Office of the Mayor: Recover Forward Bloomington

The Challenge

The COVID pandemic has exposed Bloomington’s vulnerabilities and intensified the need to address multiple challenges. It is envisioned that over the next five years some of Bloomington’s biggest challenges will be: reduced tax revenues to provide services, job loss in many sectors of the economy, small business loss, especially in the tourism and arts and entertainment sector, increased pressure on the social service network, shortage of affordable housing, the ongoing need to eliminate long-standing racial inequities and the ongoing mitigation of and adaptation to the climate emergency. The COVID pandemic has exacerbated these challenges and has taken a disproportionate toll on people of color, lower-income households, and small businesses.To address these challenges, and grow in better alignment with the community’s values, in July 2020, Mayor John Hamilton launched the Recover Forward initiative. 

The Idea

Recover Forward is Mayor Hamilton’s plan for Bloomington’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic collapse. Recover Forward seeks not only to repair Bloomington but to renew it. Rather than restoring a pre-pandemic normal, Recover Forward seeks to rebuild Bloomington in a way that more thoroughly embodies our community’s goals for racial equity, a sustainable and resilient economy, and climate action. 

Recovering Forward toward racial equity will involve reviewing, reconsidering, and refreshing processes, programs, plans, and purchases across City government. To Recover Forward, Bloomington also must foster a sustainable, resilient, and equitable economy. The plan seeks to stimulate, strengthen, and diversify the local economy, attract employers, grow jobs and wages for those of different qualifications, and build resiliency and equity. While human health and finances have taken center stage during the COVID-19 crisis, the climate emergency has not retreated. Recover Forward integrates Bloomington’s actions to prepare for and mitigate the effects of global climate change into a comprehensive plan for heightened resilience.

The Cost:

The Bloomington Common Council approved reallocating $2 million of 2019 reversion funds on August 12, 2020, as the first in a multi-phase strategy to help the community rebound and thrive in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Recover Forward has three phases. Examples of Phase 1 projects being immediately rolled out in Fall 2020 include Code School ($100K), Affordable Home Ownership (Downpayment Assistance: $100K and Shared Appreciation Home Ownership, 2nd Mortgage Assistance: $350K), and Sidewalk and Path Enhancements ($400K). For a full list of Phase 1 initiatives check out https://bloomington.in.gov/recoverforward.

Phase 2 involves the passage of the 2021 budget, which was first presented to the council during the week of August 17, 2020. It passed, therefore so did a reallocation of $4 million of City reserves among departments to protect basic services during this challenging time and advance projects to increase racial, economic, and climate justice. Although the proposed local income tax increase that would supply revenue in the third phase of the Recover Forward plan did not get the approval of Bloomington’s City Council, and therefore did not progress to the local tax council, alternate sources of income are being explored to sustain and strengthen City services and address long-term goals.  

The Benefit:

In the words of Mayor Hamilton...

Our pandemic response began with a sprint, which we have run well, and now has become a marathon. And let’s be clear: Recover forward -- recovering the right way -- is not a return to some pre-pandemic normal, it is recovering into a community consistent with our values. By that I mean to recover from the pandemic and economic collapse FORWARD into the future we need – climbing our way out of trouble with our eyes firmly on the horizon, and explicitly with the goal of building the community we want –to be racially more just, economically more fair, and environmentally more sustainable. 

See https://bloomington.in.gov/mayor/speeches/2020/07/15/4519 

Recover Forward is a multi-stage process, but Bloomington has already begun reaping the benefits from its recovery investments in 2020:  updates as of late November 2020 are described here. In 2021, the budget will continue to support City operations and reaffirm the initiative’s direction. 

Metadata:

City Department: Office of the Mayor, Economic and Sustainable Development, Community and Family Resources

Point of Contact: Yael Ksander

Partners: Various

Partner Point of Contact: N/A

Date Implemented: July 2020

Type of Innovation: Brand New Service