Members of the GAP Strategy Team had a productive and informative meeting Thursday, February 27th with Martin Moore, District 2 County Commissioner for Buncombe County. Here is a summary of what we discussed:

• We wondered how Buncombe County was navigating the shifted political environment with the new presidential administration, and in particular the potential for increased local activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Commissioner Moore said that the Commission has had at least one closed session to discuss how to protect both County employees and community members. While there is no apparent imminent threat, they are exploring various options to keep folks safe.
• We asked whether the County was planning to shift its data practices so that racial demographic data was being collected and analyzed for all of their programs and funded projects. He assured us that it was, but didn’t know what the timeline was for implementation. He promised to approach the County Equity and Human Rights Office with that question and get back to us.
• We asked how the Equity and Human Rights Office was participating in the County’s various “recovery” programs, and he assured us that County leadership was seeking equity input on all programs. We’d like more specific information on this process, and are hopeful that we will hear back from the Equity and Human Rights Office soon. (We asked them for a meeting last week, but so far haven’t received a reply.)
• Finally, we discussed the status of the reparations process. Commissioner Moore offered the suggestion that an independent lawyer or law professor be consulted by the Community Reparations Commission (CRC) about how to navigate the process from here, given the changing climate in the federal courts.