You’ve probably heard the phrase “for the people, by the people” used by activists, community organizers, or social justice movements. Or maybe in other dialogues and conversations about community issues, politics, and policies. As an urban planner focused on embedded practices, the meaning of those six words has defined the way I practice inside and out of communities, especially in communities that look like me. Me, being a Black, openly gay woman, working in a profession founded (and still predominantly dictated) by white men for white people and white communities through policies and political willpower. This same profession created redlining, racist zoning policies, and urban renewal, or modern-day Jim Crow. The same policies that would eventually ravage the fabric of Black communities, neighborhoods, and the essence of what community development means to Black people.

I often define community as the root of development. Intentional development that gathers all, engages all, and builds with all involved. That is built within the community, led by the community, trusted by the community. All of it done internally within the community, in turn, creating essential services and needs for a community to thrive. At its core, the development of an actual communal governance determines what is built, how, where, and its purpose. Actual city planning long before it was called “city planning.” In a way, Black people developed communities led by their own sense of democracy aimed to provide the freedoms, rights, and representation of Black communities as a priority – not an afterthought. The same rights and freedoms that were not prioritized in the Constitution – created as the founding principles of what democracy would be in America. Freedoms and rights that were alleged as “power for the people” in having a voice in the way their lives are governed. Those same powers defined Black Americans as less than person. Three-fifths to be exact.

The foundational framework of democracy in the U.S. has been built on (and continues to thrive from) systemic racism, classism, dehumanizing of those considered less than, and pure fear mongering. All of these have fostered negative long-term impacts that many Black communities have yet to recover from. There are few Black towns, cities, neighborhoods, and communities in existence today because of the by-products of “selective democracy” perpetuating systemic racism through policy. As a result, there are not many of those Black communities left. There are no efforts for development or hope for development in those Black communities. Community development at the core reason of establishing Black communities as a space of refuge has been destroyed. There are no elements of a trusted community governance to guide us, protect us, or give us a sliver of hope. A polar opposite representation of what is modeled as the exemplary standard of a people powered democratic government. However, hope has not been lost – it simply needs genuine reviving.

I’d like to believe that my purpose in pursuing this profession was to play a role in that revival of hope. Belief in community development in Black communities that is rooted in embedded city planning. Belief that those early Black towns and settlements cultivated city planning that worked for us. Now, instead of using “for the people, by the people,” it’s FOR THE PEOPLE, WITH THE PEOPLE. Because without us, there is no community.

Desiree’ “Dee” Powell is an embedded urban planner focusing on projects driven towards economic mobility and community sustainability in Black communities. She is also the founder of the planning firm, Do Right By The Streets (DRBTS). Her inspiration in this space comes from the beauty of Black culture through music, activism, and Black migration.