How City Leaders Are Using Public Finance for Racial Equity

Due to unprecedented federal investments through bills like the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), many city leaders started to center equity and racial equity in novel ways in their approach to federal aid, expenditure decisions, and public finance. Many cities and jurisdictions have also been using municipal bonds and other public finance tools to advance and accelerate equity outcomes. What’s unclear is: what practices and trends are emerging across the country? The Public Finance Initiative (PFI) and the National League of Cities led a series of discussions, the Mayor and City Leader Signature Co-Learning Series on Racial Equity, Infrastructure and Municipal Bonds, co-facilitated by Andrea Barefield, Council Member from Waco, Texas and Steve Patterson, NLC Second Vice President and Mayor of Athens, Ohio. Council Member Barefield and Mayor Patterson served as Co-Chairs of the NLC Race Equity and Leadership Council.