New resources: Transforming our economy and public investments to support health and racial justice

The economy and investments we need center community health & racial justice
What replaces a carbon-based economy? How do we "bake in" health equity and racial justice to public funding programs? And how do we ensure that the passage of historic bills marks a turning point toward equity, and not the end of a debate?

We are pleased to share three new resources that explore opportunities and solutions to boldly transform how we invest in community health, safety, and wellbeing.

Our latest blog, The economy we need centers community health & racial justice, offers our vision for a community health-based economy that is sustainable for people, communities, and the planet.
“Systems of oppression, exploitation, and extraction—from the fossil fuel industry to the prison industrial complex—reinforce and feed off each other and fuel an economy that profits from misery and trauma. However, the types of policies and investments at the heart of a community health-based economy are similarly interconnected and self-reinforcing.” 
The blog describes the principles at the heart of a community health-based economy, including prioritizing racially just solutions and centering human and economic dignity through non-exploitative practices. Following these principles are examples of policies and investments that bring a community health-based economy to life. The piece concludes with an analysis of actions needed to scale such an economy, including an increased flow of resources—philanthropic and governmental—to community organizations and leaders.
Read the blog
Our new report, Investing in Equity: Designing and Implementing Public Funding Programs for a Just Recovery in California, offers a framework, a set of strategies, and a checklist to center equity in each phase of public funding programs, from design to implementation to oversight.

Experience shows us that equitable public investing doesn’t work without intentionality. Collectively we must take proactive steps to ensure that public investments close gaps between racial and ethnic groups, and wealthy and lower-wealth communities.

While the report focuses on California, policy makers, government administrators, and community stakeholders across locales and states can adapt and implement these recommendations whether developing funding programs, building a measure from the ground up, or influencing established funding programs as they move through their phases.
Read the report
Faced with a tremendous opportunity to leverage the influx of federal dollars to state and local jurisdictions, we must do more collectively to keep the attention and public discourse focused on how these investments are implemented to advance community priorities.

In U.S. Infrastructure Bill Marks The Beginning Of A Journey, Not The End Of A Debate, a new blog co-authored with Western Center on Law and Poverty, authors Manal J. Aboelata and Crystal D. Crawford reflect on the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and what this once-in-a-generation public investment could mean for ensuring the human right to live in a healthy neighborhood.

Aboelata and Crawford note how past measures show us that investing in the status quo can reinforce “winners” and “losers” and that equity is an outcome as well as a vision. To realize equity, principles of fairness and justice grounded in data and action should run through the everyday work of individuals, organizations, and governments.  
Read the blog

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