Item #4 Community Investment Budget Presentation — original pdf

Backup

Community Investment Budget Fiscal Year 2025 Introductions Who is Equity Action? ● ● Equity Action is a non-profit (c4) focused on protecting and expanding Austin’s transformative justice efforts. What is the Community Investment Budget? In collaboration with dozens of community organizations, Equity Action facilitated a FY2025 Community Investment Budget proposal that will improve public safety by helping prevent violence and overdoses, stabilize people and families living on the margins, and address crises with more appropriate first responders. History of CIB and other Community-Led Budget Initiatives Austin has a long history of community-based budgeting. ● For many years Communities of Color United organized and advocated for an annual People’s Budget. These community-driven spending priorities centered public health and equity. ● The first Community Investment Budget was FY22-23 and reflected input from the largest coalition ever coordinated to address unmet community needs. We pressed the city to think about public safety in a new way -- well-maintained parks, housing, youth activities, living wages, an independent forensic lab, public health initiatives to keep people safe from the pandemic and more! ● This year we’re back because mental health first response, substance-related deaths, rehousing and housing stabilization, safe and well maintained parks, and workforce opportunity requires ongoing investment! Community Investment Budget Priorities Fiscal Year 2025 ● Crime survivor support -- forensic nursing & shelter ● Violence prevention ● Overdose prevention ● Mental health crisis response ● Sheltering and then housing the unhoused ● Preventing eviction and stabilizing vulnerable families ● Re-entry assistance with jobs, housing for formerly incarcerated ● Resilience hubs in areas most vulnerable to extreme weather ● Workforce development & opportunity ● Addressing climate change and water availability/cost Why is the CIB important? While Austin is considered one of the best cities in the country to live in for many people, we still have a long way to go to ensure that it is the best for everyone - regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, and income. The CIB this year details spending priorities for 6% of the roughly $1.4 billion General Revenue budget. These funding recommendations address well established community needs, gaps in existing programs and services, and suggest ways to improve the safety and quality of life for Austinites across the city. Does APD need more money? APD does not have a funding problem, it has a police academy problem that it has failed to fix after five years of attention and millions spent on consultants. APD has more than enough money already and cannot possibly hire and train enough people this year to fill it's already funded vacant positions (which will continue to be funded due to state law). If it needs different kinds of staff it can reclassify existing open positions to facilitate faster hiring within its existing budget. Meanwhile, community-based organizations and EMS’s Integrated Services unit have become the go-to first responders for many kinds of crises while preventing many more. Funding the collaboration between EMS and Integral Care can further reduce demand on police resources and fulfill the City’s promise to answer mental health calls with mental health resources while APD addresses the issues at their Academy that drive their ongoing staffing decline. Questions?