2019 EQUITY REPORT
A FRAMEWORK TO BETTER UNDERSTAND AND MEASURE EQUITY IN BURLINGTON
The City of Burlington's Equity Report is a publication that provides residents with data about the state of equity in the community and how the City can influence those metrics in the future (see links to full reports below). The report is released at polling places on Town Meeting Day alongside the City’s Annual Financial Report as part of the City’s new core reporting to the community.
The Equity Report is driven by the principle that a city works best when all people are represented, supported, and able to thrive. However, structural inequities prevent historically marginalized groups from interacting with Burlington in this way. The report attempts to identify and measure these inequities with the goal of better aligning City services to improve residents’ ability to participate, contribute, or benefit from the city.
Many of the measures in the 2019 Equity Report have are intended to be reported year over year, so residents can easily evaluate the changes while other measures will focus on specific ongoing City projects that are tied to these broader domains of the community. The final section outlines a series of recommendations for the City based on the data collected and analyzed as part of the report. In order to evaluate and hold the City accountable, the report also revisits the previous year’s recommendations with progress updates and areas for continued improvement.
The City's first Equity Report, published in 2018, focused the City's data collection on questions of equity: Who is being served by the City? Are services accessible to all residents? What could be done to increase the opportunity for participation in our community's civic life?
These reports are not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of all data related to the City of Burlington and its residents, but rather a resource to help inform discussion, evaluation, and policy decisions that improve the provision of access to City services and programs. As such, the Equity Report concludes with a series of initial recommendations and contains several requests for public feedback to improve continued efforts to examine the City’s work through an equity lens.
We would like to give special thanks to representatives from ANEW Place, Burlington City Arts, Burlington High School City-Lake Semester Class, the Burlington School District, City University of New York’s Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG), Champlain Housing Trust, Community Health Centers of Burlington, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Outright Vermont, Peace & Justice Center and Pride Center of Vermont for their feedback in developing the 2019 Equity Report. We’d also like to give special thanks to the many City staff who contributed data and provided feedback on early drafts of the report.
Community feedback on what would be most useful to see in future reports is critical to ensure all voices are heard and represented. Please submit feedback using the online form below and sign-up for future updates by sending a message to BTVStat@burlingtonvt.gov
“To ensure that our City government is properly oriented toward achieving progress for all members of our community, in the year ahead we will be focusing BTVStat on equity.” MAYOR MIRO WEINBERGER, STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS IN 2018
