We need to trust the locals

As the COVID-19 pandemic and police-brutality protests heat up metaphorically, we can’t forget that the earth is still heating up literally. Because of systemic racism, these crises are hitting communities of color especially hard. At the same time, these very communities are developing concrete, homegrown solutions. Too often, the money and decisionmaking power needed to address a crisis rest in faraway offices that deploy far-flung consultants and contractors to affected areas. It’s no surprise that these responses without community leadership tend to make matters worse. When communities have resources to build on local strengths and buy-in, they come up with effective, durable and creative solutions to address short-term crises and long-term inequities. For example: in 2018, when developers wanted to turn abandoned School 77 in Buffalo, N.Y., into luxury condos, members…