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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
THIRD INSTALLMENT SPENDING PLAN FOR BUDGETED FY2025 EQUITY AND INCLUSION SPECIAL PURPOSE FUND
WHEREAS, in November 2021, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed Resolution No. 21-5542 creating a special purpose fund for Equity and Inclusion (“Equity Fund”) dedicated to addressing historical disparities and disinvestment communities that are marginalized or have experienced other social and economic disparities; and
WHEREAS, through the Equity Fund, intentional investments from government resources are allocated to address historical and continued disparities and disinvestment, (as defined in the Equity Report) and to bring advocates, service providers, and other partners to the table as thought partners and decision-makers; and
WHEREAS, since the establishment of the Equity Fund, the administration and the Equity Fund Taskforce have worked diligently to design and implement the twenty-five Equity Fund systemic recommendations and two initiatives including the Cannabis Business Development Program and the Cook County Landbank Homeownership Initiative; and
WHEREAS, as part of the FY24 Budget, the President’s Office in partnership with the Chief Financial Officer and Budget Office, worked to designate the Casino Tax as a sustainable revenue source to support the ongoing work of the Equity Fund Taskforce and for those equity- specific ARPA initiatives that the County will maintain beyond 2026 when federal relief funds are expended; and
WHEREAS, $50M was appropriated in the First Installment Equity Fund Spending Plan and $70M was appropriated in the Second Installment Equity Fund Spending Plan; and
WHEREAS, as part of the FY25 Budget, the Equity Fund appropriation will be an additional $40M for its Third Installment Equity Fund Spending Plan bringing the total investments to $160M to date; and
WHEREAS, as part of the FY25 Budget, the Justice Advisory Council will receive an additional $35M for its annual grant allocation to support its grantmaking across violence prevention, capacity building and reentry work.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Office of the President shall provide an update on the progress of the Second Installment Spending Plan in accordance with Resolution Item 23-5895.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Cook County Board of Commissioners supports the Third Installment Spending Plan and use of $75M in Equity Funds for the following Equity Fund recommendations and initiatives and to support the Justice Advisory Council’s grant portfolio. Any carryover estimates provided below will be adjusted once the fiscal year closes and final reconciliations will be provided by the Bureau of Finance through its monthly revenue and expense reports.
1. The Cannabis Business Development Program under the leadership of the Bureau of Economic Development will be allocated $1,580,000. This represents an estimated carry-over of $80,000 and a new allocation of $1.5M to support grant awards for awarded social equity applicants.
2. The Cook County Land Bank Authority will be allocated $3,528,398 which represents a carryover of its previous allocation to continue supporting the administrative and operational costs of their work to increase affordable housing stock and economic opportunity in systematically disadvantaged communities.
3. The Community Engagement Pilot Program under the leadership of the President’s Office, will carry over a projected amount of $601,226, including a new allocation of $93,726 to continue strengthening the County’s ability to conduct meaningful and authentic community engagement to residents and other stakeholders across Cook County.
4. The Health Equity in all Policies (HEiAP) Equity Fund recommendation 1.1, led by the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) will be allocated $507,540, which represents an estimated carry-over of $437,540 and a new allocation of $70,000, to continue its efforts to operationalize health equity and provide training and education to implementing departments across Offices under the President.
5. The Property and Taxation recommendation 2.1, led by the President’s Office and the separately elected property tax stakeholders, will be allocated $930,500, which represents an estimated carryover of $225,500 and an additional allocation of $705,000, to support the research needed to help inform the ongoing collaborative work to reform Cook County’s property assessment and taxation system.
6. The Bureau of Economic Development will carry over its previous allocation of $1,000,000 to continue its efforts to support the small business/entrepreneurship ecosystem through recommendation 2.8. This funding will augment other private/philanthropy funding and will be used to support the design of financial products/strategies that work to increase access to capital for this population.
7. The Bureau of Economic Development, in furtherance of its partnership with the Office of the Chief Judge, Chicago Bar Foundation, Illinois Housing Development Authority and other external partners, will receive an allocation of $600,000 to support the Cook County Legal Aid Housing and Debt (CCLAHD) which is a program that offers free legal help to County residents who are at risk of eviction, foreclosure or facing court action on other housing-related and consumer debt issues.
8. The Bureau of Economic Development, in furtherance of recommendation 2.9, will carry over $4,500,000 of its previous allocation for its Transforming Places Initiatives in partnership with United Way of Metro Chicago. Through this initiative, Cook County will continue to support highly vulnerable communities over a sustained period to ensure implementation and capacity-building and help attract additional public, private, and philanthropic resources.
9. The Healthy Worker’s Initiative, Equity Fund recommendation 2.11, led by the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) will carryover its previous allocation of $1,050,000 to augment its efforts to engage with and receive input from a range of stakeholders that will inform CCDPH’s work to strengthen and enforce Cook County’s worker protection laws to ensure all workers receive fair compensation and are protected from health and safety violations by employers.
10. The Justice Advisory Council will be allocated $35,000,000, which includes an estimated carryover of $23,728,620 and an additional allocation of $11,271,380, to support its ongoing efforts to address community safety through a holistic approach including continued investments in promising Community Based Violence Intervention (“CVI”) strategies through its Gun Violence Prevention Grant Portfolio and housing and wrap-around services for returning residents through its Returning Resident Grant Portfolio.
11. The Justice Advisory Council will also be allocated $20,000,000 to administer the scaling of CVI strategies and investments in partnership with the Government Alliance for Safe Communities (GASC), an unprecedented collaboration between leaders at the State of Illinois, City of Chicago and Cook County. Established in 2021, GASC has worked closely together to sustainably reduce gun violence and increase community safety in the communities and municipalities most impacted by the gun violence crisis in our region. In addition, the GASC has partnered with the Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago (SC2), in support of the broader goal to serve 50%-75% of the highest risk population in 5-10 years. SC2, comprised of philanthropic, business, and civic partners have raised more than $100M to date in support of those goals.
12. The Equity in Transit recommendation 4.1, led by the Department of Transportation and Highways, will be allocated $2,349,800 which represents a reduction from its initial allocation of $7,000,000 in FY24. Due to DOTH’s strategic focus on building partnerships, it has been able to request less funding as new partners have increased their funding commitments. These funds will continue to support the planning, design, and implementation of a regional income-based fare model as the second phase of the Fair Transit Pilot, which launched during the pandemic in 2020.
13. The President’s Office, in furtherance of recommendation 4.2 will receive an allocation of $850,000 to support the utilization of digital navigators as part of its broader Digital Equity Action plan.
14. The Department of Environment and Sustainability, in furtherance of recommendation 5.1, will be allocated $2,083,425, which includes an estimated carryover of $1,924,500 and an additional allocation of $158,925, to augment its work through several ARPA initiatives to expand the implementation of its efforts to reduce waste materials to local landfills in the south suburbs, expand its Resilience Hubs and to improve community health and resilience through the planting of green infrastructure in 5-10 communities within suburban Cook County.
15. Led by the President’s Office, the Equity in Grantmaking recommendation 6.1, will be allocated $28,560,281 which includes the carryover of previous funding and an additional allocation of $15,000,000 to support the continued development of a comprehensive equity-centered grantmaking strategy to promote equitable access to resources for community-based organizations. These funds will be leveraged to support the County’s Starting Block Grants which provides organizational capacity building supports to eligible community-based organizations and to increase the organizational capacity of community-based organizations through the Government Alliance for Safe Communities.
16. The remaining $21,564,719 in reserve may be designated to support other priorities identified above or further addressed and/or aligned with recommendations in the 2021 Equity Fund Report issued in April 2022. The President’s Office will provide advance notice to the Cook County Board of Commissioners regarding any allocation of the reserve.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Cook County Budget Director and Comptroller shall be authorized to execute any additional budgetary transfers or chargebacks to effectuate these programs and the spending plan provided herein; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Cook County Budget Director and Comptroller shall continue providing financial updates on the Equity Fund as part of the monthly Revenue and Expense report provided to the Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a presentation on the annual progress of the Equity Fund will be made to the Finance Committee of the Cook County Board within 60 days of the close of the County’s fiscal year.
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