Rising Tide: A Community Bill of Rights

Decades have passed since neighborhood organizations in Hartford made city leaders nervous. At one time, these once legendary community organizations took over city council meetings, worked to bring better housing conditions to city renters, and held sway over local elections. Now Hartford Areas Rally Together (HART), Asylum Hill Organizing Project (AHOP), and ONE/CHANE are long gone or husks of their former self. These once vital groups used classic, Alinsky-style neighborhood organizing to keep City Hall and other Hartford powerbrokers in check. Today we see groups like HART simply cashing checks written by powerbrokers. Community organizing that has been dormant for too long in our city. Now, a new group is rising and working to fill the void.

The John C. Clark School in Hartford’s north end has been the site of many skirmishes in recent months over the direction of school reform in the city. But from these battles a new community organization and coalition of residents and neighborhood leaders has emerged. The group, called Hartford Rising!, has grown into a multi-issue community group that just this past weekend established a Community Bill of Rights to “ensure and protect each and every Hartford citizen’s most basic needs.”

Beginning with a city-wide canvas, Hartford Rising! worked to identify key areas of concern for city residents. With nearly 3,000 doors knocked on, the group was able to

identify the following categories: Education, Housing, Jobs, Safe, Sustainable, and Clean City, and finally, Healthcare. On Saturday, over 60 leaders gathered at the Carriage House Theater to finalize the language in the Community Bill of Rights.

The day began with a panel featuring People for Change veteran Louise Simmons, neighborhood leader Wildaliz Bermudez, and Hartford Rising! leader and organizer Shonta Browdy. Simmons provided a historical perspective on the victories and struggles of the People for Change movement in Hartford in the ‘90s. Bermudez and Browdy spoke to the potential and need for Hartford Rising!. As Bermudez explained to the crowd, “the momentum is on our side.”

The group then broke into small groups to tweek and finalize the language of the Community Bill of Rights. Below is the complete text of the document. This document exists as principles of unity for all those who want to see change in the city of Hartford.

COMMUNITY BILL OF RIGHTS

Hartford Rising! is a coalition of Hartford residents, community and labor groups, local clergy, small business owners and leaders that have come together to strengthen the ties between Hartford’s individual communities and address our city’s most concerning needs. We believe as

Nelson Mandela did that: “Poverty is not an accident.  Like slavery and Apartheid it is man-made, and can be removed.”

Below are the tenets of our citywide “Community Bill of Rights,” a legal document for Hartford residents that will serve to ensure and protect each and every Hartford citizen’s most basic needs.

Education:
Every child in Hartford has the right to a quality, fully resourced and funded public education in their own neighborhood and/or community that they do not have to apply for.

Housing:
All Hartford neighborhoods must have clean, fair and affordable housing, free from hazards (e.g. lead, asbestos, etc.). There must be no discrimination of any kind.

Jobs:
Every working-age resident has a right to a family-supporting job with benefits and retirement options. No Hartford resident should be denied employment based on protected group status (e.g. race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, or ex-offender status).

Safe, Sustainable, and Clean City:
All who live in, work in or visit Hartford have the right to a safe, sustainable, and clean city that all can be proud of.

Healthcare:
Every Hartford resident has a right to affordable, quality, and accessible healthcare for themselves and their families, including access to healthy, nutritional food.