About Ron Harris, Chief Resilience Officer, Minneapolis, and Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, Managing Director, North America / Global Strategic Partnerships Lead, Global Resilient Cities Network
Ron Harris is the Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Minneapolis. His focus is on three main pillars: racial equity, economic inclusion, environmental justice. Prior to being appointed as CRO, Ron served as the Sr Advisor to the Minneapolis City Council President and worked in her office for two years, negotiating the passage of multiple citywide policies, including a mandated increase in the minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis. Ron is also a public speaker and political influencer, and has a passion for developing the next generation of leaders.
Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy is Managing Director, North America and Global Strategic Partnerships Lead for the Global Resilient Cities Network (GRCN), where his passion for equity and the environment meet the cutting edge of holistic urban resilience implementation. Stewart was part of the planning and design team that developed the original city challenge in 2013. Stewart also supports the resilience movement in indigenous, island and ocean spheres through work with organizations like NDN Fund, the Global Island Partnership, SMILO-Small Islands Organization and SeaAhead. Stewart is also a documentary photographer and storyteller, and advises for The Policy Academies and the Takoma Foundation.
No Equity, No Resilience: Minneapolis is All of Us
This article was originally published on September 8, 2020.
Update for April 20, 2021:
After the murder of George Floyd we wrote this article as a kind of blueprint, a beginning to a new way of working with equitable resilience in our cities and beyond. Now, as the trial of Derek Chauvin comes to a guilty verdict in Minneapolis and the whole country reflects on the legacy of that verdict, we have to remember another senseless murder – another young Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of law enforcement, just miles from the courthouse. Again, Minneapolis is all of us. We have protested, we have voted. We stood up, we spoke out, we have raged about the anti-Black racism. We have seen people come together, we can feel a shift in this country. But there is so much more to do. No equity, no resilience.
-Ron & Stewart