Strengthened support for equitable investments to advance a just recovery in California

A significant focus of our California-wide work in 2021 centered on moving public systems to increase investments in historically disinvested communities. With the influx of $43 billion in flexible state and local recovery funds via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and a historic State surplus, we developed the briefing paper Investing in Equity: Designing Public Funding Programs for a Just Recovery in California (in press), to identify strategies that local and state governments can take to “bake” equity into every stage of a public funding program—from design to implementation to oversight and evaluation. Along with representatives from The Raben Group, The California Budget & Policy Center, and Advancement Project CA, we participated in a webinar titled Leveraging the American Rescue Plan for Equity in California, where we outlined how ARPA could be used to resource BIPOC communities and grassroots CBOs to address longstanding inequities across key determinants of health, including access to affordable housing, parks and open space, and clean air. We also joined racial justice, housing, public health, and labor coalitions and co-led ENACT Statewide Advocacy Day to secure state-level tenant protections, invest in paid sick leave, establish new funding to pilot equity-focused solutions to community safety, and leverage more than $50 million in new cannabis tax funds to support local youth leadership for prevention and equity. A portion of this work was supported by The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, and the Blue Shield Foundation of California. NOTE: Prevention Institute relies only on unrestricted funds to support our limited grassroots and direct lobbying efforts.