Lubbock Compact publishes new disparity report on issues beyond ‘Old Lubbock’

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Lubbock Compact organization came about in the wake of a 47-page plea to change the way the Hub City is growing and save “Old Lubbock.” Now, just three months later, a new document doubled in size is detailing more issues the organization hopes it and other citizens can address.

“There are things that people want to be addressed soon and we’re doing our best to address them,” Caleb Randall, the coordinator of this Lubbock Disparity Report Version 2. “They’re just such large issues that we really need to spend our time to go into the complicated nature. We’re really the first organization that’s gone through this process.”

Over those three months, Randall said the objective went from “sprucing up” the first report to gathering around 20 people to contribute to a report going beyond the way Lubbock growth and development is concentrated.

“As you read through the report, you can see the kind of inequities that are that are occurring, particularly the disinvestment that’s happening in East and North Lubbock and the inaccessibility of Southwest Lubbock for people of color,” Randall said.

But, Version 2 of the report includes the topics of homelessness, substance use disorders and religion. Randall said there are more topics to get to and this is just the beginning.

“Some of these issues cannot be researched in three months,” Randall said. “I’m gonna say the unfortunate truth is the disparity in Lubbock has gone back since its conception. To really get into the issues there, it takes quite a bit of time, quite a bit of research, quite a bit of writing to do. We’re planning on introducing some new sections such as climate and environmental justice.”

Lubbock Compact concedes it can’t address the issues it’s researching alone and hopes citizens and organizations can use its information to take action.

“The ultimate goal is to kind of wake the Lubbock population so that they kind of understand what’s happening in their city,” Randall said. “Hopefully they can be a little more educated to how to change that.”

For more information on Lubbock Compact and its reports, click here.

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