Celebrating Juneteenth, Cruz Cos. Recommits to Community Service and Stewardship

Boston – Cruz Companies, one of the country’s oldest and largest Blackowned construction and real estate enterprises, has announced its support and involvement in a range of regional initiatives and community activities on the occasion of Juneteenth.

Honoring the end of slavery in the United States and celebrating culture, history and pride for Black communities across the country, Cruz Companies is marking Juneteenth by adding to its legacy of core business initiatives that drive action and change by advancing diversity across the real estate and construction industries.

Cruz Companies also commemorates Juneteenth 2023 with an expanded commitment to heritage organizations and local advocacy groups, highlighting the tremendous contributions of Black-led organizations and enterprises.

“Juneteenth offers a meaningful and memorable occasion to reaffirm our beliefs about real estate development and construction for the advancement of housing, betterment of communities, and mentorship of tomorrow’s leaders,” said Justin Cruz, chief operating officer of Cruz the people in every community,” he added, including increasing affordable housing offerings, creating opportunity for area residents and other minority businesses, and making cities and towns more sustainable through economic development.

Through Cruz CARES (Community, Arts, Recreational and Educational Services), the Cruz Companies social responsibility arm, the organization has also elevated a range of new commitments for 2023 in honor of Juneteenth. They include sponsoring the annual Juneteenth Celebration at Franklin Park, also known as the Roxbury Homecoming, which has been celebrated since 1996. The June 17 open-air event draws thousands of residents and visitors for barbecue, music and dancing, and reminiscing about decades of history in Roxbury, the neighborhood often called “the heart of

Boston Signs onto CommonWealth Development Compact

Boston – Chief of Planning Arthur Jemison has signed onto the CommonWealth Development Compact on behalf of Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston, in partnership with other Massachusetts cities.

With the support and partnership of the Eastern Bank Foundation, three organizations – the Civic Action Project (CAP), the Boston Society for Architecture (BSA), and the Builders of Color Coalition (BCC) – have partnered to create the CommonWealth Development Compact, designed to build economic opportunity for minority and womenowned firms.

The commitments within the compact align with the current diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies advanced by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) for both public land dispositions and private development. The compact also commits the municipalities to “fostering a real estate development industry that assures ready access to the economic and social benefits of real estate development to all the people and businesses of the Commonwealth.”

“I am excited that the ongoing work of the BPDA will become the standard for this initial cohort of municipalities, and hope that it inspires other cities and towns to join this effort,” said Jemison.

“We look forward to working with our partner cities moving forward on how we can drive a greater impact toward economic advancement of historically underrepresented populations.”

Chief Jemison was joined by the mayors of Cambridge, Somerville, Salem, and Lynn in signing the compact. By signing onto this document, the City of Boston will participate in a pilot program of what will be known as the Commonwealth Development Model, which intends to collect data on the makeup of current and future development projects.

This will be an extension of the work that is ongoing at the BPDA. First announced in August of 2022, the agency instituted a new policy to promote diversity within large private development projects in the city of Boston. The BPDA’s policy requests that proponents disclose plans to include economic participation, employment, and management roles for

Black culture in Boston.”

Other area programs slated for Cruz CARES in 2023 include a resident Thanksgiving dinner at a Cruz property for seniors, the 41-unit Sarah Baker Manor Apartments, and distribution of holiday turkey and ham gift bags at two other affordable housing locations, the Wayne at Franklin Hill apartments and the Taurus Apartments.

“In all our work, we believe in contributing to better business ecosystems that break down the structural obstacles today’s Black business owners continue to face today,” said John B. Cruz III, CEO of Cruz Companies. “On Juneteenth, we take this occasion as an opportunity to reflect and to restate our enduring commitment to community-focused businesses, which allow for wealth creation for those enterprises as well as for the many people who work with them.” people of color, women, and certified minority- and women-owned businesses within their projects. Since August of 2022, the BPDA has received over 26 DEI Plan Disclosures.

In addition, beginning in 2018, all Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for the redevelopment of BPDA-owned land required respondents to outline a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plan. This measures the extent to which proposals plan to include significant economic participation and management roles by people of color, women, and M/WBEs in as many aspects of the project as possible.

In 2020, the BPDA began weighing this criterion at 25% for all RFPs. Since 2018, the BPDA has released at least 23 RFPs and designated 13 development projects.