Scott Stanford:

Hi, everybody. And welcome to The Infrastructors, the premier podcast for engaging conversation with influential thought leaders in AI, tech, government policy, and smart city innovation. Today's guest is the President of the Philadelphia Urban League, Andrea Custis.

Andrea, listen, before we get into the crux of the conversation, what was your background before coming into the Urban League?

Andrea Custis:

Thank you for asking. I worked for Verizon Communications for 32 years. And if you could see me, you're supposed to say, "Oh my gosh. You look like a baby. You don't look like you were."

Scott Stanford:

I was going to say you sound like you're 23 years old.

Andrea Custis:

I know. I loved what I did. When I was there, I worked in the area of sales and marketing and HR and operations. And prior to coming, I was the President and COO of Verizon Avenue, my department that I headed up. We provided bundled communication services to multi-dwelling units and multi-tenant units. And I was also the group president of sales and marketing for advanced services. And what does that mean? That was all of the internet business. So I had the pleasure of working there for 32 years and I skipped to work every day.

Scott Stanford:

The Philadelphia Urban League -- tell us just a little bit about the Urban League and its mission.

Andrea Custis:

So, the Urban League of Philadelphia is a 105-year-old civil rights organization. Our mission is basically two things, it is social justice and economic empowerment, and we do that through five direct services, education, workforce, housing, entrepreneurship, and health equity.

Scott Stanford:

Okay, and as part of its mission, I know the Urban League's been helping to lead this national conversation about better ways to police our cities and communities. Can you tell me a little bit more about that national conversation?

Andrea Custis:

Yes. We started working on this several years ago under our National President and CEO, Marc Morial. He was the former mayor of New Orleans, two term mayor, I might say. And we have always been looking at “How do we do a better job with policing? How do we do a better job with criminal justice, the system?” And so, we produced a 21-pillar piece that really redefined public safety and how to restore community trust, and so it involves about five areas. One of the areas is, how do we help communities re-envision what public safety looks like? Accountability, changing, divisive policing policies, and then really requiring transparency when it comes to reporting and data collection and then improving standards and training for police officers.

Scott Stanford:

When you talk about that re-envisioning of public safety in that equitable way, I know that the Philadelphia City Council recently pushed for more cameras on Philadelphia's 57 worst blocks where gunfire happens. And among the other tactics, city council members and police officials, they're looking at the street cameras and other technology to help address Philly's gun violence crisis. Well, give me your thoughts on the technology and helping to improve safety and protect some of Philly's most dangerous streets.

Andrea Custis:

I'm so glad you asked that. And if I may, I'd like to use George Floyd's killing as an example of that. I am one hundred percent supportive of body cameras. I know it costs money, but we have to figure out how to put body cameras in the budget for all police officers. And the reason why is we had someone who was able to record what happened. If we didn't have that, and I'm not a Debbie Downer, but I would say we might be arguing today on who did what to whom. When you have a body camera, it stops the nonsense. It absolutely records the facts. So, I am a big proponent of body cameras, as much as I don't want to be Snoop Doggy Dogg all in someone's personal space.

We need those cameras in those high risk areas, because again, it is a deterrent and it absolutely will collect the true data about what occurred. So I am supportive of both of those. It is just so unacceptable to me, the families continue to live in fear for their lives because of this gun violence epidemic. So I do think we need to use technology to help and assist us in identifying those individuals who do bad things.

Scott Stanford:

And we recently had a conversation about minor traffic violations leading to this violence. You don't need to do anything more than check your newsfeed every day to see how certain police stops are ending very badly. And again, they happen due to minor traffic violations, like a lapsed tag or mismatched plates, inspection stickers, no insurance. Is it fair to say, in your opinion, that if all these minor infractions were reduced to sending a notice to a citizen's mailbox via technology, this new way of thinking about using a contactless police process is something that would support the Urban League's police reform goals?

Andrea Custis:

I think there is an opportunity to do that. I think that it deserves more conversation. I look at it similar to what we called pillar two, when we talked about broken window policing. In other words, for those crimes that are low level offenses, do we want to spend all our time with our police officer's precious time on those issues? They are important. Nobody wants anybody to break a window. Nobody wants anybody intoxicated. Nobody wants loitering around, but are those as important as what we're talking about in terms of shootings and homicides and we have X number of police officers? So, if we could figure out a way to take some of these low-level crimes and be able to use our officers for more serious crimes, I think there's an opportunity for a conversation and opportunity for a solution there.

Scott Stanford:

And it seems like the technology, it adds to the police force. Philadelphia has basically led the nation in addressing the overuse of police stops by passing the Driving Equality Act. Yet, it already has come under attack by opponents who cite safety concerns. Should non-compliant vehicles be off limits for police stops? In other words, if you drive within city limits only, you might never need to get your tags renewed. So frankly, there are unintended consequences to some aspects of the legislation like the Driving Equality Act. But what are your thoughts on that? Because I had read earlier that Driving Equality Act cut down on about 300,000 stops and, again, lets the police officers focus on bigger issues.

Andrea Custis:

And I think the data shows that those offenses that they believe are happening, sometimes they are not happening. And yet, you can have situations that can explode. I think there's an opportunity there to use technology to make a difference. I think there is an opportunity for some improvement in that area. And if I'm not mistaken, I'm not sure whether it was Councilwoman Bass, I think it was, in the Germantown or Mount area that is also doing a trial on that to see if there is a significant difference in not stopping for some of those offenses. I'll have to follow-up as I haven't seen the results of what she's been doing. But I think she's been doing that for several months.

Scott Stanford:

And do you feel that if this does work out in a positive light, that other cities will start to follow Philadelphia's lead on this?

Andrea Custis:

Here's what I do believe, I love the benchmark. I like to see if somebody else is doing something where there's significant improvement. So, I think if we do something like this, I think there will be other major cities, especially where there's high crime, gun violence, and so on and violence in general would absolutely look at that data and see what it really says and see if there is a lot of good in doing that. So, I think there would be a lot of cities that would look at that. When you think of a Baltimore, when you think of a Chicago, when you think of a New York, there are other areas that would take a look at our data.

Scott Stanford:

Absolutely. And listen, just to switch it over, but staying on technology for a second, Philadelphia like New York, LA, Chicago, they have their poor metropolitan areas. How do you think technology between Twitter and email and things like that is helping bridge and connect the less fortunate with their lawmakers and policymakers in their areas?

Andrea Custis:

So, I think there's pluses and deltas in this. What I get scared of is social media that I feel is not based on actual data. And we've seen a lot of that when it comes to voting and people who misuse a profile of someone and we've had a lot of problems with that in voting. But what I do appreciate is the social media that absolutely shows you what is happening and there's no denial on what you see. And if you look at it, especially our young people, they have absolutely used social media to tell the story and to make sure that the truth comes out. I think there is goodness. And I think sometimes there is a little bit of badness in it. So I think there's a balance. I don't think it's a one solution story here, but I think there’s again, opportunity to make improvements.

Scott Stanford:

And Andrea, before you go, is there a way that the Urban League, at time, acts like an activist group to facilitate policy change in the local government?

Andrea Custis:

Oh, we do that all the time. We do that up at the state in terms of Harrisburg, we do it here in city council, testifying. We do it through op-eds. We do it through conversations. We do it through Zoom. I feel like I'm very active with a partnership with Marc in Washington DC on the congressional side, as well as on the Senate side. So if you remember what I said in the beginning, I said two things, social justice. And so, when you say social justice, that means speaking up, speaking out, advocating, and I'm going to use the word fighting every day. I feel like I'm fighting for African Americans and black and brown people and others who don't have a voice. That's what I do.

And I will continue to fight every day for policy change. I've said this to the young people that came out and protested. I was out there every day. I'm all about protesting, but take the protest to the poll because how you see change is through policy. How you see change is who you vote for and the people that represent your values, your issues, and who are on top of it. So, we need to take our vote and understand the value and the power of that vote and make sure we have the right people in those legislative positions. We are non-partisan. So, I tell people, we will help you do your homework and understand what your issues are and where the different candidates are on things that are important to you.

Scott Stanford:

Absolutely. Andrea Custis, President of the Philadelphia Urban League. Andrea, thank you so much for taking a little time with us and the best to you. The Urban League is doing some great things and thanks again for spending a little time with us.

Andrea Custis:

Thank you for having me.

Scott Stanford:

That's all the time we have today here on The Infrastructors. Join us next time for our conversation with Chief Innovation Officer of SEPTA, Emily Yates.