Key Practices for Advancing Racial Equity Frameworks in Municipal Bonds

Every year cities, towns and villages throughout the nation issue bonds to fund capital projects for  affordable housing, water, sewer, education, sidewalk repairs, economic development, and other areas. As municipalities strive to make progress in addressing issues of racial equity among residents they often find themselves looking for new ways to integrate racial equity into their current practices, including when they access the capital markets. Integrating a racial equity lens to municipal bond investments that fund infrastructure at scale can potentially serve as a powerful intervention for historically underserved groups—especially residents of low-income communities and racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods.