The city of Upper Arlington is constantly striving to make the community a better, more inclusive and more welcoming place. This past spring, when the country came together to fight injustice following the killing of George Floyd, UA City Council decided it was time to take action.
Resolution No. 7-2020 was passed June 22 declaring racism a public health crisis. The resolution was passed unanimously with all seven city council members agreeing to address racism and discrimination and make the fight for equality a top priority for the community.
“Unfortunately, systemic racism is everywhere,” says Jared Nyhart, community affairs manager for Upper Arlington. “There’s not one community that is not affected by it. It takes a lot to acknowledge the problem, but once you acknowledge it, you can really start working to address it.”
So, what exactly does it mean to declare racism a public health crisis? The resolution references the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society, which recently stated that “structural racism is more harmful to the health and well-being of children than infectious disease including COVID-19.” The resolution takes a two-pronged approach.
“It comes down to two things,” Nyhart says. “The first is the acknowledgement that racism is a threat to the safety, health and quality of life for all of our residents. It’s everywhere. It’s important to acknowledge that in order to try to resolve the issue. Second, the resolution further proved the council and city leadership’s position on continuing efforts of making the community more welcoming and inclusive.”
City council president Kip Greenhill says that though the resolution is focused on race, city council hopes to make Upper Arlington a more welcoming community for everyone.
“The resolution is about race, but I would say our goal is much beyond race,” he says. “We want people who decide to move here or visit here, whether it be from Dublin or Grove City for example, to feel more welcome.”
The resolution wasn’t just a declaration, either. It also includes action items that ascertain the city will actively make progress to address diversity, equity and inclusion in the community.
“It was important not only to pass the resolution but make sure the resolution had a bite to it,” says Nyhart. “That’s why there are action items added to it. It’s more than declaring, it’s what are we going to do about it.”
One of the biggest action items is prioritizing the establishment of the Community Relations Committee (CRC). This committee, headed by resident Floyd Akins, was in a preliminary stage of development in 2019 and has now been meeting regularly since October of 2020.
In 2019, city council hosted workshops to develop the community relations committee.
“We’re in the infant stages right now of setting the tone for how we’re going to move forward in the future of the committee and the kinds of things we’re going to tackle,” says Akins. “We’re going to be looking at talking with community members about what they see as important items that we should be thinking about to include that is going to attract a more diverse community to Upper Arlington.”
UA is filled with residents who are passionate about making their community a more inclusive space to live and visit and that fact was illustrated by the sheer number of people who applied to be part of the CRC. For a committee originally meant to have only seven members, more than 40 people applied.
“What we were told at our first meeting is that the quality of applicants was so good that they went to nine members,” says Akins.
After a rigorous selection process, city council expanded the committee’s seven original spots to nine because of the number of high-caliber residents. These nine committee members represent many different demographics of the community, varying in age, race, ethnicity and gender among other identities. They come from different backgrounds and experiences, but committee members share a common goal.
“The one thing that they all have in common is that they’re all passionate about how to make this community a more inclusive place for all,” says Nyhart.
Upper Arlington is home to many organizations full of dedicated people outside of city council and the Community Relations Committee.
“Every civic organization within Upper Arlington is doing something towards (addressing racism), which is amazing to see,” says Nyhart. “It’s not just one group. There are going to be successes that come out of this because everyone’s working toward a common goal.”
These organizations include the UA City School District, the UA Historical Society, the UA Public Library and Equal UA.
“When I think about how the Community Relations Committee really started, I would have to credit the Equal UA organization really being the catalyst of why this committee exists,” says Akins. “Without them, I’m not sure this committee would be happening.”
Greenhill speaks to why it’s so important for communities like UA to take the time and energy to prioritize issues like racism and inequality.
“I think if we step back, nobody wants people to not feel welcomed and not to feel included,” he says. “So, what we’re hoping to do is to hold up a mirror and take a look. Are there some ways we can become even more welcoming?”
“We can always strive for better,” Nyhart adds. “This is a time when we need to listen and learn from minority communities and minority members of our own communities. That’s how we enhance our own community.”
Overall, the goal of the resolution and actions of city council isn’t to point a finger at shortcomings in the community, according to Greenhill.
“What we’re talking about is how can we become an even greater community,” he says.
Grandview Heights Public Library Dives In
Libraries across central Ohio have come together for the Let’s Talk About Race: One Book – One Community initiative to engage community members with race and racism through literature.
According to the One Book – One Community press release, the initiative “is designed to broaden and deepen the library’s focus on literacy and cultivate dialogue around race and social justice based upon a shared reading experience for the central Ohio community.”
Like Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights has deemed racism a public health issue. Both the Grandview Heights and UA public libraries took a big step in addressing that by joining in on the One Book – One Community initiative.
GHPL has been engaging with topics like social justice and race before the formation of this initiative with a focus on the history of Black settlements and lynchings in Ohio. Canaan Faulkner, public relations manager for the library, says it’s important for libraries to engage with communities on difficult topics.
“It’s what libraries do anyway,” he says. “The library tagline is, ‘Where the community connects.’ Libraries are always eager to share. It’s open access to everyone. We want to promote different perspectives, learn new things and have new experiences.”
So, what’s the initiative about? One Book – One Community is essentially a Columbus-wide book club. The book in question is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds.
The community read kicked off Nov. 9 but will continue through Jan. 24, when author Jason Reynolds will join the library communities for a virtual book talk and discussion.
Participating libraries have been hard at work getting extra copies of Stamped into library circulation to provide community members as much opportunity as possible to read the book.
“We want to spread the word that this is a community event,” Faulkner says. “It’s a great reason to come together and talk about an important issue that affects everybody.”
Sarah Robinson is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
