“Inclusion is not bringing people into what already exists; it’s making a new space, a better space, for everyone.”
– George Dei, Scholar of Anti-Racism Education
Description
This POWER Play focuses on embedding sustainable and equitable practices in budgeting and procurement. It underscores the importance of transparent and fair resource allocation, along with procurement processes that are inclusive and represent diverse community needs.
Why it matters:
Equitable resource allocation is essential for effective policy-making and long-term sustainability. Policies focused on ensuring equitable resource distribution can promote inclusive economic growth, improved public infrastructure, social and environmental justice, and trust in governance. By ensuring that resources reach those who need them most, such policies can lead to significant improvements in overall community well-being, creating a more inclusive and resilient society.
How to do this:
- Explicitly identify and name the equity values. Establishing transparent criteria and goals for community needs to ensure that resource allocation prioritizes marginalized populations.
- Review this sample meeting agenda to see how to explicitly name leadership values before embarking on funding decisions.
- Once values have been named, develop a scoring rubric such as this one that can help systematically review funding proposals.
- Make budget allocation data and policy impacts accessible to the public to promote transparency and accountability.
- Develop allocation models that prioritize resources for communities with higher needs, using data-driven approaches to identify these needs.
- Develop a scoring and review process to allocate funding such as this one.
- Regularly update allocation models to reflect changing community demographics and needs.
- Learn how the Massachusetts Equity and Accountability Review panel did that here.
- Develop procurement policies that encourage participation from minority-owned, women-owned, and local businesses. Critically examine processes and requirements and aim to minimize bureaucracy and burden on applicants and vendors.
- Read more about the importance of intentional procurement and contracting practices at the state level and their implications here.
- Ensure that all contracting processes are transparent, with clear criteria and open bidding opportunities for diverse suppliers.
- See an environmental scan of procurements’ best practices here.
- Consider working with a fiscal intermediary as an efficient long-term strategy. To make this is a sustainable practice that promotes relationship and trust-building, there should be commitment to longer-term funding and specific requirements for the implementation of equitable practices (e.g. prioritizing lower-resourced organizations, etc.)
Example in practice:
In 2020, the MA Department of Public Health (MADPH) developed the MA COVID-19 Community Grants program to provide resources to community- and faith-based organizations (CBOs and FBOs). This was to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19 among communities of color in the communities hardest hit by the pandemic. Recognizing that existing procurement systems were not able to distribute funding quickly and to smaller, grassroots organizations, MDPH engaged Health Resources in Action (HRiA) to facilitate the awarding of grant funds through a rapid grantmaking approach and wide dissemination of the request for proposals. This public health emergency effort led to a commitment for sustainable funding and emphasizes the ability of an intermediary to implement equitable funding goals for organizations in priority settings and communities.
