Policies and Programs for Inclusive and Equitable Recovery: A Guide for Local Leaders

The pandemic-induced recession disproportionately affected people of color because of historic and ongoing structural racism, causing deep racial disparities in access to wealth-building opportunities and upward mobility. This brief presents a three-part framework in which local leaders can consider policy and programmatic directions for an inclusive recovery: address policies and programs with harmful impacts, target supports and opportunities to historically excluded communities, and explore policies that can eliminate structural barriers. For each part of the framework, the brief provides examples of existing policies across U.S. cities and counties that show promise for promoting inclusion equity in economic recovery and potential for scaling.