Equity Distribution Model of CARES Act Funding to Suburban Municipalities

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

Cook County deployed a unique allocation method to distribute $51 million of CARES Act funding to 129 municipalities located within Cook County. Two-thirds of the funding was allocated using an equity score assigned to each municipality using independently verifiable third-party data. The equity score formula was developed by Cook County along with the assistance of our region’s local metropolitan planning organization, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (“CMAP”). The equity score formula grouped each municipality into deciles along a normal distribution of four categories: median income, tax base per capita, COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 and percentage of population in an economically disadvantaged area. The resulting “equity scores” ranged between 1 and 100 and reflect the County’s commitment to combatting the issue of historic inequality by recognizing how decades of disinvestment along with widening income inequalities have led to myriad disparities throughout Cook County. Municipalities with higher “equity scores” were given a greater allocation of CARES ACT funding. This model ensured our most vulnerable communities could continue providing services in a period of immense social, economic and political volatility. The model itself is open, transparent and can be easily replicated to provide “equity scores” for any grouping of municipalities.