The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) funded a significant initiative to incorporate race and equity into municipal bonds. This work aimed to develop meaningful metrics around race and equity that can be valued by investors and incorporated into new issuances by municipalities and their financial advisors to fund infrastructure investments. This was accomplished via a new framework developed by Lourdes German, and a range of data tools and technical assistance programs developed by collaborators that include the Government Alliance on Race & Equity (GARE), the Urban Institute (UI), the National League of Cities (NLC), the Milken Institute (MI) and the Harvard Initiative for Responsible Investment (IRI).

urbanAC served as the lead equity advisor for the initiative, advising project partners on various work streams to ensure that all facets of the initiative reflected an authentic commitment to equity and inclusion, and awareness of emerging practices in the field.

We reviewed core partner’s existing research and created a foundational basis and framework to understand and confirm baseline theories, definitions and assumptions with regards to prevailing practices in the field of equity and presented outstanding questions and/or gaps. We developed a shared language around how equity was centered in our collective work.

Lastly, we conducted research on notable changes and shifts in the field and across disciplines of expertise that further informed the team’s collective opportunities, omissions and barriers for the integration of equity in the domain of municipal bonds. This included a review of existing tools and frameworks that entities use to guide municipal work, and the creation of relevant case studies.