Powers of the Allegheny County Executive: A community forum

The 2023 election of the Allegheny County Executive will be of critical importance to the well-being and equity of our communities.

You are invited to participate in an educational Zoom forum and community discussion on the powers and possibilities of the office of Allegheny County Executive.

All participants will be invited to share their questions for candidates and main priorities for constructive action by a new County Executive. Forum organizers will afterwards group these questions and priorities by issue and select a representative sample which will be presented to County Executive candidates to respond to at a second forum on March 9, from 6:30-8pm, to be co-moderated by Chris Potter, WESA Government and Accountability Editor.

Please register here to receive a Zoom link for the forums: https://bit.ly/ACEforums

The February 16th forum will begin with a presentation by Dr. Jamil Bey and Dr. Noble Maseru on the broad range of powers of the County Executive to shape local policy, funding, development, and appointments to boards, commissions, and authorities. Participants will then have an opportunity to learn more and to share their experiences of how the institutional powers of the County Executive have affected the well-being of their communities, their organizational missions, and/or areas of advocacy in the following breakout rooms:

• Environmental justice, health, clean air and water:

Co-facilitators: Environmental and health care justice activist and psychiatrist Dr. Claire Cohen, Breathe Project Director Matthew Mehalik, and Dr. Tina Ndoh, Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health.

• Development, housing, transit, and food sovereignty:

Co-facilitators: City of Bridges Stewardship and Engagement Manager Crystal Jennings, Casa San Jose Director Monica Ruiz, Pittsburghers for Public Transit Director Laura Chu Wiens, and former Pittsburgh Food Policy Council Director Dawn Plummer.

• Policing, justice systems, and incarceration:

Founder and CEO of the Alliance for Police Accountability Brandi Fisher, Director of Reimagine Reentry Richard Garland, Casa San Jose Organizer Laura Perkins, and Program Director of the Colorful Backgrounds Expo program Rev. Rod Tate.

All participants will be invited share their main questions for Allegheny County Executive candidates and their priorities for constructive action for whoever is elected. Forum organizers will group those priorities and questions by topic and will present a selection to County Executive candidates at a second forum on March 9th, from 6:30-8pm.

CO-SPONSORS: The Alliance for Police Accountability, the Breathe Project, Casa San Jose, the Hill District Consensus Group, the Human Rights City Alliance, Izaak Walton League, Just Harvest, the Pittsburgh Green New Deal, the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Pittsburgh United, Unite, UrbanKind, and Women for a Healthier Environment.