The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and its State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) represent an unprecedented response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative economic impacts. While this critical landmark legislation has been integral to the country’s COVID-19 response, it has also served as a tremendous opportunity for cities to foster long-term economic growth,while promoting equity within underserved and underrepresented communities.

This publication, “Promoting Equity through ARPA Implementation,” illustrates how select cities are using their SLFRF to address the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on low- and moderate-income people and communities of color with explicit attention to several core values:

• Leveraging federal aid to achieve equitable investment in underserved areas and to address systemic inequities;
• Integrating non-profits and the private sector meaningfully in the deployment of funds; and
• Pursuing the use of ARPA in tandem with a wider set of public finance, community investment, and social investment strategies that further address economic disparities among underserved and underrepresented residents and enable transformative investments in equity to have sustained continuity.

This report was produced in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.