Can You Live on $15 an Hour?
“Dr. DeShawnda Williams Proposes Minimum Wage Increase to $20+
Vote for #7, Dr. Deshawnda Williams, and join the movement for a livable wage, better mental health access, education awareness, and environmental changes through economic development in our city!
#7 Dr. Deshawnda Williams is the change we need for our next City Council at Large, with her proposal to increase the minimum wage to $20+ per hour. Let’s make a difference together!”
As I sit down to write this column, I can’t help but feel excited to share with you all about my great friend, Dr. Deshawnda Williams, who is running for City Council at Large and whose unwavering compassion for the community has left a lasting impression on me.
Shelly Shell: What inspired you to run for City Council At-Large, and what do you hope to achieve if elected?
Dr. Deshawnda Williams: I am inspired to run for City Council At-Large because I have been a strong advocate for the least, the last, the lost and the left behind, and it’s time for them to be heard legislatively. If elected, it’s my hope to achieve creating legislation that will increase the quality of life for each Philadelphian. Restoring hope, healing, and trust again.
Shelly Shell: What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing your city, and how do you plan to address them if elected to City Council?
Dr. Deshawnda Williams: Lack of Safety for our residents, challenges within the school district, lack of funding for libraries, homelessness, mental health services, parks, and recreation, price gouging in certain neighborhoods, poor access to capital funding for small businesses, and lack of resources for those who have disabilities. If elected to City Council, I will strongly advocate for appropriate funding that will need to address each of these issues. The appropriate funding funneled in each of these areas mitigates the problems we now face astronomically. Bills put in place ensures that this is possible.
Shelly Shell: Can you explain how you plan to implement a minimum wage increase to $20+ in the city and what steps you’ll take to ensure that small businesses aren’t negatively impacted?
Dr. Deshawnda Williams: Bring awareness to the reality that $15.00 is not enough to live in Philadelphia. The cost of living and the economic conditions of Philadelphia is fragmented. Affordable housing is not affordable when it cost $100,000 to live in the poorest big city in America, which has a poverty rate of 23%. That doesn’t make sense. The steps I will take to ensure that small businesses aren’t negatively impacted is to advocate that with this upcoming fiscal year, each of these small businesses has access to increased capital funding. That they, too, get a piece of the pie and have the opportunities to gain access to economic development and growth without limitations and barriers.
Shelly Shell: Your platform includes a focus on improving mental health access, education awareness, and environmental changes through economic development. Can you provide specific examples of how you plan to achieve these goals?
Dr. Deshawnda Williams: Yes, most certainly, mental health access: I constantly hear that we don’t have enough resources or mental health provider agencies to help meet the needs of Philadelphians. That’s not true. The ratio of mental health providers to Philadelphians is 470:1. I am advocating for 2.7 billion dollars in funding to be allocated to providers to have the continuum of resources be provided across the entire city. We need funding for the recruitment and retention of employees. There are people who need mental health services right now who have been waiting more than two months to 2 years just to see a therapist. Homeless shelters like Project Home and Good Sheppard need adequate funding as they embrace a homeless population of individuals who have mental health and substance abuse challenges but not enough continued financial assistance to meet the needs of these people. We are in a public health crisis, and we need to ensure the safety and security of our city. Addressing mental health and gaining appropriate access to funding is one of the contributing factors that can lead to reducing the violence in our city.
Education awareness: 225,000 people in 2019 could not read or write in Philadelphia, and this number has doubled since then. We have a literacy epidemic, and it needs to be addressed. Martin Luther King Jr. High School is one of the largest high schools on the east coast and is the largest in the city out of the 65 schools listed as CTE (career and technical education). They currently have an entire wing/floor in their building that is CTE-ready but is not being used at all. Why? It’s my goal to bring awareness to Philadelphians and educate them of what’s “REALLY” happening, work collaboratively with the residents who want to see change, and bring solutions to these issues.
Environmental changes through economic development: When you change the environment, you change the behavior. Beautifying our neighborhoods brings jobs, and research has shown that it decreases violence. Revitalization and remodeling projects that target abandon buildings/houses can create jobs, decreases homelessness, and afford opportunities for small business to thrive in communities that are changing. This is what my platform stands on, and it’s my focus to legislatively make policies and resolutions to address these issues.
Shelly Shell: Your proposed environmental changes are also a key part of your platform. Can you explain how you plan to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and promote sustainable development, and what specific steps you’ll take to achieve these goals?
Dr. Deshawnda Williams: Imagine if we can create communities that are foot-oriented and green-friendly buildings. I propose that we put businesses and homes within proximity. Create a community where our daily needs are close at hand. I propose that we simultaneously look at going green when rehabbing/expanding the existing homes and storefronts in the neighborhood. Philadelphia is not hurting at all for properties. There are over 15,000 underutilized properties that could be renovated/rehabbed to provide sustainability for more people and businesses. I propose that we put bills and resolutions in place legislatively that cry out for the implementation of an eco-friendly community that consists of our parks, entertainment, asbestos/lead-free schools, grocery stores, libraries, rec centers, etc.
Why you?
For over twenty years, I have served as a clinical social worker, pastor, social activist, mental health therapist, and educator to the least, the last, the lost and left behind residents of Philadelphia. As a mental health therapist, I walked side by side with a single mother who lost not one son, not two sons but three sons to gun violence. As a clinical social worker, I sat beside a single father with tears in his eyes because felt less of a man and father because he couldn’t afford food on the table and a roof over his children’s heads because affordable housing is not affordable and minimum wage is just that minimal. As an educator, I fought for students who were being left behind in an education system that was not fair and equitable. I have experienced going from the playground to the burial grounds where I Funeralize 20 of my classmates who became victims of gun violence. I preached the sermon, sang the songs, and I prayed the prayers. For over two and half years, I have seen over 200 plus murders as I was a first responder to help co-victims of homicide realize that they will need the appropriate resources to help them cope for the rest of their lives. Why not me? I have lived experience. My own Godson was murdered, and gun downed in Kensington.
When civil unrest roamed the streets of our city in response to the George Floyd tragedy, I participated in leading more than 400 people to march down Board Street to pray, bring a voice of reason and understanding to individuals that there are other ways to share their voice and be heard without having to destroy our local businesses and community. I understand the importance of having someone in the City Council-At-Large that gets it. I have the skill sets and the ability to articulate the pain that Philadelphians experience to create those bills and legislation that will become law to help change the quality of life for every Philadelphian.