AMHERST — Members of the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee are renewing their appeals for town officials to take concrete steps to promote racial equity for Black residents and to do more to confront structural racism in Amherst.
At a joint meeting with the Town Council Monday, members told councilors they are concerned that various recommendations from the Community Safety Working Group, issued nearly five years ago, have not been pursued or fully implemented, and that, despite the Town Council voting 10-0 last November to reiterate support for these objectives, that they aren’t being implemented quickly enough.
Among the areas of concern are no site yet being identified for a youth empowerment center or a Black, Indigenous and people of color cultural center, a Resident Oversight Board not yet set up for the police department, various policy reforms and reviews for police still being discussed, and insufficient support for the unarmed police alternative, the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service, or CRESS.
“We didn’t see any budget increases for any of the different departments or to establish a youth empowerment center or the multicultural center,” committee co-chairwoman Debora Ferreira said. “We’re eight months later and we’re still in virtually the same place.”
The Community Safety Working Group began its work in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, releasing its report in 2021. Since then, the CSSJC has been focused on promoting this work.
Ferreira said CRESS and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion department have both started, but neither has enough financial support from the town.
“We didn’t create CRESS to be underfunded, and understaffed and under-resourced and not be able to carry out its charge,” Ferreira said.
CRESS is handling far fewer emergency calls than the committee would like to see, said Allegra Clark, who also co-chairs the committee. Clark said just six calls were received by CRESS for emergency dispatchers in May, and 2% of all calls are the average each month since the dispatching began earlier in 2026.
“Negligible,” is how Clark described this.
Ferreira said this may be intentional to minimize its need.
“There’s been active resistance from the town, to impact and sabotage CRESS, which is the department BIPOC and marginalized people feel comfortable going to,” Ferreira said.
On the youth empowerment center, Clark said the town should make immediate plans to locate this at Wildwood School, which will no longer be needed for elementary school students in the fall, when the new Amethyst Brook School opens, and where the town’s Recreation Department is locating.
Clark said the center needs a physical space, not just programming, which has been offered on a regular basis by DEI, with teens being invited to various events at the Bangs Community Center and Town Hall.
With CRESS expected to flourish, the committee had expected to see the town reduce the number of police officers.
“What we have proposed is public safety,” said committee member Erica Piedade.
Piedade said money could be reallocated to meaningful programs like CRESS and DEI, as part of a broader approach about who gets protected and who feels included in Amherst.
Everald Henry, also a committee member, said Amherst needs to show it is a progressive and inclusive town. “Inaction is not the solutioon,” Henry said.
Councilors said they take the concerns seriously.
District 4 Councilor Jennifer Taub said she was dismayed to hear about the lack of dispatching and why such a slow rollout was occurring.
“I was really frankly stunned to hear those numbers, I thought dispatch was proceeding,” Taub said.
At Large Councilor Andy Churchill said he is concerned why CRESS hasn’t been funded for 4 p.m. to midnight, rather than in the daytime, when there would be more demand for service.
District 5 Councilor Sam MacLeod recalls the Amherst Boys Club when he was a child, led by watercolor artist Stephen Hamilton, and how the youth empowerment center could benefit children.
“I can’t think of anything to me that has a greater impact on the well being youth, outside of school and home, than a youth center of one form or another,” MacLeod said.
District 1 Counciolor Jill Brevik said she hopes the council will be more supportive and push for more than the existing slow and incremental progress, and hopes that councilors can begin reporting out to show the community they are stepping up the speed and mapping out what can be done.
“We know the things we can do, we know the tools we have at our disposal,” Brevik said.
