Boston City Council Holds Hearing on RISE Equity Ordinance, Working Session Set for 2025

BOSTON — December 2, 2024 — Boston City Council hears three hours of testimony on sweeping RISE equity ordinance, no vote taken. The Committee on Government Operations, chaired by Councillor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, convened virtually December 2 to take testimony on Docket 1200, the RISE — Reshaping Inequities Through Systematic Empowerment — ordinance sponsored by Councillors Brian Worrell, Julia M. Mejia, and Tanya Fernandez-Anderson. The proposal would embed equity analysis requirements into all city legislation, annual budgets, and departmental decision-making, and establish a permanent Council Committee on Equity within central staff. City Chief of Equity and Inclusion Mary Angelis Solis Cervera reported that roughly 90 staff from approximately 30 departments had completed the administration's new Equity and Inclusion Academy and were certified as E&I Ambassadors as of the day of the hearing. Kathy Abisa of Race Forward's Government Alliance on Race and Equity told councillors that more than 400 jurisdictions nationally have committed to similar systemic change, while Councillor John FitzGerald pressed the sponsors on cost and enforcement, warning the process could become "just a box we have to check." Councillor Coletta Zapata confirmed a working session will be scheduled in early 2025 before any vote is taken.