves, while other objectives required advocacy from government.