Fines and fees have devastated the lives of millions of Americans, trapping them in a cycle of poverty and punishment — with the harms overwhelmingly falling on people of color and people living on low incomes. State and local governments can support residents by eliminating fines and fees, and by creating sustainable ways to balance their budgets that don’t put the burden on residents. 

The Roadmap to Equitable Fine and Fee Reform shares approaches and practices to advance fine and fee reform. This guide is a distillation of the curriculum provided through the Cities & Counties for Fine and Fee Justice national network, and shares insights and direction for anyone interested in fine and fee reform, particularly leaders in cities and counties who are eager to address the widespread challenges presented by excessive fines and fees in their jurisdictions.

While Congress has taken some important initial steps, the relief packages so far have not done enough to address the challenges facing the one in three people living in or near poverty in the US. This brief, “Federal Policy Priorities for an Equitable COVID-19 Relief and Recovery,” outlines a number of specific policy recommendations for Congress to include in the next relief package to meet the needs of all people while building a bridge to a more equitable and climate-safe future.

Our op-ed on a federal job guarantee (NYTimes), authored by Angela Glover Blackwell and Darrick Hamilton, outlines how a public option for a job with living wages and full benefits can help households while addressing long-neglected community needs. This is the sort of bold action we need Congress to take to ensure an inclusive recovery and a more resilient future economy.

Download the report for additional policy priorities that must be part of the next COVID-19 relief package.

From Hurricane Katrina to the 2008 financial collapse, we have seen how recovery efforts that do not deliberately solve for issues facing low-income communities and communities of color only serve to reinforce existing disparities. As we navigate our way through the COVID-19 crisis, we need a Common-sense, Street-smart Recovery to build an inclusive economy and equitable nation that works for all. To realize the promise of equity, leaders must be dedicated to the complete set of principles - listed below - and outlined in this document.

Generations of policies and practices—such as breached treaties, voter suppression, erosion of workers’ right to organize, and mass criminalization—have excluded vulnerable people from decision-making, resulting in government systems that don’t meet the needs of the people they purport to serve. This is not only a moral concern, but also a social, cultural, and economic liability. When entire populations are unable to fully participate in society, the enormous loss of potential affects the whole nation. 

With the coronavirus thrusting the country into a public health and economic crisis, our racial and structural inequities have become even more pronounced. To foster greater inclusion and self-determination, federal policymakers must: 

• Center community voice in policymaking and spending. 
• Protect the right to vote and increase access to the ballot box. 
• Remove barriers to organizing and include labor unions in pandemic response planning. 

In addition to exposing our extreme inequality, the pandemic has also revealed our interconnectedness: we are only as safe as the least protected among us. In a diversifying country, dismantling structural racism and ensuring economic security for all is the right thing to do and the necessary thing to do.

We need sustained and race-conscious policies and investments to stabilize people during the crisis and bridge to a more equitable future. To build an equitable economy, policymakers must: 

• Ensure economic security during the crisis.
• Use stimulus funds to build the next economy.
• Forge a new social contract that enables shared prosperity. 

During the last recession, corporations received massive bailouts while continuing with risky practices that undermined the strength of the economy, making us unprepared for the current shock from COVID-19. Congress has started down this path once again, creating a half trillion-dollar fund to bail out corporations while millions of people are out of work. 

While initial legislative survival packages included modest stimulus checks and unemployment benefits to individuals, economists and struggling people alike have pointed out the immediate need to get more cash into people’s hands to stave off the crisis. Unless we put people first, the relief and recovery packages coming from Congress will only further concentrate wealth at the top and deepen inequities. In order to put people first, policymakers must: 

• Support essential frontline workers.
• Guarantee incomes.
• Freeze costs and protect people from losses.
• Prioritize people over corporations.

As the current public health and economic crisis continues to impact people around the world, we now know that across the United States, people of color are bearing the brunt of the effects of COVID-19.  Ensuring all people live in a society where they can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential requires recognizing that the path to getting there is different for different groups. Intentional investments in the 100 million economically insecure people in the United States, particularly for those who are people of color, will have benefits that cascade out, improving the lives of all struggling people as well as regional economies and the nation as a whole. We cannot simply tinker around the edges of systems that were never intended to serve all people. In order to center racial equity, policymakers must: 

• Collect and use disaggregated data.
• Plan for the most vulnerable.
• Implement race-conscious approaches to counter persistent racial inequities.

Rent cancellation matches the scope of the economic catastrophe ordinary households face. It is needed to ensure people can stay in their homes after eviction moratoriums end. Universal rent cancellation immediately and effectively reaches a huge swath of people, including those especially at risk of homelessness: people who are informally employed; lack a bank account or permanent address; or are undocumented. Download this policy summary of what should go into policy to cancel rents and mortgages and reclaim our homes.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, a broad moratorium on all evictions, foreclosures, and sweeps of homeless encampments is needed to protect public health. Moratoriums preserve access to shelter and ensure people are not displaced, slowing infections. No one should lose their home in these life-threatening conditions. Download this two-page policy summary of what should go into a strong moratorium on all evictions, foreclosures, and sweeps.

As wages have stagnated for the majority of workers in the U.S. and inequality has skyrocketed, racial inequity has grown. In Biloxi, Mississippi, these inequities are deep, leaving many Black and Latinx households facing racial and geographic barriers to economic opportunity. The coastal community of East Biloxi has the potential to address some of these inequities through investment in the federal Opportunity Zone program. However, this will only happen if there is an intentional focus on lifting up the most vulnerable communities. Download the brief to learn more about the federal Opportunity Zone program and how it can be leveraged to benefit low-income residents and people of color.