Climate Equity Budgeting
The City’s budget is a reflection of its values and strategic priorities and sets the direction for policy and program development. To build a sustainable, equitable, and resilient city, Cincinnati will build a budget and procurement strategy that supports these priorities. New federal incentives and grants provide unprecedented opportunity for cities to invest in transformational climate action. To make the most of this funding, the City will add staff and contract support to enhance grant tracking, implementation, and management.
The City will also center community voice in developing policies, programs, and budgets to address climate equity issues. Recognizing government’s historical role in creating and deepening the inequity we see in Cincinnati, the City will focus on procedural equity by inviting and elevating the voices of priority communities. The City will continue to include the lived experiences of community members in tracking and measuring climate equity indicators.
Read Cincinnati's Climate Equity Indicators Report
Green Cincinnati Plan Strategy
Use a budget & procurement process that aligns and accelerates the City’s climate equity priorities.
Green Cincinnati Plan Strategy
Center and activate community voice in designing climate and equity policies and programs.
Green Cincinnati Plan Priority Actions
- Implement participatory and priority-based budgeting
- Develop annual funding for sustainability investments/municipal bond to capitalize on climate incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
- Streamline procurement to enhance the impact of federal funding by using cooperative purchasing including Omnia, GSA, Sourcewell
- Continue to develop a framework for supporting green jobs with a focus on youth
- Hire a grant writer to assist with pursuing federal funding that focuses on the Justice40 initiative to address environmental justice issues.
- Create policy for the procurement of sustainable goods for internal city supplies and materials, conduct a City-wide audit to develop strategic priorities.
Green Cincinnati Plan Priority Actions
- Crowdsource climate solutions with programs like hackathons to tackle complex issues
- Improve communication and accessibility of sustainability programs and progress to the public
- Join and leverage Government Alliance on Race & Equity to advance climate equity programs
- Update the Climate Equity Indicators report every 5 years to design programs that target benefits to priority communities