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<\/figure>\nASHEVILLE – After months of anticipation,\u00a0the names have been revealed of the first\u00a0community members who will guide the historic reparations process, among them professors, educators, cultural institution leaders and the original architect of the city’s\u00a0historic initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The long-awaited roster of names was announced at the March 8 City Council meeting. The decision was delayed last month, and the final list still awaits the selection of the county representatives.<\/p>\n
Asheville City Council\u00a0appointed its selection of candidates for the\u00a0Community Reparations Commission, and also read the names of those chosen by city\u00a0legacy neighborhood groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of the 25-member commission, five candidates will be selected by the city, and five by the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.<\/p>\n
More:\u00a0<\/strong>Who applied for Asheville’s historic reparations commission? Council to select 5 members<\/a><\/p>\n\n The other 15 seats on the commission are reserved for representatives nominated by \u201cimpacted neighborhoods,\u201d including Burton Street, East End\/Valley Street, Shiloh, Southside, Stumptown, Heart of Chestnut and public housing communities.<\/p>\n These 15\u00a0selections were made with no oversight from the city, falling entirely to the neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among those selected by the neighborhoods\u00a0was Keith Young, the former city council member who wrote the city’s historic initiative and has criticized the process in the past<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I have many hopes of making the vision of real reparations a reality,” Young said in a statement to the Citizen Times following the announcement.<\/p>\n “Monetary recompense is a necessity and I’ve never said it wasn’t … also the voices of real stakeholders is paramount. You cannot have reparations for Black Asheville without Black Asheville.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The county commission intends to make its decisions on March 15, said county spokesperson Kassi Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city selected its representatives from a pool of 18 applicants, conducting four hours of 10-minute interviews on Feb. 15 before unanimously approving its five selections.\u00a0<\/p>\n Director of Equity and Inclusion Brenda Mills, who is the manager of the reparations process, said Feb. 22 that council members deliberated individually, and were tasked with ranking their preferred candidates and sending in selections.<\/p>\n These candidates, and the others named, will ultimately be responsible for developing\u00a0recommendations for what form of compensation Black residents should receive for historic wrongs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The announcement of names was followed by applause from council. After the vote, Mills said she was thrilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n “I do not regret anything,” Mills said of the process. “We took the time to really talk to the communities, the neighborhoods. There has been so much energy behind this \u2026 we\u2019ve got people who would have never thought they were leaders stepping up to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘At home again’:<\/strong> Vision plan for Asheville’s South Slope to pursue inclusivity, cohesion<\/a><\/p>\n Each candidate selected by City Council represents\u00a0one of the five impact focus areas identified in the council’s reparations resolution \u2014 criminal justice, economic development, education, health and wellness, and housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n Burton Street<\/strong><\/p>\n East End\/ Valley Street<\/strong><\/p>\n Heart of Chestnut<\/strong><\/p>\n Shiloh\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Southside<\/strong><\/p>\n Stumptown<\/strong><\/p>\n Public Housing Community in Asheville<\/strong><\/p>\n Alternates<\/strong><\/p>\n Previous coverage:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n After onboarding to an empty office in early November<\/a>, Mills\u00a0 has brought on three employees\u00a0\u2014 the first time the department has been fully-staffed since last June, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n City Council first identified equity and diversity as a key issue in early 2016 and a year later hired Kimberlee Archie, a higher education consultant from Charlotte, after a nationwide search, to lead the newly formed office.<\/p>\n Related:\u00a0<\/strong>Asheville Office of Equity & Inclusion finally hires staff, moves forward with reparations<\/a><\/p>\n But in August 2020, Archie quit the job, saying in a letter to City Manager Debra Campbell, that the “culture in Asheville is lacking accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n The office steadily lost employees until it was left\u00a0with no permanent staffers and former Assistant City Manager Richard White as interim director. After his departure, Mills stepped into the role.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, the department has brought on an outreach coordinator, training consultant and research and data analyst, with all three positions filled as of February.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city announced the fully staffed office in a March 7 release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Marcus Kirkman, of Sandford, was brought on Dec. 13 as\u00a0the training consultant, who Mills said will begin with internal training for city staff, and look at growing the roster of trainings that the city offers.\u00a0<\/p>\n A U.S. Navy veteran, according to the city release, Kirkman is “a proven leader, providing professional coaching, facilitation, and consulting services to individuals and organizations.”<\/p>\n Kirkman was joined on staff by Darian Blue, who worked previously in Greenville, South Carolina,\u00a0as the outreach coordinator. He will be responsible for reaching disenfranchised people in the community who are often overlooked in community engagement, Mills said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before coming to the city, Blue created R.I.S.E. Coaching and Leadership in South Carolina, according to the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alayna Schmidt, the analyst, began in the department in February, but has worked with the city since March 2019 in the Parks and Recreation Department as an education specialist and teen programs and internship manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n As well as a research and\u00a0data analyst, she is also listed as an equity and inclusion consultant.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to a city database, all three are making the same salary of\u00a0$53,748.<\/p>\n Bringing staff onboard was one of Mills’ two central priorities, she said previously<\/a> \u2014 the second being managing the city’s historic reparations process. The effort is aided by\u00a0Durham-based consultant\u00a0TEQuity, which was picked for a\u00a0$366,000 contract<\/a>\u00a0to manage the Community Reparations Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n Mills said the department received 22 applications that met the minimum\u00a0requirements for the outreach coordinator position, 51 for the training consultant and 14 for the analyst.\u00a0<\/p>\n The equity team will assist TEQuity as needed, said Mills, but\u00a0have their specific work and daily responsibilities, which include\u00a0working in the community and internally with staff to make equity and inclusion “a part of everything the City of Asheville does.”\u00a0<\/p>\n “A project manager for Reparations was needed to allow us to run our office and get daily tasks done,” Mills said in an emailed statement to the Citizen Times March 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the project manager for the commission, TEQuity will handle onboarding for each of the 25 commissioners and begin to assess next steps\u00a0\u2014 including holding a session on “legal risks” and reviewing how to assess short, medium and long term recommendations that will ultimately be\u00a0presented to the City Council.<\/p>\n The Community Reparations Commission members will contribute approximately 5 to10 hours per month, possibly up to 18 to 24 months.<\/p>\n Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/04\/PASH\/8affad44-5df7-4b47-bc34-c0d3543e5eac-ASH1Brd_03-02-2020_ACT_1_A004__2020_03_01_IMG_Keith_Young_1_1_LUQ9NIKV_L1473353916_IMG_Keith_Young_1_1_LUQ9NIKV.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
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Council-selected commissioners:<\/h2>\n
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Impacted neighborhood selections:<\/h2>\n
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DEI office now fully staffed\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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