October 11, 2022 | By Alysha Rashid and Tamika Turner
As state and local governments develop their communities and work to maximize the impact of trillions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the Infrastructure Improvement Act, community input is crucial.
At the start of 2020, few could predict just how different our lives would become in the years ahead. The pandemic exacerbated underlying issues across the nation, leaving many to wonder how they could have a positive impact in their communities during these uncertain times. From the very first issue, the Pandemic to Prosperity project has supported people and organizations looking to inform how the pandemic has impacted Americans and how federal resources are spent in their communities. We seek to bring together actionable data that helps individuals, communities, and governments make sense of rapidly changing conditions as they make policy choices and personal decisions.
But many people still don’t know much about the money available to their community, and how powerful data could be in highlighting the need for a range of support, including broadband access, affordable housing, and childcare. While we’ve done interviews on local TV and radio highlighting the findings, rather than relying solely on rapidly disappearing traditional media, we decided to go straight to the source.
We put the data directly into the hands of community leaders who can use it to inform their actions and decisions. Our team sends state-specific data visualizations in grab-and-go slide decks to community organizations and organizers, local and state governments, and nonprofits in the South’s burgeoning civic ecosystem. Our partners at the Southern Economic Advancement Project and Fair Count have presented our data to decision-making bodies and other activists through conferences, videos, and webinars. These efforts to inform government and communities with the data they need as they come together to make choices about how best to use the large ARP fund allocations have resulted in tangible changes and commitments, including:
Nashville, TN, plans to put $40.2 million of its ARP funds toward affordable housing.
Richmond, VA has agreed to invest $2 million in ARP funds in childcare, $32 million in affordable housing, and $78 million in community centers.
Cities like Haywood County, NC, and East Carroll Parish, LA are investing in internet infrastructure, bringing broadband and fiber optic internet to rural and marginalized communities.
The state of Alabama is providing $ 1 million in ARP funds to the town of Lowndesboro and $735,000 to the Lowndes County Water Authority for drinking water projects.
Beaufort County, SC has agreed to provide $250,000 of ARP funds to the Gullah Farmers Cooperative Association to support their efforts to bring agricultural equity to the market.
A remarkable number of people–from community organizers to members of local and state governments to nonprofits–have reached out to personally thank our team for the data we disseminate. We couldn’t do this without the important work you all do to support data projects like ours. We hope the actionable data we provide continues to support your community needs and helps your communities prosper.
Has Pandemic to Prosperity data helped in your work or your community? Let us know! We’d love to share your insights on how this data can best be used to create just and community-building policy.
Alysha Rashid, co-author, Pandemic to Prosperity and Pandemic to Prosperity: South
Tamika Turner, strategic communications, Pandemic to Prosperity and Pandemic to Prosperity: South
