Budget Equity Highlights

Purpose:

We acknowledge the hard work and strides our City workforce has made to begin addressing disparities - Equity Highlights serve as an opportunity for departments to showcase this aspect of their work. Wins at the department level are wins for the City and our residents, so whether it’s incremental progress or sweeping change, we’re intentionally carving out space in the Budget Cycle for departments to proactively communicate and celebrate such victories.

Function:

A look back at equity successes from the current fiscal year - meaning that for the current fiscal year, Equity Highlights will reflect funding from each department’s existing budget. Equity Highlights, to be included in EBR presentations and Budget Review Committee Presentations, will also capture suggested changes to a department’s existing Base Budget to enhance equity.

Instructions:

Any asset investment, policy, program, practice, service or other initiative that moves the needle toward equity could qualify as an Equity Highlight. Departments can select up to three examples of self-identified Equity Highlights to include in their budget request presentations. See below for both the slide template and an example slide sourced from Economic Development’s FY ‘23 budget presentation.

Template and Example (see page 39 for an expanded version):