Delaney Policy Group lobbies for Black businesses, organizations

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Daniel Delaney always had a strong desire to work on issues that he saw as important to the Black community.

However, he was not always able to make this his number one priority while working for 25 years as the legislative and policy director for the Department of Public Health.

“When I worked at the Department of Public Health, they talked about racial and ethnic health disparities a lot, but when you had the day-to-day business of what the Department of Health is paying attention to, health disparities were never their number one priority. And when there’s limited resources, you never get to your second, third priority. And so what I wanted to do was be in a position where I could advocate for issues facing my clients, to be the number one priority,” he said.

This passion to work directly and advocate for important issues for the benefit of the Black community is why he decided to create The Delaney Policy Group, a Boston Black-owned lobbying firm in 2012, which he runs with his wife, Andrea Delaney.

As a contract lobbying firm, the Delaneys help corporations, nonprofits and other organizations negotiate with the city, the state and the federal government either on policy issues or in trying to get public funds.

Daniel also shared their experiences as Black lobbyists, saying that they have a unique lens on how they are able to understand power and how they work with legislators or government officials.

“A lot of what we try to do is make sure that voices that aren’t normally heard or aren’t taken seriously are really heard, and for our Black clients, they’re able to speak for themselves, instead of being told what they should expect, and being grateful for whatever comes across,” he said.

“We’ve been, for the past 12 years now, serving a wide range of clients, really just trying to make sure that their voices are elevated and that their concerns are addressed in an impactful way,” he added.

Recently, the Delaneys shared that they have had success with the economic development bond bill that passed in the Legislature, where they were able to get authorizations for $4 million for their different clients to do capital improvement both in the city and for Boston’s communities of color.

“That wouldn’t have happened, I think, if they didn’t have someone at the table and engaged early,” Daniel said. “A lot of what I really enjoy, and I know my wife enjoys, about having our own business, is we can really pick the groups we want to work with and the priorities that we want to elevate,” he said.

Daniel believes in the importance of having Black lobbyists on the ground, especially at the local level.

“It’s a critical time now…with the impending change at the federal level, local and state politics are going to have a huge impact, because the things that are going to be distracting. Donald Trump and the people fighting in D.C. might not have to do with the day-to-day lives of people in Dorchester, Roxbury or Mattapan or across the state of Massachusetts,” he said.

“When we talk about education policy, violence prevention, or working with racial and ethnic health disparities, none of those things are going to be addressed meaningfully at the federal level, while they sort out what the impact is of a President Trump,” he said.

Looking ahead

Many people are nervous about what will happen in the future and it potentially providing an excuse for elected officials not to address many issues — due to having to deal with the Trump administration. For Daniel, the upcoming political events are what makes the Delaney Policy Group’s role even more important.

“So, if you have a concern about fair jobs and fair construction redevelopment in your neighborhood, we’re going to have,‘It’s important, but it’s going to have to wait until next year.’ What we know is that the big businesses and the firms that retain lobbyists on a regular basis—they have someone in the State House all the time to make sure that as the leaders are making a decision about what’s a priority and what’s not, they are in the conversation early. Our clients don’t have to wait until the budget debate in April to run around and ask for money, because we’re already having those conversations now,” he said.

“We’re already letting legislators and city officials know we anticipate, in this policy environment, that the city is going to need to reassess its priorities (and) as you reassess, you need to know that the issues our clients are addressing need to stay on the top of your importance list,” he said.

He said what often happens when it comes to politics and policy for communities of color and other smaller groups is that they will hear an announcement or see something in the press about the city no longer being able to fund something of importance to them and then will reach out to stop this.

“The importance of the role we play is that we stay in the policy conversation all the time—so we don’t have to react to changing narratives from the outside,” he said.

While the Delaneys are proud to be the only Minority Business Enterprise lobbying at the State House, Daniel says that he would like to see more Black and Latino lobbyists join them.

“I’d love to see another dozen Black and Latino lobbyists in the State House and in City Hall, making sure that when people talk about education policy or health policy, there’s someone around all the time who speaks for the communities that have been kind of overlooked and cut out for so long,” he said.

Besides their firm, the Delaneys have an online platform, blackonbeaconhill.com, where they talk about their experiences as Black lobbyists on Beacon Hill. 

The blog is authored by Andrea, whose latest post talks about her journey as a Black woman lobbying in Massachusetts. She talks more about this. 

“You’re a woman, you’re Black, and you’re a lobbyist, so (there are) challenges that come with that,”  she said. “But I think what’s great about us is the unique lens that we provide being Black lobbyists, and how we’re able to use that to position people to engage directly more with the legislators,” she said.

“My frustration is where you would have people go in, speak for the client, and not really get the voice of the client. It’ll get diluted. So we try to really emphasize and focus on what their mission is, and making sure it’s communicated (and) conveyed correctly,” she added.

Andrea encourages others to research the rich history of Black people and communities of color, who have always been present in Beacon Hill.

“One of our clients is the Museum of African American History. (It’s a) surprise (for) so many people that come up on the Hill and don’t realize that this is really important. Part of our history is right behind the State House on Beacon Hill on 46 Joy Street,” she said.

“The first Black settlement…they started in the North End, moved to Beacon Hill, and then to the neighborhoods. … So you had (Black) people living and working in the North End. … (They) moved, lived, worked, thrived on Beacon Hill. I’m really surprised, especially coming from Texas, of the amount of Bostonians that don’t know about them. It’s so important. It’s so easy during times like this for things like that to totally be erased from the history,” she added.