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In an effort to examine
her planned agenda for the African-American community, I
spoke about “policy and process” with Sandy Spang,
independent candidate for the Lucas County Board of
Commissioners in the November 6 general election.
This is the second and
final segment of our conversation.
Perryman:
Why are you running for county commissioner?
Spang:
I am running for county commissioner because it’s the
natural outgrowth of the work that I’ve done on city
council. My heart is broken for some of our most difficult
problems. I’m excited about the opportunities before us and
I want to do as much as I can to grow and bring opportunity
to Lucas County. I think that I will be able to do that in
the office of commissioner.
Perryman:
Please talk about the aspects of your agenda that might
resonate with the African-American community.
Spang:
So there are at least three areas that I think would have
direct resonance with the African-American community. The
first one is community health. As a community, we don’t
score well on any kind of health assessment, but to me, the
most important statistic is our African-American infant
mortality rate. We are losing 15-16 infants per 1,000 every
year before their first birthday. That would be a shameful
number for a third world country, but this is Lucas County
and unacceptable. Although we have had a lot of folks
working on it we haven’t really been able to move that
number. I would consider seeing that number move to be a
critical measure of my success as county commissioner
because I believe that addressing our community health
issues is absolutely at the core of our success as a
county.
Perryman:
Number two?
Spang:
The second area is workforce development. We know that
employers, companies are looking at our community and they
love the location of Toledo, but they aren’t always
satisfied with the potential workforce that we have. We need
to make sure that we are reaching everyone to provide
opportunities that they can enter the workforce. And you
know workforce development is about more than just having
the skills that an employer needs, it’s also about being in
a position where you’re ready to be successful in a job and
that can mean transportation, it can mean having adequate
childcare. In so many ways, these factors can determine
your success in employment. So working in that area is so
important to me.
Perryman:
And the third area that might resonate with the
African-American community?
Spang:
The third area is consistent also with the work that I’ve
done on city council, my interest in neighborhood economic
development. I have often said it’s not a neighborhood if
you can’t buy the goods and service as you need it. We know
that we have a lot of neighborhoods where goods and services
aren’t available, where there’s no longer employment located
within the neighborhood. When Jeep left there was so much
disinvestment in the Overland neighborhood but now we see
businesses returning because of recent reinvestment
efforts. So bringing economic development back in order to
sustain neighborhoods and I’ve long advocated for code
enforcement grants to repurpose old commercial buildings
thereby raising interest in those properties and to make
them viable again as businesses. Those three areas –
community health, workforce development and neighborhood
economic development - I think would make an impact, and
they’re areas that I have experience in and I’m ready to
work.
Perryman:
Let’s go back to your comments about the lack of county
effectiveness on the issue of infant mortality as well as
numerous health and other disparities, which negatively
impact African Americans. It is my contention that the lack
of successful outcomes is directly correlated with dealing
with African-American issues from a deficit rather than a
strengths basis. As you know, there are many, many strengths
in the African-American community. And I would also state,
unequivocally, that the second reason for local government’s
inability to solve social problems is its failure to include
people that have “proximity to the problem” in a decision
making capacity and at the table from the beginning of the
effort to develop solutions.
Spang:
Well, what you’re talking about is about building
relationships and drawing upon those relationships as you
try to find solutions to problems. And I’ll go back to that
same model. You do your research, but then you listen. You
go to people who have more knowledge than you do about an
area and you listen to them and learn from them, and
certainly we need all hands on deck to solve these problems
that have been thwarting us for many years. I agree with
you. The community has the strength to solve the problems
and they need to be given the opportunity and the resources
to make an impact.
Perryman:
So, as commissioner, what would you do to make sure that the
people with proximity to the problem are included to provide
context and fill color gaps missing in strategies to solve
these problems? Because who knows more about the problem
than those whom are most affected by it?
Spang:
I think that as an elected official you have a real ability
to bring people together to solve problems. So the idea
would be to convene those who are working on this problem
from different angles, try to bring about collaboration
because it’s about partnerships. When you’re talking about
an issue that affects families, you’ve got to bring in the
schools, you have to bring in the churches, you have look at
this from every aspect that touches the family, that can
make a difference in solving the problem. We need
schoolteachers, we need Sunday school teachers, we need
people. We need everybody that can play a role in
intervening in this problem to be present at the table.
Perryman:
Finally, what makes you unique and distances you from the
other candidates for commissioner?
Spang:
It’s the obvious, it’s that I’m the independent in the
race. I respect political parties. But the reality is, at
the national level, partisan politics is preventing any real
dialogue. Right now is an opportunity moment for Lucas
County. Despite the challenges that we face, loss of
population, loss of employment opportunities, community
health and workforce issues, despite that, we all can feel a
sense of momentum. There is investment happening. East
Toledo is seeing a metro park developed, 360 apartments
being built near that metro park and a $700 million
investment into the Cleveland-Cliffs Project. We’re seeing
downtown revitalized. We’re seeing investment from the
private sector that we haven’t seen in a long time. This is
an opportunity moment for Lucas County and I think as an
independent I am uniquely poised to work with everyone.
I think this is also a
moment where partisan politics at the local level right now
isn’t relevant. What’s relevant is to have someone in
office who cares deeply about our community, who can bring
people together, who will play that role of convener, listen
to everyone in our community, look for fresh solutions to
problems that have thwarted us for decades and help Lucas
County grow and bring opportunity to everyone, and I think
I’m uniquely positioned as an independent without partisan
concerns to do that.
Perryman:
Thank you very much for your time.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
Rev. Donald L. Perryman, D.Min.
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