The action is proactive in ensuring that benefits are accessible to households and businesses throughout the community — particularly communities of color, low-income populations, and minority-owned and emerging small businesses.
Equity Objectives
Each action incorporates one or more of the following equity objectives, to ensure that all the proposed climate strategies directly address disparities faced by frontline communities. These objectives reflect key themes identified through community input, emphasizing reduced burdens, enhanced accessibility and engagement, community capacity-building, economic opportunities, and accountability.
The action has appropriate accountability mechanisms to ensure that communities of color or low-income populations will equitably benefit and not be disproportionately harmed. Examples can include planned report-backs to community, transparency in allocation of funds, and demonstrating alignment with community priorities and needs.
The action aligns with and supports existing communities of color and low-income population priorities; examples can include creating an opportunity to leverage resources to advance community priorities or building collaborative partnerships.
The action helps build frontline community capacity through funding, expanded knowledge base, or other resources.
The action supports communities of color, low-income populations, and minority-owned and emerging small businesses through workforce development, contracting opportunities, or the increased diversity of staff.
The action engages and empowers communities of color and low-income populations in a meaningful, authentic, and culturally appropriate manner (i.e., engaging community in planning stages, ensuring language access is resourced, etc.).
The action mitigates impacts or burdens (including costs), either directly or indirectly, to communities of color or low-income populations.
The action helps foster the building of effective, long-term relationships and trust between diverse communities and local government. These relationships can exist outside of a specific project or effort.
The action’s benefits are intentionally directed towards reducing historical or current disparities (i.e., supporting community-owned assets and prioritizing overburdened communities in that support).