HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — High Point leaders are ready to address racial disparities in the city. This comes after a report from the One High Point Commission. It’s a plan for reparations through updated programs and infrastructure.
Councilman Michael Holmes, who served on the One High Point Commission, said the report being accepted with a vote of eight to one from council members is historic for the city of High Point.
It means more resources for people, and now it’s up to staff to start planning.
“This initiative has been a long time coming. High Point is in … a moment that will forever be etched in the archives of historical reference for High Point,” said Dr. Elma Hairston, High Point NAACP president.
The High Point NAACP initially proposed the idea of the One High Point Commission.
The commission worked for a year and a half to develop the final report recommending policies to address disparities based on research on the historic impact racial discrimination had on African Americans in the city.
“We wanted to look at the policies that allow people to maximize their own ability to be able to become entrepreneurs, to be able to then lay the groundwork for external investment, to come in, to regrow communities organically and through the through the abilities of the people that live there,” said Michael Holmes, High Point City Councilman for Ward 6.
The policy addresses housing, like supporting homeownership, education, economic opportunity, transportation, which mentions route expansion, and reviewing and revising municipal operations.
“There has to be some steps made, and it’s going to take community stakeholders, county governments, state and federal government to really pull through this entire initiative in its entirety for us to feel the essence of the full benefit of what has actually occurred,” Hairston said.
If the policies are applied, Councilman Holmes said people living in the 27260 zip code could potentially benefit the most.
“We wanted to make sure that if we are going to do a reversal of some of those negative policies that have caused these issues, we wanted to make sure that we address those systemic issues,” Holmes said.
Moving forward, staff will begin researching the feasibility of the plan, the potential impact and how much it will cost to implement it.
The One High Point Commission will now automatically dissolve in 90 days since it has submitted its final report to the city council.
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