As a nation, state and community, we are at a crossroads and in a time of transition. Our nation’s history has seen transitions back and forth, to times of oppression and injustice. To guarantee movement forward, we need to anchor ourselves on ideals that elevate our moral center.
One of these worthy ideals comes from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. During his speech at the National Cathedral on March 31, 1968, he said: “We must overcome it because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it curves towards justice”. And from a more contemporary leader, Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama: “The opposite of poverty is not wealth. In many places, the opposite of poverty is justice. “
When considering the cornerstone on which to build a “more perfect union”, a moral center of “justice” seems appropriate. And there is no more critical time than now for people of goodwill and moral conscience to pool our collective capacities and do justice.
On August 28, 1963, Rev. King spoke at the Washington March for Jobs and Freedom and described a “fierce urgency for now”, reminding a divided nation that we need each other and that we are stronger when we march forward together. And the call for unity around justice includes economic equality.
This year will be the 58th anniversary of the march. Still, in South Carolina, people of color have a 25% poverty rate compared to 10% for white families.
If not now, when?
To address the “fierce urgency of now” and as a tangible and practical means of creating economic equity in all of our communities, we strongly urge the SC Legislature to provide an additional allocation of community development tax credits and to approve S.436.
Introduced in January, the project would allocate $ 2 million in tax credits for community development in 2021 and $ 3 million each year thereafter. The allocation of these tax credits would allow community development corporations and community development financial institutions to attract private capital to support essential services in their communities, such as affordable housing, financial advice and loan capital for small and minority businesses. It’s a public-private partnership that makes sense: the $ 1 million allocated in community development tax credits in 2019 generated $ 2.6 million in private investment and was set aside within 4 minutes of being made available.
Community development corporations and community development financial institutions have played a critical role in the recovery of COVID-19 since the advent of the pandemic. This was most recently exemplified by Charleston LDC, which provided much-needed relief to five small local businesses with funds from the CARES Act. The allocation of additional tax credits for community development would increase private investment in financial institutions for community development, such as Charleston LDC, giving them the power to continue providing relief in the form of accessible capital to marginalized members of the community. In the midst of a devastating pandemic, when providing affordable capital is one of the safest forms of justice and equity, now is the time to heed the call to do justice.
The SC Association for Community Economic Development is a coalition of more than 150 individuals and organizations that support the development of healthy and economically sustainable communities across South Carolina.
For the past 26 years, the coalition has focused on jobs that have a positive impact on the quality of life of low-income families and communities in our state. We hope you will join us in defending the passage of S.436.
Bernie Mazyck is president and CEO of the SC Association for Community Economic Development.