City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 1

City of Riverside 

2021 Recovery Plan

Table of Contents

General Overview ....................................................................................................................2

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 2

Uses of Funds ............................................................................................................................. 5

Promoting Equitable Outcomes............................................................................................. 7

Community Engagement........................................................................................................ 9

Labor Practices ....................................................................................................................... 10

Use of Evidence ...................................................................................................................... 11

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category...................................................................... 11

Project Inventory.....................................................................................................................14
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 2

Executive Summary 

The City of Riverside (City) is a diverse and dynamic city that recognizes the impacts the 

Covid-19 pandemic has had on our community. The pandemic impacted all aspects of 

life and these impacts continue to be prevalent in our community. During the pandemic 

social distancing, business and school closures led to loss of jobs and a transition to 

distance learning. This also led to an increase in food insecurity and other negative 

impacts to households and businesses. Amid this health crisis the City responded 

innovatively to an unprecedented situation. The City activated its Emergency Operations 

Center (EOC) to prevent and address the spread of Covid-19. This included mitigation 

and prevention, public communications, issuance and enforcement of health orders, 

testing and vaccinations, and the formation of two teams to respond and support 

businesses and the community. 

Riverside Road to Recovery

The City understood that the health crisis would not only have short-term impacts, but 

longer term impacts to the community that needed to be addressed within only a few 

months into the pandemic. The City developed a framework to drive recovery in 

Riverside. This framework was divided into three phases Response, Recovery, and Thrive.

Within each phase, key categories with broad objectives and supporting actions were 

created to support the overall goals. In May 2020, the Riverside Road to Recovery 

(Recovery Framework) was approved by the City Council. 

The Recovery Framework is intended to: 

1. Provide a sustainable and resilient post-crisis recovery framework for Riverside’s 

residents, businesses, workforce, and other agencies that remains fluid to 

changing response activities and regulatory guidelines.

2. Identify ways to combat the pandemic in a meaningful way, and identify 

responses and recovery strategies that are appropriate to the risks and can be 

sustained over necessary periods. 

3. Employ the tools necessary to keep virus transmissions as low as possible while 

restarting the economy.

4. Identify measures of effective health protection with gradual relaxation of 

restrictions in the social and economic environment.

5. Establish a strategy to guide the nimble development of implementable actions 

through a phased approach during the economic recovery.

General Overview
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 3

Areas of Focus:

This framework is broken down into five key areas: Economy, Community, Environment –

Natural and Built, Internal 

Organizational Response and 

Communication. Under each 

Area of Focus, there are 

identified objectives with 

corresponding action items 

and anticipated benefits. These 

will be used to guide the 

development of implementation items, identify responsible City departments, key 

partners, and community stakeholders, and establish any necessary timelines and 

budgets.

The Recovery Framework is intended to be a fluid framework and is meant to be flexible 

in response to evolving changes of the pandemic and availability of resources. The 

Recovery Framework also considers strategies to mitigate impacts to community 

members and suggests other strategies to ensure the recovery process is safe, equitable, 

and inclusive. The development of this Recovery Framework has better positioned the 

city to develop an equitable and inclusive plan for the American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

Riverside 2025 Strategic Plan 

On October 20, 2020, the City Council approved the Strategic Plan identifying six 

strategic priorities. Cross-Cutting Threads are incorporated throughout all areas of the 

Riverside 2025 Strategic Plan that are reflected in all our outcomes. Implementation of all 

Strategic Priorities should be reflected in all our outcomes include: Community Trust, 

Equity, Fiscal Responsibility, Innovation, and Sustainability and Resiliency. These crosscutting threads will be implemented in designing and implementing projects and 

programs with the funds received. 
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 4

Cross Cutting 

Thread Description Applicable Evaluation for ARPA

Community Trust

Riverside is transparent and makes 

decisions based on sound policy, 

inclusive community engagement, 

involvement of City Boards & 

Commissions, and timely and reliable 

information. Activities and actions by 

the City serve the public interest, 

benefit the City’s diverse populations, 

and result in greater public good.

Implementation of engagement of 

constituents and communities in 

developing plans for use of funds to 

catalyze broader economic 

recovery and rebuilding. 

Equity

Riverside is supportive of the City’s 

racial, ethnic, religious, sexual 

orientation, identity, geographic, and 

other attributes of diversity and is 

committed to advancing the fairness 

of treatment, recognition of rights, 

and equitable distribution of services 

to ensure every member of the 

community has equal access to share 

in the benefits of community progress.

Evaluation of potential programs 

and projects response to 

disproportionately impacted 

groups and the exacerbation of 

health inequities along racial, 

ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. 

Fiscal

Responsibility

Riverside is a prudent steward of 

public funds and ensures responsible 

management of the City’s financial 

resources while providing quality 

public services to all.

Evaluation of potential programs 

for necessary investments in 

services and infrastructure. 

Provision of government services to 

the extent of the reduction in 

revenue due to Covid-19. 

Innovation

Riverside is inventive and timely in 

meeting the community’s changing 

needs and prepares for the future 

through collaborative partnerships 

and adaptive processes.

Evaluation of programs to make 

necessary investments in water, 

sewer, or broadband infrastructure. 

Sustainability and

Resiliency

Riverside is committed to meeting the 

needs of the present without 

compromising the needs of the future 

and ensuring the City’s capacity to 

persevere, adapt and grow during 

good and difficult times alike.

Evaluation of projects and 

programs adaptability to changes 

and continued change over time 

to the response to the Covid-19 

public health emergency. 

These guiding plans along with community input, potential regional collaborations, 

infrastructure, and health and safety demands will be considered as the City develops 

an expenditure plan that will promote a response to the pandemic and economic 

recovery. 
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 5

Uses of Funds

On July 13, 2021, the City Council received an overview of the American Rescue Plan 

Act (ARPA) and moved to approve a return to the City Council for a workshop to focus 

on the use of the funds. The workshop is anticipated to take place in October 2021. 

The City of Riverside is carefully considering and evaluating the use of ARPA funds. The 

City Council will be reviewing a proposed expenditure plan for the first tranch of funds 

received in June 2021. The proposed expenditure plan will be guided by the Interim Final 

Rule and may change to comply with the Final Rule when published by US Department 

of the Treasury and the needs of our community. 

While an expenditure plan has not been approved by the City Council, staff has been 

assessing needs and opportunities for a careful consideration of programs to help support 

a strong and equitable recovery. These efforts have been done with consideration and 

in alignment with the City’s Strategic Plan adopted in October 2021 and the Riverside 

Road to Recovery approved in May 2020. In addition to the abovementioned, two 

community surveys have served as tools to assess needs in the community. The two 

surveys are the CARES Act community survey that guided the distribution of funds for 

services and the Riverside Road to Recovery community survey. These two surveys 

indicated the community’s priorities in terms of response and recovery. Below is an 

overview of the two surveys. 

Riverside Road to Recovery 

CARES Act Community Survey Results

Ranking of potential areas of need for the community

– Food Assistance

– Childcare Assistance

– K-12 Distance Learning

– Rental Assistance

– Small Business Assistance

– Affordable Housing

– Health/Mental Health

– Business and nonprofit support*

At the conclusion of CARES funded programs, the abovementioned areas continued 

to express need

*Riverside Road to Recovery 

At the onset of the pandemic, the City created two interdepartmental teams the Business 

Support and the Community Support teams to respond to negative impacts of the 
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 6

pandemic. These two teams worked closely with community based organizations and 

nonprofits to provide essential services to the community such as food. Through these 

collaborative efforts much was learned about the needs of the community. Information 

gathered and learned by the response activities will be used and helpful to design 

programs and projects for a strong and equitable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic 

and economic downturn. 

Projects and programs will be strategically structured and considered to respond to

impacts. These programs and projects may include, but are not limited to a response to:

 Mitigation and prevention 

 Broader health impacts

 Negative economic impacts to households, businesses, and nonprofits

 Resources and services to communities that are disproportionately impacted 

 Infrastructure supporting recovery 

Riverside’s small and micro-business community accounts for between 60% and 70% of 

all local businesses, and over 32% of private employment in the City. This includes a 

growing number of home-based operations that may represent the primary income or 

serve as an important supplement to an otherwise low to moderate income household.

COVID-19 has put significant stress on these businesses, and as noted by the Small 

Business Development Centers, the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities impacting 

small businesses owned by women, people of color and businesses in underserved 

communities. Many were unable to successfully apply for State and Federal relief, and 

even among those that did, the duration of the pandemic and lingering economic 

uncertainty pose a threat to survival.

When designing programs the City will assess and consider how funds may be used to 

respond to these negative economic impact and ways to potentially provide economic 

support that may infuse recovery capital into the most impacted sectors of the small 

business community. It will focus on businesses that were unsuccessful in applying for 

other sources of support and put a priority on industry sectors and disadvantaged 

communities that data from the CARES ACT grant and staff outreach identified as most 

affected. In addition, programs will be considered that provide a platform for 

collaboration with partners to improve awareness of other critical support services that 

businesses need for an equitable recovery.

Non-profits, arts & cultural organizations and event organizers as with most businesses had 

to strategize and implement new practices to serve, produce and provide to the 

residents and visitors to the City of Riverside. The difference for these businesses versus 

“traditional” businesses is they are often volunteer driven and work on extremely tight 

financial budgets that rarely leave room for extreme emergencies as with the case of the 

pandemic. At the onset of the pandemic, city staff contacted over 300 non-profits to 

learn the unique needs of the organizations; the resources and information that would 

best help their organizations to continue their valuable service; and to connect the 
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 7

community with the resources that these organizations provide. Programs will be 

designed to ensure the services and funding will provide opportunities for these 

organizations to stay relevant, allow them to transition to a new way of providing services, 

and diversify their programs to meet more of the needs of our community. City Staff 

heard and saw from many nonprofits that their traditional donors, suppliers, funders were 

not able to continue their services or funding, programs will be designed to provide 

opportunities that will allow them to continue to serve.

As indicated from the survey results abovementioned, the community identified priorities 

to respond to the negative impacts to households. A consistent prioritized need in the 

community was the need for food security. Food insecurity existed prior to the pandemic 

and was only exacerbated by the crisis. Programs will be designed to not only address 

food insecurity for the most vulnerable communities, but to also ensure that there is a 

focus on sustainable food systems from farm to fork that will support workforce 

development by farmer training. Community food pantries were one of the first in our 

community to respond to the household impacts of the pandemic by providing food to 

residents including the most vulnerable such as seniors and families faced with 

unemployment. Additional programs will be designed with focus on equity in food

systems by supporting local pantries through program guidance in reducing waste,

providing client and volunteer education, and delivery service of locally grown fresh

produce to support local farms. All services will be geared toward underserved

communities, low-income residents, and our senior population.

There are many studies that show children are entering the school year having 

experienced at least one year of learning loss, daily we see the unemployment numbers 

increase, and COVID-19 variants are making it more important than ever that we put 

infrastructure in place that reduces the risk of exposure. During the pandemic, the City 

learned that parks, community centers, and libraries are critical connectors to the 

community. Designing integration of programs at these community hubs will allow 

underserved communities to receive services alongside essential services. The programs 

designed may include: workforce development for those that were impacted by 

COVID19, increased educational outcomes for students that were disproportionally 

impacted by school closures as a result of COVID19, risk mitigation to stop the spread of 

COVID19 and other illness in the community, mental health support, and childcare 

support. 

Promoting equitable outcomes 

Equitable distribution of services is in the forefront of our programs and projects that will 

be considered for these funds. To ensure that the City’s efforts promote equitable 

outcomes, when designing programs an assessment to facilitate recovery at the 

community level will be involved. The following Recovery Framework may be used to 

assist in ensuring equitable outcomes. 
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 8

Facilitating Recovery at the Community Level 

Assessment: Assessment of resources that can help facilitate recovery based on 

identification of community needs resulting from the impacts of the pandemic. By 

evaluating the situation and identifying what is needed and what resources are 

available, community needs can be met. 

 Provide factual and trusted information and resources 

 Determine remaining or changed needs and resources

 Identify assets in the community 

o Partnership with community groups and stakeholders, i.e. neighborhood 

groups, education, social services, health organizations, arts & culture 

groups, transportation 

 Identify assets available through city departments, i.e. Examples include but are 

not limited to: 

o Parks, Recreation and Community Services: recreation programs and 

classes, community and senior centers, community events 

o Library: literacy and education resources, information services and 

workforce programs

o Neighborhood Engagement Division and Arts & Cultural Division: support 

to nonprofits and programs, community engagement

o Riverside Public Utilities and Public Works: residential customer resources 

and educational programs, infrastructure 

o Police and Fire: safety programs and resources

 Collection of data and tools to assist in designing and implementing programs

o Use of City’s geographic information system (GIS) data 

o Use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Qualifying Census 

Tracts mapping

o Community based organizations, economic development, nonprofit data 

sharing

o Federal, State, County health indicators

The City intends to serve historically underserved communities identified by the 

assessment to accomplish closing gaps, reaching universal levels of service, and ensuring 

programs are evaluated to indicate equity progress.

A focus will be placed on efforts to raise awareness, access and distribution. This is going 

to be accomplished by several efforts including the development of relationships through 

partnerships, practices, and resources.
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 9

Partnerships: Identify community partners to be involved in the recovery efforts. 

Collaborating and bringing these partnerships together will inspire a thoughtful 

process to rebuild the community.

 Identify community leaders at all levels, i.e. neighborhood leaders, nonprofit 

organizations, creative community, faith-based organizations, and education 

leaders. 

 Public safety, i.e. Police and Fire, EOC

 Identifying opportunities to link and foster connections with the committees and 

subgroups. 

Equitable Practices and Resources: It is vital and valuable to recognize and honor that 

many diverse communities make up the community of Riverside. These communities 

may have specific needs. 

 Address and respond to all groups in the community and consider for example: 

o Geographic communities 

o Age

o Ethnicity 

o Language 

 Reduce barriers and increase access

 Find community gatekeepers and request their involvement 

Community Engagement 

The City is currently working on developing a Community Engagement Plan to implement 

efforts for an equitable engagement with community. Upon adoption of the plan and 

toolkit, the City will utilize these tools to further efforts for equitable engagement with the 

community. 

The community will have opportunities to participate and provide comments, feedback, 

and input in several ways including but not limited to: 

 City Council meetings 

 Community surveys 

 Community meetings and events 

 Email correspondence 

 Community based organizations partners 

 Information available on dedicated ARPA web page

The community engagement will focus on promoting and facilitating community vitality 

and social connection. 
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 10

Promote and facilitate Community Vitality: Developing opportunities and providing 

resource that empower the community and encourage continuity and stability within the 

community to adjust and change with success. Obtaining input from the community to 

better respond to:

 Employment opportunity and training for new skills and knowledge 

 Accessible and affordable temporary and permanent housing 

 Access to safe and nutritious food

 Community health and safety resources

 Education and cultural resources 

 Diversify resources to advocate for more equitable forms of resource distributions

Social Connection: Fostering social networks of support within the community will 

enhance the sense of community and increase resiliency and capacity resulting in 

improved community health, engagement, and enrichment. Obtaining input from the 

community to better respond to:

 Identify what activities, programs, and resources encourage community resiliency

 Foster the return to social integration with others in a manner that is safe and 

reduces risks

 Strengthening social capital and sense of community 

Labor Practices 

The City of Riverside will continue to implement workforce practices on any infrastructure 

projects being pursued using strong labor standards to promote effective and efficient 

delivery of high-quality while also supporting the economic recovery through strong 

employment opportunities for workers. 

An example of these practices includes those from the Public Works Department listed 

below but are not limited to: 

1. Prevailing Wages;

2. Competitive Bid Process with the lowest responsible bidder receiving the project;

3. Projects support the City’s Strategic Priorities and Five Cross-Cutting Threads to

benefit communities across the City; and/or

4. The City employs engineering and construction management staff to design and

construct high-quality infrastructure projects.
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 11

Use of Evidence 

The City may use funds for evidence-based interventions. The City will evaluate programs 

to ensure accountability and identify opportunities to improve them moving forward. 

Programs will be evaluated and standards to evaluate the program will ensure accuracy 

and equity. Upon approval of expenditure plan the City will provide an overall approach 

for using evidence and evaluation that is specific to approved programs, services and/or 

collaborations. 

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category

The City has not completed the process to identify funds to be used in each Expenditure 

Category. At this time there are no expenditures to be reported. 

Category Cumulative

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent 

since last 

Recovery Plan

1 Expenditure Category: Public Health

1.1 COVID-19 Vaccination - -

1.2 COVID-19 Testing - -

1.3 COVID-19 Contact Tracing - -

1.4 Prevention in Congregate Settings (Nursing 

Homes, Prisons/Jails, Dense Work Sites, 

Schools, etc.)

- -

1.5 Personal Protective Equipment - -

1.6 Medical Expenses (including Alternative Care 

Facilities)

- -

1.7 Capital Investments or Physical Plant Changes 

to Public Facilities that respond to the COVID19 public health emergency

- -

1.8 Other COVID-19 Public Health Expenses 

(including Communications, Enforcement, 

Isolation/Quarantine)

- -

1.9 Payroll Costs for Public Health, Safety, and 

Other Public Sector Staff Responding to 

COVID-19

- -

1.10 Mental Health Services - -

1.11 Substance Use Services - -

1.12 Other Public Health Services - -

2 Expenditure Category: Negative Economic 

Impacts

2.1 Household Assistance: Food Programs - -

2.2 Household Assistance: Rent, Mortgage, and 

Utility Aid 

- -

2.3 Household Assistance: Cash Transfers - -
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 12

Category Cumulative

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent 

since last 

Recovery Plan

2.4 Household Assistance: Internet Access 

Programs

- -

2.5 Household Assistance: Eviction Prevention - -

2.6 Unemployment Benefits or Cash Assistance to 

Unemployed Workers

- -

2.7 Job Training Assistance (e.g., Sectoral jobtraining, Subsidized Employment, Employment 

Supports or Incentives)

- -

2.8 Contributions to UI Trust Funds* - -

2.9 Small Business Economic Assistance (General) - -

2.10 Aid to nonprofit organizations - -

2.11 Aid to Tourism, Travel, or Hospitality - -

2.12 Aid to Other Impacted Industries - -

2.13 Other Economic Support - -

2.14 Rehiring Public Sector Staff - -

3 Expenditure Category: Services to 

Disproportionately Impacted Communities

3.1 Education Assistance: Early Learning - -

3.2 Education Assistance: Aid to High-Poverty 

Districts

- -

3.3 Education Assistance: Academic Services - -

3.4 Education Assistance: Social, Emotional, and 

Mental Health Services 

- -

3.5 Education Assistance: Other - -

3.6 Healthy Childhood Environments: Child Care - -

3.7 Healthy Childhood Environments: Home Visiting - -

3.8 Healthy Childhood Environments: Services to 

Foster Youth or Families Involved in Child 

Welfare System 

- -

3.9. Healthy Childhood Environments: Other - -

3.10 Housing Support: Affordable Housing - -

3.11 Housing Support: Services for Unhoused 

persons 

- -

3.12 Housing Support: Other Housing Assistance - -

3.13 Social Determinants of Health: Other - -

3.14 Social Determinants of Health: Community 

Health Workers or Benefits Navigators 

- -

3.15 Social Determinants of Health: Lead 

Remediation

- -

3.16 Social Determinants of Health: Community 

Violence Interventions 

- -

4 Expenditure Category: Premium Pay

4.1 Public Sector Employees - -
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 13

Category Cumulative

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent 

since last 

Recovery Plan

4.2 Private Sector: Grants to other employers - -

5 Expenditure Category: Infrastructure

5.1 Clean Water: Centralized wastewater treatment - -

5.2 Clean Water: Centralized wastewater collection 

and conveyance

- -

5.3 Clean Water: Decentralized wastewater - -

5.4 Clean Water: Combined sewer overflows - -

5.5 Clean Water: Other sewer infrastructure - -

5.6 Clean Water: Stormwater - -

5.7 Clean Water: Energy conservation - -

5.8 Clean Water: Water conservation - -

5.9 Clean Water: Nonpoint source - -

5.10 Drinking water: Treatment - -

5.11 Drinking water: Transmission & distribution - -

5.12 Drinking water: Transmission & distribution: 

lead remediation

- -

5.13 Drinking water: Source - -

5.14 Drinking water: Storage - -

5.15 Drinking water: Other water infrastructure - -

5.16 Broadband: “Last Mile” projects - -

5.17 Broadband: Other projects - -

6 Expenditure Category: Revenue Replacement

6.1 Provision of Government Services - -

7 Administrative and Other

7.1 Administrative Expenses - -

7.2 Evaluation and data analysis - -

7.3 Transfers to Other Units of Government - -

7.4 Transfers to Nonentitlement Units 

(States and Territories only)

- -
City of Riverside 2021 Recovery Plan Performance Report 14

The City has not completed the process to identify funds to be used in each Expenditure 

Category. At this time there are no projects for reporting. The City Council will be 

presented with a proposed expenditure plan and upon approval updates to the report

will be made.

Project Inventory