Racial Equity Budgeting: Current Developments, Challenges, and the Way Forward

Racial equity budgeting is an emerging practice that aims to incorporate a racial equity perspective in public budgeting. In the wake of notable incidents, such as the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, a number of local governments within the United States have established equity offices, developed racial equity budgeting tools, and formed commissions consisting of community members to apply considerations of race and ethnicity in formulating and analyzing public budgets. In this article, we explore (1) recent developments in local governments’ mechanisms to share results of racial equity budgeting with the stakeholders involved, focusing on the cases of several municipalities in the United States; and (2) the opportunities and challenges of racial equity budgeting from the perspective of transparency, openness, and accountability, and future policy implications. We will shed light on racial equity budgeting becoming a more impactful and institutionalized practice in achieving further racial equity.