Infrastructure Infrastructure is the skeletal support of communities and regions, and it requires effective, transparent government policies to guide its planning, spending, building, and maintenance. PolicyLink offers seven principles to guide infrastructure decision making to ensure that everyone—especially people of color and others in low-income communities—benefit equally from infrastructure investments.
Equity
and Infrastructure Policy for California
The project is providing working definitions of equity in infrastructure,
derived from promising practices from around the country. Our work is developing
a framework for improvements in public finance, transportation policy, and
regional development policy. Starting in California, this work is being
done in consultation with diverse statewide organizations and will ultimately
inform a major new study of the state's policy choices regarding growth
and public investment.
Equity
In School Construction: Leveraging Opportunities In California
In November 2002, California voters approved over $13 billion in school
bonds through Proposition 47. Of those funds, $11.4 billion was made available
for K-12 public school facilities. Another $10 billion bond for K-12 school
facilities passed on the March 2004 ballot. While these funds present
a
significant opportunity to address California's school facilities gap,
questions remain as to whether these resources will be distributed equitably,
and
how much they can solve the problems in communities with the greatest need,
most notably critically overcrowded schools in low-income communities.
This
project, done in conjunction with the Mexican American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, will analyze the first results of the distribution of
bond
funds and recommend any needed policy changes.