On this day in National Infrastructure Week, we are thrilled to reach a critical milestone in our collective work to advance infrastructure justice. As a result of tireless efforts from infrastructure equity and justice advocates across the nation, the White
House released a technical assistance guide to support communities across the nation to navigate, access, and deploy vital resources. To assist communities in accessing nongovernmental resources quickly and equitably, advocates from sectors spanning from labor and organizing nonprofits to philanthropy mobilized to meet this once-in-a-generation opportunity.
We are honored to be a part of this mobilization as a member of the newly-formed Communities First Infrastructure Alliance. The Infrastructure Alliance is working with technical assistance providers, frontline communities, and government leaders to build just, equitable, and more resilient communities, using the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds.
The Infrastructure Alliance is in good company in this pivotal moment alongside philanthropic organizations including Bloomberg Philanthropies, Emerson Collective, Ford Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation, as they launch the Local Infrastructure Hub, a national program to ensure that all US cities and towns can access federal infrastructure funding to drive local recovery, improve communities, and deliver results for residents.
PolicyLink and our partners have been hard at work crafting key insights regarding this moment that we’re thrilled to share with you on this crucial week for infrastructure justice.
In our society, the decisions that those in power make about our infrastructure spending are quite literally matters of life and death for communities across the country. Building the infrastructure we deserve means that none of our communities are expendable, and everyone has access to these basic human rights so they can truly thrive. Jerry Maldonado, Vice President of Programs at PolicyLink discusses the opportunity to repair the harms of the past and transform our future by bending the arc of development toward justice.
Building for the All: Infrastructure Standards and This Once-in-a-Generation Governing Moment by Judith Dangerfield and Jerry Maldonado
At once-in-a-generation moments such as these, it’s more important than ever that we do everything in our power to ensure that our generation’s investments generate a different set of outcomes than those of the past. To do that, we must set a new set of standards for the America we want to build — a set of rules and norms for distributional equity in the building and rebuilding of public infrastructure assets.
Over the next few months, PolicyLink will be partnering with a broad range of partners to advance a set of standards to guide the equitable implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. We — and our partners across the country — recognize that this is a critical governing moment that must be seized to support the creation of thriving, resilient, and just places for generations to come. Learn more about this standard-setting work.
From ARPA to IIJA — Fulfilling the Promise of Equity by Brittny Saunders and Helen Chin of Communities First
How we as Americans choose to put our public dollars to work makes a powerful statement about our priorities and who we believe is truly part of our national community. Our partners at Communities First, have taken an initial step in the work of holding our government accountable to centering equity in these life-changing investments by reviewing the $1.9T ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) package for the investments that communities desire most. They identified programs that — due to either their focus on equity or general flexibility — appear particularly rich with opportunities for transformative investment in communities of color. Learn more about the why and the how of this important work.
Building for all of us and daring to build the community-supporting infrastructure we deserve for years to come is the work of our generation. Join us by following our Infrastructure Justice campaign via our website or using #BuildForTheAll on all social media platforms.