PRESS STATEMENT: Los Angeles' Equitable Recovery Requires Targeted Allocation of Federal Funding
The LA County Board of Supervisors Must Center Equity as They Plan for $1.9B in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding.
Press Contacts: Katie Smith, Advancement Project California, Director of Communications, 323-997-2194
Ronald Simms Jr., Communications Manager, 202-270-0936
LOS ANGELES, CA – Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors scheduled a vote on a motion that creates an equity formula to guide the spending of Federal ARPA funding. The Board has already shown recognition of COVID-19’s disparate impacts on low-income and communities of color and taken action to address pandemic inequities. By creating and transparently using an equity formula to guide its spending, the Board can capitalize on this opportunity and continue to support the County’s most vulnerable residents.
Agenda Item 24, also known as Recovering Better Than Before: Ensuring Equitable Implementation of the American Rescue Plan, would create an equity formula to direct the county CEO and its Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion initiative to develop an equity index to support communities across Los Angeles in need of relief from the pandemic and its harmful economic impacts.
Beyond impacting the County’s health, the pandemic also devastated our economy. Many Angelenos have struggled to put food on the table or keep a roof over their head.
Residents and advocates know that spreading recovery resources evenly over this highly disparate landscape would be an inadequate and inequitable response to a pandemic whose toll fell most heavily on low-income communities of color.
“We strongly support this call for investment for poor and working-class families hit hardest by COVID. Developing a formula targeting resources toward the communities most deeply impacted will center the County’s commitment to equity. The effort to ensure equitable implementation of the American Rescue Plan funding lifts the people and communities that have borne the brunt of this pandemic,” said Aurea Montes-Rodriguez, Executive Vice President for Community Coalition.
“Today’s discussion at the LA County Board of Supervisors reflects the community’s call for bold and substantial reinvestment in our highest-needs families, young people, and communities as the County works toward addressing the deep seismic inequities and systemic inequalities laid bare by the pandemic. Our alliance looks forward to working with the Board and County leadership to ensure an equitable recovery for LA County. The time is now for a just recovery that uplifts those most impacted,” said Maria Brenes, Executive Director for InnerCity Struggle.
“A recovery for all starts with immediately centering equity,” said April Verrett, President for SEIU 2015. “Together with the Board of Supervisors and community partners, we must ensure a just recovery that puts our highest-need communities on a path to prosperity.”
Now, the Board of supervisors has another chance to further exhibit leadership by centering equity as they plan to allocate American Rescue Plan Act Funding (ARPA). ARPA-funded programs and services directed to these communities ensure equitable distribution across and within Supervisorial Districts and create much-needed transparency through public reporting.
Critical supports in high need zip codes must include:
- Food aid
- Rent relief
- Small business loans
- Shelter and reentry beds
- Internet-enabled devices
- And more (see our letter to the Board of Supervisors, here)
“The County Board of Supervisors can use ARPA funds to chart a new course for an equitable recovery,” said Jacky Guerrero, Director of Equity in Community Investments for Advancement Project California. “Los Angeles County will benefit significantly from the $1.9 billion in ARPA federal funding, and we must use those funds to concentrate significant resources in our most impacted communities.”
Decades of historic disinvestment and racially discriminatory policies left high-need communities vulnerable to the pandemic. Recovery for all of us starts with centering equity. We urge the County Board of Supervisors to support this groundbreaking measure by voting yes on Agenda Item 24.
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About Advancement Project California
Advancement Project California is a multi-racial, multi-generational racial justice organization with expertise in research, advocacy, and policy. We work with partners and communities to expand educational opportunities for California’s children, create healthy and safe neighborhoods, ensure communities of color have a voice in our democracy, strengthen movement-building, and shift public investments toward programs that benefit all Californians—not just the privileged few. For more information, visit advancementprojectca.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
About Community Coalition
For the past 30 years, Community Coalition has worked with residents of South LA to build leadership, launch action campaigns, and create a unified voice. By working to transform the social and economic conditions that foster inequity and inequality, CoCo aims to empower community members to influence and elevate public policy. For more information, please visit www.cocosouthla.org.
About InnerCity Struggle
InnerCity Struggle has worked with youth and community residents since 1994 to promote safe, healthy and non-violent communities in the Eastside. We organize youth and families in Boyle Heights, unincorporated East Los Angeles, El Sereno and Lincoln Heights to work together for social and educational justice. InnerCity Struggle provides positive after-school programs for students to become involved in supporting our schools to succeed. We have empowered students to reach their family’s dream of college. The work of InnerCity Struggle demonstrates that youth and parents working together are a powerful force for improving their communities and making real change. Visit www.innercitystruggle.org to learn more.
About SEIU 2015
SEIU Local 2015 is California’s Long Term Care workers organization that will unleash the collective power of long term care workers, their families, and their communities, harness the power of technology, and build a broad movement to disrupt the unjust status quo in order to bring lasting transformational change towards a more just society for all. For more information, please visit www.seiu2015.org.