CaliforniaLos Angeles County
See how Los Angeles County performed on our equity assessment of its ARPA Local Fiscal Recovery Fund investment strategy.
Total Equity Focused ARPA Funds
$1,846,086,640$1,846,086,640
Overall Score
High
Featured Case Studies
Guided by equity principles and an equity funding formula resulting from the Coalition on Equitable ARPA Implementation’s advocacy, Los Angeles County, California devoted its $1.9 billion in recovery funds toward equitable investments targeted to its highest-need communities.
Los Angeles County, California committed $23.6 million in ARPA funds to launch the High Road Training Partnerships program, which is on track to connect over 1,000 underserved workers to family-supporting career pathways while bolstering key regional industries.
ARPA Equity Assessment of Los Angeles County, CA
Overall Equity Focus
HighWas racial and economic equity an explicit focus of the jurisdiction's ARPA investment strategy?
95% of locations met this criterion.81% of locations met this criterion.86% of locations met this criterion.Equity Decision Making Tools and Resources
HighAre equity tools, frameworks, and structures in place to support equitable investment project identification, design, and implementation?
38% of locations met this criterion.Los Angeles County developed 10 countywide guiding equity principles and nine ARPA budget equity principles to ensure decisions align with their equity goals for ARPA spending. The principles include reducing racial disparities, targeting resources to the most disadvantaged people and communities, authentically engaging communities and making programs and services accessible, using disaggregated data to assess needs and track progress, and not using ARPA funds for incarceration and policing.
24% of locations met this criterion.In July 2020, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion establishing an Anti-Racist County Policy Agenda which directed the County to create a racial equity strategic plan and establish an organizational unit to implement the plan. Additionally, in July 2021 the Board adopted a motion, “Recovering Better than Before: Ensuring Equitable Implementation of the American Rescue Plan,” to strategically use ARPA funds to maximize benefits for communities suffering disproportionate health and economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
31% of locations met this criterion.Guided by the equitable ARPA implementation motion, the County’s multifaceted equity framework includes: 1) identifying equity-focused strategic funding priorities and developing equity principles; 2) an equity funding formula to target resources toward those most impacted by the pandemic along with a mapping tool to help identify those communities; 3) a public dashboard reporting on ARPA spending and outcomes as well as contracting opportunities; and 4) a plan to capture data on non-geographically concentrated communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. In 2023, the County released its 10-year Racial Equity Strategic Plan.
51% of locations met this criterion.Created in 2020, the Anti-Racism, Diversity, & Inclusion (ARDI) Initiative, with nine staff members, serves as the County’s organizational unit dedicated to eliminating racism and advancing equity. ARDI developed the framework for equitable ARPA spending and is overseeing implementation. Additionally, ARDI developed and is now overseeing implementation of Los Angeles County’s Racial Equity Strategic Plan.
31% of locations met this criterion.Los Angeles County adopted an equity funding formula which set a goal for 75 percent of ARPA funds to go to the 40 percent of neighborhoods most negatively impacted by the pandemic and longstanding inequities according to the County’s COVID-19 Vulnerability and Recovery Index. The formula aims for 40 percent of ARPA funds to go to the highest-need census tracts (those in the top quintile of need), 35 percent to high-need tracts, 20 percent to moderate-need tracts, 3 percent to low-need tracts, and 3 percent to lowest-need tracts. Additionally, the County created an Equity Explorer Mapping Tool to help county departments and other community members identify and prioritize highest-need communities in project design and implementation.
48% of locations met this criterion.72% of locations met this criterion.38% of locations met this criterion.Community Engagement
HighDid the jurisdiction engage community members in decision making about the ARPA funds, conduct targeted outreach to historically excluded communities, and implement strategies to reach underserved communities?
94% of locations met this criterion.64% of locations met this criterion.54% of locations met this criterion.Equitable Labor Practices
This section of the assessment was omitted for jurisdictions that reported $0 in spending infrastructure projects (to which these labor practices would apply).
Equity Investments
HighDid the jurisdiction make investments that have the potential to advance equity by targeting the communities most harmed by the pandemic and addressing systemic inequities?
62% of locations met this criterion.71% of locations met this criterion.64% of locations met this criterion.82% of locations met this criterion.63% of locations met this criterion.81% of locations met this criterion.45% of locations met this criterion.33% of locations met this criterion.32% of locations met this criterion.64% of locations met this criterion.64% of locations met this criterion.
31% of locations met this criterion.67% of locations met this criterion.56% of locations met this criterion.50% of locations met this criterion.Transparency & Accountability
HighDoes the jurisdiction set performance goals, collect data to monitor progress toward equitable outcomes, and provide the public with information about how funds are being used?
55% of locations met this criterion.70% of locations met this criterion.64% of locations met this criterion.75% of locations met this criterion.