The American Rescue Plan represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build an equitable economic recovery from the devastating economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and address LA County’s most urgent inequities.

The Los Angeles County CEO’s Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (ARDI) Initiative team, in partnership with internal County Departments and external community partners, has developed a series of tools to democratize data on communities most impacted by COVID-19 and the American Rescue Plan Act programs and services developed to serve them.

Review below to learn more about the newly launched suite of tools including the Equity Explorer, Equity Dashboard, and ARPA Projects Map.

The Equity Explorer mapping tool (as seen in the image above) was created to allow users to explore census tracts throughout the County to identify areas of the highest need based on populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19. This information can now be used throughout the County to broadly influence funding, policy, etc. decisions beyond ARPA. It provides a visually engaging, interactive, and transparent look into Los Angeles County’s communities in an effort to facilitate program allocations and resources to communities with the greatest need.

The mapping tool utilizes the COVID-19 Vulnerability and Recovery Index to stratify County cities and communities into five need tiers ranging from highest to lowest need based on COVID-19-related risk, severity, and recovery need indicators. The Equity Explorer also features economic, health, environmental, education, demographic, and justice filters that allow users to access summary statistics for geographies down to the census tract level. Learn more and visit the Equity Explorer.

The ARPA Equity Dashboard is an up-to-date display of the County’s approved ARPA expenditures and outcomes by project and department. As projects launch, the Dashboard is updated with data on the amount allocated, use of ARPA funds, projected outcomes, number of residents served, jobs created, grants provided, and outcomes achieved. In an effort to increase transparency around the allocation of ARPA funds, this Dashboard (and the associated ARPA Projects Map below) provides an overview of the different communities that are being targeted.

The Dashboard features equity metrics, including but not limited to the percentage of funds allocated to highest need communities. The Dashboard also features public contact information and links to the websites of approved projects so users can access additional information on ARPA services and/or contracting opportunities.

Similar to the above Equity Dashboard, the newly launched ARPA Projects Map visually maps the service areas and locations of ARPA projects that have been approved to launch in LA County. Using the tool, projects can be selected to view the service area(s) they target or, alternatively, areas can be selected to view the project(s) that serve that location. The map will be updated weekly with new projects as they launch. For more information on launched programs and other project launch dates, click here.