Dear Mayor Barrett, Alderpersons, and other City Department Leadership,

National media and politicians are using fear mongering to spend American Rescue Plan Act to increase the police budget with President Biden saying, “Cities experiencing an increase in gun violence were able to use the American Rescue Plan dollars to hire police officers needed for community policing and to pay their overtime." Spending on police overall, and in Milwaukee experiencing the highest increases in violence, has steadily increased or remained the same over that period in time investments in meeting community needs and violence prevention have declined. Milwaukee already spends $300 million on police every year. Spending more on police will not reduce violence. Instead we MUST be investing in participatory budgeting, public health, and cooperative housing if we want to begin to see a decline in violence in Milwaukee.

The city has received the first half of $394 million as part American Recovery Plan Act, which should be spent on investments in our communities, not cops.

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, write on behalf of our communities in Milwaukee and demand that Milwaukee spends the American Recovery Plan Act monies in this way:

1. Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) gets $0 in funding. MPD already receives over $295 million and also received $9.8 million in CARES Act funding. During the city budget process last year, people overwhelmingly supported defunding the police and investing in other community-related needs.

2. None of these funds will be spent until there is a clear community-led process created.

3. Create a participatory budgeting trust that will allow residents from each Aldermanic District to have decision-making power on how this large influx of money should be spent. Through this participatory process, residents would propose a project that they would like to see, and residents would vote. This would ensure communities would have real decision-making power on what their neighborhoods need. There are over 650 examples of participatory budgeting in the United States, including in Seattle, New York City, Chicago, and Durham.

4. Provide housing assistance that includes rent and mortgage cancellation or deferment, long-term eviction moratoriums to address the looming and devastating eviction and foreclosure crisis, and permanent, quality accessible housing for all including all unhoused people.

As individuals, organizations, and community members committed to an equitable and safe Milwaukee, we strongly support residents having real decision-making power in how Milwaukee spends the American Recovery Plan Act funds.

Sincerely,

Devin Anderson, Coalition and Membership Manager, African American Roundtable