Susana Alcala Wood, City Attorney Jorge Oseguera, City Auditor Mindy Cuppy, City Clerk Howard Chan, City Manager John Colville, City Treasurer
Racial Equity Committee Report
915 I Street, 1st Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org
File ID: 2022-00926 April 26, 2022 Discussion Item 02
Title: Interim Rapid Response Tool (IRRT) Update [Oral Report]
Location: Citywide
Recommendation: Provide an update on the implementation of the IRRT for American Rescue Plan Act programs and lessons learned from arts grant funding efforts.
Contact: Aimee Z. Barnes, City of Sacramento, Diversity and Equity Manager, (916) 808- 1174, [email protected]
, Office of Diversity and Equity
Presenter: Megan Van Voorhis, City of Sacramento, Cultural and Creative Economy Manager, (916) 808-5979, [email protected], Convention and Cultural Services
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: Since 2018, the City of Sacramento has been engaged in efforts to ensure a more equitable and inclusive City of Sacramento. In the Fall of 2021Council asked staff to develop an equity assessment for consideration in the deployment of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. At the October 2021 Racial Equity Ad Hoc Committee meeting staff provided an overview of the interim rapid response tool (IRRT) developed for this purpose. The following provides a summary of the IRRT. As requested by Co-Chair Vang, staff will provide an oral update on the deployment of the IRRT to ARPA projects/programs.
The IRRT was developed in the following context:
• As the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, we do not want to see old patterns play themselves out again.
• Historically marginalized communities are often left behind in crisis responses and as the result of decision making that isn’t rooted in equity. • The City is committed to racial equity, and now more than ever, equity must be everyone’s job, and be embedded decision making.
• We began to ACKNOWLEDGE, EXPLORE, LEARN, and BUILD our capacity in racial equity while balancing sense of urgency and community input.
The IRRT is used to facilitate consideration and build capacity to focus funding on racial equity.
This tool will be used to examine, how Black, Asian, Indigenous People of Color (BAIPOC) will be affected by a proposed action or decision of the City during the ARPA funding process in the following two ways:
1) funds that are not pre-determined or directed to a specific program/organization or explicit purpose (outcome-oriented actions)
2) funds that have been pre-determined or directed to a specific program/organization or explicit purpose. (impact-oriented actions)
Following are the equity analysis questions included in the IRRT:
• Pre - (Re) Clarifying the Purpose: What does the proposal seek to accomplish? Will it reduce disparities or discrimination?
• During – Examining the Causes: What factors may be producing and perpetuating racial inequities associated with this issue? How did the inequities arise? Are they expanding or narrowing? Does the proposal address root causes? If not, how could it? • Post – Identifying Success Indicators: What are the success indicators and progress benchmarks? How will impacts be documented and evaluated? How will the level, diversity and quality of ongoing stakeholder engagement be assessed?
Since October staff have been working internally and with external stakeholders to develop ARPA project scopes where funding was not specifically allocated to a particular program/project/organization. Part of these efforts have included the introduction of the IRRT and training sessions to build capacity and facilitate the use of the tool as part of the project implementation.
Sacramento Office of Arts and Culture
One example of a division deploying the IRRT in conjunction with its decision-making is the Sacramento Office of Arts and Culture. In June 2020, arising out of the previous work of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and a special race and cultural equity task force, The Sacramento Arts, Culture & Creative Economy Commission (Commission) formally adopted a race and cultural equity statement. The statement focuses the Commission’s work in three core areas: outreach and engagement, equity and access, and accountability.
In consideration of substantial forthcoming investments in individual artists through City ARPA funding and an NEA subgrant, the Office of Arts & Culture disaggregated its CARES Act investments in individual artists based upon race and several other demographic characteristics.
The analysis looked at application rates, success rates and investment rates based upon those characteristics in comparison with available local benchmarking data on the creative community and wider population. The data revealed areas where improved outreach is needed, where technical support may be needed for applicants, and how program design influences investment.
The exercise also revealed the changes that need to be made in data collection efforts with organizations and creative businesses to better facilitate future analysis. Because of the data collection practices used in the applications for CARES grants, it was difficult to disaggregate.
This has been corrected in more recent applications. Additionally, the most recent Cultural Arts Awards (CAA) grant review process – general fund/measure u supported – was amended to include diversity, equity, and inclusion as a criterion, with consideration to both representation and DEI practices. Other criteria were also adjusted to better reflect these priorities. In addition, a tiered funding process was used to ensure that award amounts reflected the performance of organizations relative to the criteria and a meaningful award was provided based upon organizational scale. It is notable that an intentional focus was placed on equity at every stage of the process, from evaluation rubric development (which involved community review) to application design, to panel selection, to funding formula.
Policy Considerations: Council has directed staff to include consideration of equity in future policy and budget decisions. Staff has developed the IRRT to be utilized to understand the impact of decisions related to the deployment of federal ARP resources.
Economic Impacts: None.
Environmental Considerations: This action does not constitute a “project” as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines.
Sustainability: Not applicable.
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable.
Rationale for Recommendation: This report provides an update on current efforts and has been provided for informational purposes.
Financial Considerations: None.