Name as it appears on the ballot: DeDreana Freeman
Age: 43
Party affiliation: Democrat
Campaign website: DeDreanaFreeman.com
Occupation & employer: Non-profit Administrator, Durham Children’s Initiative (DCI)
Years lived in Durham: 14
1) Given the direction of Durham government, would you say things are on the right course? If not, for what specific changes will you advocate if elected?
Overall, we are headed in the right direction on exploring affordable housing options. We are also heading in the right direction on supporting youth in their career pipeline. The City staff has done a great job in developing protocols like our Equity and Inclusion questionnaire for vendors, contractors and suppliers. Our Equity and Inclusion Manager has continued to develop the internal tools and resources for accessing equity, while our Equitable Engagement team in Neighborhood Improvement Services has supported that work internally and externally in neighborhoods and the business community. I was truly impressed by the work of our Racial Equity Task Force and the recommendations they made. We have also been moving in the right direction with fare free transit during the pandemic. Keeping the farebox off the buses will be a challenge we need to tackle coming out of Covid. We have work to do as we continue to advance anti-racism and community Safety, and eliminate gun violence. We need to move forward with the recommendations from the Racial Equity Task Force. I look forward to the work of the Racial Equity Commission of the City and County.
2) Please identify the three most pressing issues you believe the city faces and how you believe the city should address them.
When I first ran for office, understanding intersectionality, I was focused on addressing social, economic and environmental justice. My priorities centered around working towards an equitable Durham, where everyone can safely live, work, and play. We still have more work to do. The issues confronting the City and County continue to be interrelated. From gun violence to housing to racism as a public health crisis, we have to tackle all of the issues in tandem while understanding how moving or removing resources or support will have an impact. One of the most pressing issues is wealth inequality and the decreasing opportunities to close the wealth gap in Durham. Second is the impact of racism on all of us as we saw with the racial unrest last year. Thirdly, the gun violence that has demanded action for over a decade is a problem. I am especially concerned as a mother about the safety and health of our children in our collective community. We have a very capable staff who are responsive to the requests of our council. If we can shift the priority towards developing transformational equity-building initiatives, like baby bonds and jobs guarantees fellowships for our youth, we can develop the jobs pipeline from elementary school to college or career in collaboration with our partners in business, non-profits, foundations and other governing entities. In reviewing the past three and a half years, I have focused on the truth, justice and accountability I can bring to the table. I am focused on the solutions beyond the policy, where people are centered as the experts on their own situation.
3) What in your record as a public official or other experience demonstrates your ability to be effective as a member of the city council and as an advocate for the issues that you believe are important?
I have a broad base of experience in grassroots community-led organizing including work within my neighborhood, the city, county and state. I also organize inside the Democratic Party and in my faith community, as I co-founded Episcopalians United Against Racism. My ability to work with all stakeholders from residents in the community to developers while serving on the Planning Commission demonstrates my effective collaborative and strong advocating ability for city priorities within the context of municipal leadership with equity, diversity and inclusion in mind. I have served in public office on the Council for almost four years, and I am seeking re-election. My work spans across every corner of Durham with partners including residents, business owners, artists, civic, community and faith leaders. I continue to serve locally, statewide and nationally on racial equity, workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure boards, committees and commissions. Ways I continue to demonstrate my leadership:
● Push to keep racial equity at the center of city conversations leading to the Equitable Engagement Blueprint, Racial Equity Task Force, hiring of a Racial Equity Manager within the newly developed Office of Equity & Inclusion;
● Push to add more transparency and inclusion in the Affordable Housing Bond with my “NO” vote on council (which lead to a detailed Forever Home Housing Bond Committee);
● Develop a streamlined a model to provide business supports embedded within the Office of Economic & Workforce Development, focusing on aligning resources for small businesses;
● Create opportunities and supports for businesses owned by Women and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) by improving supplier diversity, developing a grant/loan program to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;
● Implement policies that address environmental justice, including a cost share program to clean up local watersheds, voting to protect watersheds from over development, and engaging in community-rooted efforts to clean our waterways;
● Support a collaboration with Durham County to implement a Cure Violence Public Health Model with violence interrupters;
● Direct funding for infrastructure, including sewer/water line replacement and road resurfacing;
● Push for actual equity in participatory budgeting that centers neighborhood level initiatives and focus area plans; ● Base on my experience on the planning commission, I am one of the most outspoken members of council on flood mitigation, against density in sensitive waterways;
● In 2020, led the effort to submit and win a national competition to join Policy Link’s Counties & Cities for Fine and Fee Justice network, an initiative where selected jurisdictions work to develop and implement reforms to unjust fines and fees; and
● With the end of HB142, cities were able to adopt measures to protect the LGBTQ+ community. I fully supported the creation of Durham’s non-discrimination ordinance and also spearheaded the effort to include language that would prohibit discrimination based on hair texture and style.
4) What’s the best or most important thing the city council has done in the past year? Alternatively, name a decision you believe the council got wrong or an issue you believe the city should have handled differently. Please explain your answer.
Our staff and community worked hard to implement an Equitable Engagement plan, but we have not fully included equity in our work as a council. Three of my most controversial ‘NO’ votes are based on the lack of racial equity, cross-collaboration and/or ingenuity in addressing inequities. I voted ‘NO’ on Expanded Housing Choices because it left out the choice for some people and organizations. People who do not own property and local nonprofits working to provide affordable housing were not able to participate in the accessory dwelling unit development. We also had an opportunity to have more units of housing (quads and five-plexes) without the need for zoning review. I voted ‘NO’ on the council, but “Yes” on my ballot, for the affordable housing bond after building in transparency and actual measures. Initially, I didn’t believe the bond went far enough to address the housing needs of our public or private housing stock, and equity was NOT centered in our initial conversations (especially when it was associated with reparations). At the time of the council vote, there were not enough details spelled out for me to support the bond. The bond allocated $67 million of the $544 million that the Durham Housing Authority had made expressly clear would be needed to redevelop the sites around downtown. My “NO” vote led to more conversation and community input. I voted ‘NO’ on the Participatory Budgeting process knowing that the framework lacked equity, and I voted ‘YES’ on the funding when it passed. I intended to work to build in the equity in engagement, and to redirect the way funds were allocated and distributed. The publicly available North Carolina Central University Public Administration Department analyzed the Participatory Budgeting project and the report highlighted the lack of income and racial equity as I had pointed out in the beginning. We need to use data to drive decision-making for allocating funds to underserved communities rather than allocating equal amounts per ward. I am hopeful we will get the Equity and Infrastructure Bond done with equity in mind around communities often left out of projects.
5) The city has seen an uptick in gun homicides since 2018, including recent tragic deaths of children. Gun violence is obviously a multifaceted problem with no simple solution. But, in your view, what can or should the city be doing to stem the tide of violence that it isn’t doing now?
Increasing public safety will require an approach that addresses intervention and prevention. I believe we must continue to invest in alternative forms of policing while supporting police reform with accountability. Health and safety mean more than the police. We must also ensure that our youth have access to enrichment activities and that all residents have access to quality food, quality housing, and quality health care. We can set up a longtime resident equity fund out of our general fund, and developers can contribute voluntarily to the fund just as we see with zoning cases currently going to Durham Public Schools Foundation for students and the Affordable Housing Funds. Then, we can build on the citywide long term resident tax grant to keep long time residents of Durham in their homes.
6) Do you support transferring 15 positions from the Durham Police Department to the newly created Community Safety Department for its new pilot programs? How should the city further grow the Community Safety Department if the pilot programs are successful?
I will continue to have conversations with as many stakeholders as possible, including the police chief and community members, to decide the best course of action. Being inclusive and open about solutions means hearing from a variety of voices. The issue of policing is layered in history, racism and white supremacy. Our criminal justice system as a whole works as intended, which is to harm those that the system does not value. This is continually evidenced by racial profiling and discrimination leading to the death of too many black and brown people nationwide. In Durham, we continue to experience an uptick in gun violence. Addressing public safety requires a multifaceted approach that addresses intervention and prevention. I agree that we must continue to invest in alternative forms of policing, but we must do so with policing that keeps everyone safe and includes accountability. We can do both at the same time. The city’s staff and community health and safety taskforce will make recommendations on how to move forward. I anticipate this will include recommendations around the pilot programs. I look forward to supporting solutions that go beyond policing.
7) Given the influx of people and money Durham has seen in recent years, and recent plans for Google and Apple to open offices in the area, gentrification has become a major concern in East Durham but also in other neighborhoods close to downtown. In what ways can or should the city intervene?
As businesses continue to move into Durham, partnerships across sectors, including higher education, will be essential to building employment pathways for youth and adults. We must grow the economy by supporting existing businesses and increasing business ventures by aspiring local artists and entrepreneurs, particularly minority and women-owned enterprises. We must also create affordable commercial spaces and redevelop historically underserved communities of color without displacing long-time residents. Doing all of this will create opportunities for community wealth building.
● Use equity-driven strategies, like the Good Jobs First model, that ensure existing residents can stay in the community as neighborhood markets revive and distressed neighborhoods are stabilized
● Support nontraditional and traditional entrepreneurship for access to living-wage jobs, particularly small businesses with focus on the Fayetteville Corridor and areas throughout Durham
● Collaborate with DPS, Durham Tech, as well as community groups and organizations to provide career pathway support for youth and adults.
● Double youth apprenticeship opportunities
8) How should the city address housing for people who currently make less than the $15/hour minimum wage? How can the city ensure more people make the current living wage?
Although the city has no authority to mandate wages for private businesses, the city can ensure that the employees of the City of Durham are paid a minimum of $16.25/hr this fiscal year in light of the COVID pandemic. https://durhamnc.gov/3695/Livable-Wage-Rate-History The North Carolina General Assembly still has not raised the state’s minimum wage; however, legislation has been proposed and is currently under consideration around a $13 minimum wage. In the interim, we can make sure that our Rental Assistance programs actually get funding out to our residents before they are evicted. We can explore public/ private partnerships in incremental development. This could add tools in the toolbox throughout the city code with ordinances that include standardized language for cooperative housing, co-housing and other non-traditional housing models that take into account the lack of diversity in our new housing stock, mainly in materials used to build. The best way for us to reduce the growing wealth inequality in Durham is to build coalitions with organizations and businesses to create transformational equity-building strategies that can benefit everyone in our city.
9) What are the city’s most pressing transit needs? How should the city expand bus services to reach more riders?
With even more intense explosive population growth and the need to prevent Durham from contending with traffic like in Atlanta is the pressing transit need. I would support an above ground option like bus rapid transit or rail-based current technologies available to the future of transportation. With over 98% of our bus riders public transportation dependent we are behind the curve and have an opportunity to develop a pollution-free, affordable transportation fleet over the next three to five years. We have an opportunity to prepare and plan for better modes of transportation that enable cleaner stewardship of our environment, including a decrease in carbon emission with fewer single passenger vehicles on the road. This would include building in existing and planned workforce and economic development programs to train future workers that support development with small area planning. Most importantly, this would also include intentional programming to create a Durham public transportation system that works for everyone. With a commitment from City Council to increase transit service levels, Durham could build out its transportation system, creating a more equitable approach to support coordinated pipelines of bus rapid transit service that continues to offer fare free options to the tune of the four to five million dollars it would take to operate fare free for everyone. We have an opportunity to build in more recommendations from the Station Area Strategic Infrastructure (SASI) Study which include:
● Pedestrian access and circulation;
● Bicycle access and circulation;
● Vehicular access and circulation; ● Streetscape amenities; and
● Sewer and water capacity.
It is important that we find ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
10) How should the council improve transit infrastructure for cyclists, who aren’t protected from traffic by physical barriers and don’t always have options for coordinated bike lanes?
Aligning pedestrian and cyclist safety within our ‘Equity and Infrastructure’ bond referendum would make funding available to complete projects throughout the city that would make our roads more pedestrian friendly. The calls for resources and small area plans in Merrieck Moore and Bragtown to address the communities often missed in our plans for sidewalks, bus stops, repaving and other capital improvement or infrastructure projects. Additionally completing the biking network or Bike Boulevards on secondary roads near and around our trails and parks is important to the sustainability of our city. With current zoning cases the council continues to decrease multi-modal options for residents in developments on islands in the annexed county areas.
11) How do you think the city’s policy of Expanding Housing Choices will work to increase density in Durham’s urban core? Will the policy work to create more mixed-income communities? Should it work this way? What more could be done to add density or relieve pressures on home values?
Expanding Housing Choices will increase density, but it will do so at the expense of affordable housing. We are relying on property owners with existing capital or credit to build Accessory Dwelling Units and rent them at affordable rates. Before the text amendment was even done, realtors and some developers were preparing to take advantage of the change to their financial benefit. It would be great to provide funding for non-profits and low-income households to participate in the process through the equity fund I mentioned previously.
12) New census data shows that 19 percent of Durham’s Black residents live under the poverty line, while about 7 percent of whites and a third of Hispanic residents do. A 2020 Racial Equity Task Force report found growing wealth disparities between Black and white residents that were compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. How (if it all) do you think the city should use the report’s findings to make the city a more equitable one for all residents?
As I stated when I first ran for office in 2017, we need to address the issue of poverty holistically. There is implicit bias and systemic and institutional racism inherent in all of the disparities we see, including wealth inequities. We must prioritize access to jobs and capital for marginalized communities of color. As I mentioned, since serving on Council, I have pushed to keep equity at the center of city conversations. Among other things, I have created opportunities and support for businesses owned by women and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) by improving supplier diversity and championing a grant/loan program to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also led the development of a streamlined model to provide business support embedded within the Office of Economic & Workforce Development, focusing on aligning resources for small businesses. In my work with the Workforce Board, I connect youth and adults with opportunities, including adults who are justice involved. But there is more work to do. Durham City Council must be bold and radically transformational in our leadership to charge forward on this issue. In addition to the Racial Equity Task Force Report, we should also heed the recommendations laid out in the Black Wall Street of the South: From Reconstruction to the Pandemic report. In the report, the authors state that before the pandemic, “black business owners were disproportionately underrepresented as business owners in Durham.” The pandemic laid bare the many inequities that we continue to fight. We saw it in the businesses, largely non-minority, that received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. We saw it in the PPP funding gap between black-owned and other business owners (Camara, et. al, 2021). I remain committed to supporting economic policies that meet the needs of our city and create opportunities for economic mobility. Building equity into job creation and economic development will be critical to reaching shared prosperity. We must have members on the Durham City Council who will make this a priority. Here are a few things I would do to address the wealth gap:
● Work with businesses and institutions of higher education to develop partnerships across sectors, creating employment pathways for youth and adults.
● Continue to support existing businesses and support policies that will increase business ventures by aspiring local artists and entrepreneurs. ○ For example, advocating for the continuation of a Durham grant program, but operated through the Carolina Small Business Development Fund, to provide capital for historically underutilized businesses.
● Support creating affordable commercial spaces.
● Support policies that allow for the re-development of historically underserved communities of color without displacing long-time residents.
● Explore and support policy recommendations put forward in the Black Wall Street of the South report, as well as the Racial Equity Task Force report.
● Continue to explore and support recommendations put forward by the Wealth & Economy Subcommittee of the Racial Equity Taskforce.
13) The city council established a Durham Workers’ Rights Commission in 2019. What do you feel it has achieved so far? What should its role and focus be, and how should it achieve its goals? Has the city supported it adequately?
I believe the Workers Rights Commission was set up with the right intention but the wrong tools. We don’t need a commission to tell us how bad workers rights are in a right to work state, we need a reparations commission to study how reparations should be paid out so some of our workers could be entrepreneurs.
14) What is the city doing currently to ensure environmental sustainability in new construction? What more could it do?
Not enough – I have stressed how we could work to incorporate sustainable energy efficiencies, such as solar and green roofs, into our development conversations. I also think we are missing the mark by chasing affordable housing with more housing that sprawls over and into our sensitive land and waterways.
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