Mayoral Candidates Share Their Innovation Platforms Ahead of Primaries at Tech Inclusivity Forum

By Alesia Bani

On May 9, nine candidates vying to hold the title of Philadelphia’s 100th mayor joined WURD Radio at the University City Science Center to discuss how Black Philadelphians will be included in the city’s growing technology and innovation ecosystem.

To set the tone, candidates were asked about their usage of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot that took the world by storm to assist people with tasks from composing emails to code. Across the board, no candidate has yet to utilize the platform, but despite not being self-described techies, they were all nonetheless prepared to share their tech and innovation platforms.

Candidates like Rebecca Rhynhart and Amen Brown spoke about their intentions to use technology to optimize city services. The former has plans to improve Philadelphia’s trash collection system while the latter plans to “bring the police department into the 21st century.”

In the last few years, the city has made tangible strides towards its goal of becoming a diverse tech hub and candidates had the opportunity to tell voters how they plan to drive this mission forward ranging from tech education in K-12 to minority business funding.

A question that garnered a variety of responses from candidates was how they will support Black businesses in accessing venture capital and funding. Allen Domb said he would look at the City’s pension fund to support Black businesses, Cherrelle Parker said she would support the Enterprise Center’s private equity fund, Jimmy DeLeon spoke of his plans to make Philadelphia the “center of Black initial public offering” and Jeff Brown pointed to creating grants focused on technical assistance and business advice.

“Patient capital is what Black and brown small businesses and those who are seeking to scale up and grow don’t have access to,” Parker said.

In the same vein, when asked how public/private partnerships can be used to employ Black tech workers, Helen Gym said she plans to embed tech fellowships in city service roles and break up large city contracting to hire Black businesses.