The City of Portland is committed to policies, practices, and procedures that center equity in the services and support it provides to the community. As part of this commitment, for the past five years, the City of Portland has used a Budget Equity Assessment Tool (Equity Tool) to inform city budget decisions. This Equity Tool informs Portland how budget decisions impact underserved communities throughout the city and enables Portland to advance the city’s equity goals.

In July, on behalf of the City of Portland, Democracy Forward submitted a comment to OMB, encouraging federal agencies to consider the use of similar tools to make equity central to decisions about allocating federal dollars. This comment was submitted as part of an OMB request for information on methods and leading practices for advancing equity and support for underserved communities through government.

The comment shared Portland’s experiences and observations in using the Equity Tool in order to convey the tools’ importance and to advise on how best to use it.

Read the entire comment here.