How Can We Allocate Resources?
Allocate resources to advance equity (Read actions you can take below)
Health departments must institutionally commit to advancing health equity as a primary focus/mission of their organization. This commitment must be fostered and supported across all parts of the agency with an expectation that every office and/or bureau strategically direct staff resources to implement policies and practices that advance equity.
Internal planning initiatives must integrate an equity perspective. Budgeting priorities and decisions are an important opportunity to align resources across multiple funding streams to advance equity, both within the health department and across government. General funds, categorical funding, and grant funding can all be leveraged creatively to more optimally advance health equity work.
Case studies that allocate resources
Actions to Advance Equity Using This Practice
Your leadership, staff, and department can take the following actions to allocate resources:
- Dedicate funding to health equity staff positions responsible for embedding equity throughout the entire organization and transforming organizational practice
- Track and realign resource allocation to ensure that departments direct resources to engage and impact those with greatest need in order to advance health equity
- Track and realign resource allocation to ensure that departments direct resources to target upstream policy, systems, and environmental interventions that address health equity
- Apply participatory budget tools and/or processes to health department programs and city/county/state decision-making to enable community decision-making on where funding should be allocated
- Leverage and integrate funding streams (e.g., general funds, categorical funding, and grant funding) to advance health equity, including partnerships with communities and upstream policy, systems, and environmental change
- Align payment methods, quality improvement, and fiscal incentives with performance on health equity measures
- Collaborate with foundations, private donors, and others to direct resources toward community organizations addressing the social determinants of health and health inequities
- Create and/or support a fund for staff and/or community innovation to address health inequities
- Seek grants to support initial health equity capacity building with a clear plan of how to institutionalize processes, plans, and activities into the long-term department budget
