Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is set to become president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Monday at the group’s meeting in San Francisco. In her inaugural address, she is expected to invoke the death of Freddie Gray and riots that followed as she calls on mayors to advocate for cities ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Rawlings-Blake will propose a Baltimore Compact, which she will officially unveil when the National Conference of Mayors meets in Baltimore in September. The document will detail ways to address major issues in major cities, and identify priorities. It’s billed as a way to put issues facing cities front and center in the 2016 election.
We will use this document to ensure that Baltimore and other cities not only have a seat at the table, but that Baltimore and mayors drive the agenda,” SRB will say in her address.
Rawlings-Blake will say that the civil unrest in Baltimore “was the result of policies that failed communities for generations.”
“The tensions we saw, and the challenges we still face can be seen in other urban centers across the country,” she will say in her inaugural address. “As we continue the process of healing our city, I hope that Mayors across the country use this moment to begin attacking the systemic inequalities that their cities have faced for decades. I will continue this fight in Baltimore and together we can all be stronger.”
