Full Community Benefits Jobs Stimulus 4

“Full Community Benefits” Employment Initiatives Economic Stimulus Through Inclusive High Quality Jobs April 2009

Terry Keleher Applied Research Center arc.org

Applied Research Center • arc.org

“Full Community Benefits” Employment Initiatives With the passage of the federal economic stimulus package--the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009--billions of dollars in new monies are flowing to states and municipalities, much of it intended for job creation and retention. To ensure these public funds are used to create high-quality jobs that benefit all people––especially low-income people, communities of color and those who are most disadvantaged––grassroots organizations will need to take leadership in proposing ways stimulus funds can be used most effectively and equitably. Community residents can propose that states and municipalities develop “Full Community Benefits” Employment Initiatives for all programs involving job creation and retention. This involves the adoption and implementation of a framework of inclusionary principles and objectives, along with a participatory planning and development process. Once fair standards and processes are adopted, community organizations and advocates can work to negotiate and incorporate various exemplary practices when jobs programs are being developed. Proposed Full Community Benefits Employment Initiatives are modeled after community benefits agreements where local communities negotiate and win concessions from prospective new employers by getting them to agree to such things as hiring local residents, utilizing local contractors and resources, and providing living wages and union jobs. This way, opportunities and benefits are spread equitably around the entire community. Community organizations and coalitions can use a similar strategy to negotiate with policymakers and government agencies that are now responsible for deciding how to spend federal jobs stimulus funds. By demanding that public officials adopt and implement Full Community Benefits Employment Initiatives, all residents--especially those most disadvantaged who face a disproportionate share of barriers and discrimination--can access the new opportunities and needed benefits. The President’s Memorandum of March 20, 2009, Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds, among other things, directs departments and agencies to “achieve long-term public benefits by, for example, investing in technological advances in science and health to increase economic efficiency and improve quality of life; investing in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; fostering energy independence; or improving educational quality;” and to “satisfy the Recovery Act's transparency and accountability objectives.” Furthermore a U.S. President’s Office on Management and Budget’s Memorandum of April 3, 2009, Updated Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, advises agencies to take into account considerations such as “supporting projects that ensure compliance with equal opportunity laws and principles, support small businesses including disadvantaged business enterprises, engage in sound labor practices, promote local hiring, and engage with community-based organizations.” These federal directives clearly establish the elements of equity, transparency, equal opportunity, sound labor practices, environmental protection, accountability, community engagement and many other positive principles and practices. Community advocacy organizations must ensure that these elements are fully reflected in the development and implementation of all Recovery Act funded programs. (See Appendix A and B for direct language from the federal directives).

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How to Use this Framework and Toolkit: Step 1: Ask policy makers and public officials to adopt the Principles and Objectives. Step 2: Also ask them to adopt the Participatory Planning and Development Process. Step 3: Then uses the principles and process to advocate for the Exemplary Practices.

Contents: Introduction Principles and Objectives Participatory Planning and Development Process Exemplary Practices Appendix A: Federal Policy Goals for Implementing Recovery Act Funds Appendix B: General Recovery Act Provisions

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Principles and Objectives:

Principles

Objectives

1. Inclusion

To remove significant barriers and provide sufficient supports to make all jobs fully accessible to everyone.

2. Equity

To ensure that all employment opportunities and benefits are fairly distributed, with preference given to disadvantaged people––especially people of color, women and low-income people––and communities.

3. Dignity

To ensure that all jobs are safe and respectful of the rights of workers.

4. Stability

To create, retain and support jobs that pay livable wages and benefits that help families and communities survive and thrive.

5. Sustainability

To support jobs that protect the environment, conserve energy and improve community infrastructure.

6. Accountability To institute ethical, transparent and participatory processes to ensure that all programs and expenditures are implemented fairly and result in equitable and successful outcomes.

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Participatory Planning and Development Process:

1. Establish a well-publicized process for soliciting and considering public input when developing jobs stimulus programs and deciding how to distribute funds. Proactively engage key stakeholders, especially representatives from disadvantaged communities.

2. Develop a draft strategic program plan, open to final public review and comment.

3. Conduct a Racial Equity Impact Assessment to analyzes the impacts of proposed plans on different racial and ethnic groups to ensure equity and inclusion. This can help anticipate and prevent possible adverse impacts and unintended consequences.

4. Revise and improve the Strategic Plan based on final input and impact assessments.

5. Prioritize the approval of inclusionary proposals that best meet the principles and objectives and contain the most exemplary practices.

6. Implement, monitor and evaluate the program with ongoing data collection, enforcement measures and public reporting to ensure fairness, effectiveness and accountability.

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Exemplary Practices: These and other elements can be incorporated into employment program plans. They can be tailored to the needs and interests of different communities and elaborated with sufficient specificity—including qualitative and numeric goals, timetables and actions-- to ensure success. • Affirmative Action: Develop numerical goals and specific affirmative steps to ensure that highquality employment opportunities are fully accessible to people of color and women. • Anti-Discrimination: Ensure that all people are provided equal opportunity and fair treatment and are not discriminated against on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, disability, familial status, immigrant status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristics; with all anti-discrimination policies fully implemented and enforced. • Community and regional equity: Ensure a fair distribution of opportunities, resources and benefits within and across different geographic communities--including metropolitan areas, neighborhoods and rural areas. • Economic Stability: Incentivize the creation and retention of high-quality, good-paying longterm jobs by responsible employers. • Education & Job Training: Expand educational access and job training for people who are unemployed and underemployed, with supports and services for finding good jobs. • Green Jobs: Prioritize and incentivize eco-friendly “green jobs” that advance environmental protection, energy conservation and efficiency, community improvement, and an equitable and sustainable economy. • Immigrant Rights: Ensure fair treatment and full rights for immigrants (e.g. by supporting legalization, amnesty, human rights and worker rights and opposing the E-Verify system, immigrant enforcement raids and other punitive actions by law enforcement or employers).

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• Livable Wages and Benefits: Require new jobs to pay prevailing or livable wages, with health insurance. • Local hiring: Include “first source” hiring provisions, transit-accessible jobs and job creation in low-income communities and communities of color. • Occupational safety: Ensure fair and enforced safety standards so that workers are not exposed to dangerous working conditions, harmful pesticides or other occupational hazards. • Preferences for Low-income people: Develop numerical goals and specific steps to ensure that those who are most economically disadvantaged have full and preferential access to high quality employment opportunities, using hiring incentives, set-asides and supports such a childcare and transportation assistance. Create clear pathways for recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (and those still in need who are no longer eligible due to time limits) to connect to jobs that will actually lift families out of poverty. • Rights for People with Prior Convictions: Remove barriers to employment for people with prior convictions, by sealing criminal records and providing needed assistance and supports to job-seekers and hiring incentives for employers. • Small and Disadvantaged Businesses: Provide equal opportunities for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) in awarding contracts under the Recovery Act. • Union Jobs: Prioritize and incentivize proposals that involve union jobs that are more likely to pay higher wages and offer more benefits than non-union jobs. • Workers’ Rights: Ensure the all workers are treated with dignity and respect, with full rights to organize and engage in collective bargaining. • Youth/Young People Job Opportunities: Ensure that there are training and employment opportunities for young people (e.g. summer jobs, paid community service jobs, paid internships and apprenticeships), that provide experience and a ladder to high quality jobs.

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Appendix A: Federal Policy Goals for Implementing Recovery Act Funds Below is a direct excerpt from “Updated Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, April 3, 2009, Section 1.6.

What other policy goals should an agency consider in determining how best to use Recovery Act funds in order to achieve the Act's objectives? All Federal agencies should take the following considerations into account, to the extent permitted by law and practicable, when determining how best to use Recovery Act funds for achieving the Act's objectives. • Ensuring long-term public benefits, optimization of economic and programmatic results. In accordance with the President’s Memorandum of March 20, 2009 on “Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds,” departments and agencies “shall develop transparent, meritbased selection criteria that will guide their available discretion in committing, obligating, or expending funds under the Recovery Act for grants and other forms of Federal financial assistance. Such criteria shall be consistent with legal requirements, may be tailored to the particular funding activity, and shall be formulated to ensure that the funding furthers the job creation, economic recovery, and other purposes of the Recovery Act.” As the President’s Memorandum further outlined, “merit-based selection criteria shall be designed to support particular projects, applications, or applicants for funding that have, to the greatest extent, a demonstrated or potential ability to: “(i) deliver programmatic results; “(ii) achieve economic stimulus by optimizing economic activity and the number of jobs created or saved in relation to the Federal dollars obligated; “(iii) achieve long-term public benefits by, for example, investing in technological advances in science and health to increase economic efficiency and improve quality of life; investing in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; fostering energy independence; or improving educational quality; and “(iv) satisfy the Recovery Act's transparency and accountability objectives.” In evaluating projects for funding, departments and agencies accordingly should allocate Recovery Act funds toward projects that will achieve long-term public benefits as outlined above, optimize economic activity, deliver programmatic results, and meet transparency and accountability objectives. • Ensuring compliance with equal opportunity laws and principles: Federal civil rights laws and principles are at the core of our nation’s commitment to ensuring that everyone has a chance to share in economic opportunity. All Federal agencies should take steps to ensure that recipients Applied Research Center • arc.org

of Recovery Act funds comply fully with their responsibilities under the full range of civil rights laws, including (but not limited to) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and Titles I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Wherever possible, agencies should implement appropriate oversight mechanisms to ensure that Recovery Act funds are expended in a manner consistent with civil rights obligations. Furthermore, to the extent possible and consistent with the principles underlying our national commitment to civil rights and equal opportunity, agencies should encourage recipients to implement best practices for ensuring that all individuals – regardless of race, gender, age, and national origin – benefit from the Recovery Act. • Promoting local hiring: Departments and agencies should seek to maximize the economic benefits of a Recovery Act-funded investment in a particular community by supporting projects that seek to ensure that the people who live in the local community get the job opportunities that accompany the investment. • Providing maximum practicable opportunities for small businesses. Small businesses play a critical role in stimulating economic growth and creating jobs. Because support of small businesses furthers the economic growth and job creation purposes of the Recovery Act, agencies should supp ort projects that provide maximum practicable opportunities for small businesses. In the sphere of government contracting, agencies should provide maximum opportunities for small businesses to compete and participate as prime and subcontractors in contracts awarded by agencies, while ensuring that the government procures services at fair market prices. Accordingly, agencies are strongly encouraged to take advantage of authorized small business contracting programs to create opportunities for small businesses. Agencies’ Offices of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization and SBA’s District Offices can assist with market research to help identify qualified and capable small business sources, both at the national and local level, including small businesses that may be able to respond quickly to solicitations and otherwise get their firms contract-ready. • Providing equal opportunity for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: Agencies should seek to provide equal opportunities for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) in awarding contracts under the Recovery Act, to the extent allowed by law. • Encouraging sound labor practices: The federal government invests substantial resources in enforcing wage and hour, occupational safety and health, and collective bargaining laws, to ensure that American workers are safe and treated fairly. All other things being equal, agencies awarding Recovery Act funds should seek to support entities that have a sound track record on these issues and are creating good jobs. This will strengthen the recovery effort and the economic prospects of American workers. • Engaging with community-based organizations: Agencies should seek to support projects that make effective use of community-based organizations in connecting disadvantaged people with economic opportunities.

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Appendix B: General Recovery Act Provisions Provision

Description

Overall Purposes (Sec. 3)

The President and federal agency and department heads must manage and expend funds to achieve the following purposes: 1. Preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery. 2. Assist those most impacted by the recession. 3. Provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health. 4. Invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits. 5. Stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases.

Accountability and Transparency (Title XV)

Sec. 1511 requires governors, mayors, or other chief executives to certify that infrastructure investments have received the full review and vetting required by law, including a description of the investment, the estimated total cost, and the amount of covered funds to be used. The certification must be posted on a website and linked to Recovery.gov. Preference for Quick-Start

Infrastructure Activities (Sec. 1602)

Recipients of funds for “infrastructure investment” must: 1) give preference to activities that can be started and completed expeditiously, including a goal of using at least 50% of the funds for activities that can be initiated within 180 days; 2) use grant funds in a manner that maximizes job creation and economic benefit.

Funds Generally Available Until September 30, 2010 (Sec. 1603) Wage Rate Requirements (Sec. 1606)

Funds appropriated are available until September 30, 2010, unless expressly provided otherwise.

Funding Distribution to States (Sec. 1607)

Transfer Authority (Sec. 1612)

All “laborers and mechanics employed by contractors and subcontractors on projects funded under this Act must be paid prevailing wages”—wages and fringe benefits at rates not less than those prevailing on projects of a similar character in the locality as determined by DOL, pursuant to the Davis-Bacon Act. For funds provided to any state or state agency, the governor must certify within 45 days that the state will request and use funds provided. If any funds are not accepted by the governor, then acceptance by the state legislature shall be sufficient. In fiscal year 2009, federal agency heads may transfer up to 1% of any appropriation in this act between appropriations funded in this act of that department or agency. This authority is in addition to any other transfer authority available under current law. It does not apply to appropriations in this act that include express transfer authority in this act.

Source: Bringing Home the Green Recovery: A User’s Guide to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, by Green for All and PolicyLink, an excellent resource available at: http://www.greenforall.org/resources/recoverytoolkit/

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