City of Durham 

Recovery Plan

State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds

August 31, 2021 Report

Executive Summary

The City of Durham is working to promote the effective, efficient, and equitable 

distribution of federal fiscal recovery funds. We are partnering with the City’s Office of 

Equity & Inclusion and our local HBCU, North Carolina Central University to engage the 

broader community, identify key outcome goals, and ensure equity outcomes. This 

initial report outlines the intended uses of these funds, how we aim to promote equitable 

outcomes, engage the community, use evidence and evaluation, and identify key 

performance indicators. 
Uses of Funds

The City of Durham aims to maximize programmatic impact by prioritizing robust 

community engagement, soliciting community-driven proposals for funding, and 

designing a vetting and contract process that will facilitate effective, efficient, and 

equitable outcomes. Initially, the city set up six internal committees on revenue loss, 

economic development, resident/community support, employee hazard pay, transit, and 

housing/homelessness/rental assistance. The only funds that have been allocated thus 

are were for public sector employee pay (see table of Expenditure Category for more 

information).

At one of our community events, we asked participants to rank the eligible uses for 

these federal funds. Here are the results:

As we began to solicit ideas and proposals for funding from internal departments and 

external stakeholders, we identified four core categories to focus the use of federal 

recovery funds and drive our overall approach for pandemic recovery.

Proposals are currently being sorted into four core categories:
HEALTH

– Benefits public health and wellness by improving access to public 

benefits for disenfranchised people most impacted by COVID-19.

HOUSING

– Prevent displacement of people in legacy neighborhoods and 

support community development goals. 

EDUCATION

– Restore and expand educational and/or caregiving infrastructure.

EMPLOYMENT

– Connect workers with good jobs and careers.

– Support current and future BIPOC business owners.

Many proposals for funding cut across these categories while others fall into a 

miscellaneous category. Going forward, we will continue to engage internal city 

departments, regional partners, and community stakeholders to gather ideas, vet 

proposals, and advance funding in alignment with recommended guidance and 

community priorities. 

Promoting Equitable Outcomes

The City of Durham has worked closely with its Office of Equity and Inclusion to ensure 

that the city’s outreach and allocation process promotes equitable outcomes. Together, 

we have identified shared goals, built public awareness, investigated existing 

disparities, and started to outline desired outcomes. 

Funding Goals: 

1. Target historically disenfranchised communities of color. 

– Does the proposal explicitly state how it will prioritize the needs of 

historically disenfranchised communities of color?

– What percentage of funding proposed will reach communities of color?

2. Respond to the needs of frontline workers and COVID-impacted people.

– What neighborhoods & communities are poised to benefit from this 

proposal?

– Is the proposal directly responsive to the needs of workers on the frontline 

of the pandemic? 

– Does the proposal prioritize COVID-impacted people?

3. Provide a “down payment” toward advancing racial equity. 

– Will this funding work to advance Durham’s long-term racial equity goals?

We have also committed to using an equity impact assessment to support systemic 

examination of how different racial and ethnic groups will likely be affected by a

proposed action or decision, minimize unanticipated adverse consequences in a variety 
of contexts, including the analysis of proposed funding decisions, and serve as a vital 

tool for preventing institutional racism while identifying new options to remedy longstanding inequities. 

Community Engagement

In partnership with the Office of Equity and Inclusion, we have used the equity impact 

assessment tool to identify gaps in information and work internal departments to gather 

additional details on root causes and clear impact measures for their funding proposals.

To engage the broader Durham community, City and County staff partnered with North 

Carolina Central University (NCCU) to host two virtual events; one focused on 

identifying needs and ideas and one focused on prioritizing the input that was received 

from the community. Each event was attended by more than 100 residents. Staff also 

leveraged participatory budgeting partnerships to generate over 300 survey responses 

and 80 proposals for funding from Durham residents and community based 

organizations. Through this engagement, community members ranked in the following 

eligible uses in the following order of priority: economic impacts, public health, 

broadband, premium pay, revenue replacement, and water & sewer infrastructure.

At one of our community events, we asked participants to rank a list of criteria that could 

be used to prioritize proposals for funding. Here are the results:
As we await final guidance from the U.S. Treasury, staff will continue to engage the 

community, provide clarity and transparency about the process, and review proposals 

for funding. Staff is working on a plan for ongoing rounds of engagement, proposal 

development, and vetting.

To aid in this process, staff collaborated to develop this draft scorecard that can be used 

to prioritize proposals for funding with an equity lens: 
ScoringEligibility Equity 

Impact

Strategic 

Goals

Community 

Benefit Collaboration Environmental Sustainability

Administration/ 

Reporting

Qualified 

Census 

Tract

0

Does not 

meet 

Treasury 

guidelines

Does 

not 

satisfy 

equity 

criteria

Does not 

align with 

existing 

strategic 

goals

Less than 

25% of 

community 

will benefit

No stakeholders 

identified

Negative 

environmental 

impact

Very difficult to 

measure 

success and 

report on 

outcomes

Does not 

target 

funding 

into a 

QCT

2

Likely 

meets 

Treasury 

guidelines

Satisfies 

some 

but not 

all 

equity 

criteria

Somewhat 

aligns with 

some 

strategic 

goals

26% to 50% 

of 

community 

will benefit

Some 

stakeholders 

identified, but 

lacking existing 

partnerships/crosssector 

collaboration

Neutral 

environmental 

impact

Somewhat 

difficult to 

measure 

success and 

report on 

outcomes

Targets 

some 

funding 

into a 

QCT

4

Clearly 

meets 

Treasury 

guidelines

Satisfies 

all 

equity 

criteria

Align well 

with 

existing 

strategic 

goals

Majority 

(51%) of 

community 

will benefit

Stakeholders 

already engaged 

from multiple 

sectors

Positive 

environmental 

impact

Easy to track 

metrics, 

evaluate 

success, and 

report to 

Treasury

Targets 

all 

funding 

into a 

QCT

To streamline and support the management, accounting, evaluation, and reporting of 

these funds, additional staff capacity is needed. To support the efficient, effective, and 

equitable implementation of this plan, we aim to hire at least two positions: one Grants 

Accountant in the Finance Department and one Grants Administrator in the Budget and 

Management Services Department. This additional capacity will support the effective, 

efficient, and equitable allocation and evaluation of funds. 

Labor Practices

No workforce practices or infrastructure projects are currently being pursued. 
Use of Evidence

The City of Durham is in the process of developing data collection and evaluation 

methods to ensure that project and interventions are being evaluated through rigorous 

program evaluations designed to support strategic goals and inform long-term funding 

decisions. Moving forward, staff will be focused on ways to track and measure the 

impact of federal funding decisions.

Table of Expenses by Expenditure Category

Category Cumulative 

expenditures to 

date ($)

Amount spent 

since last 

Recovery Plan

4 Expenditure 

Category: Premium 

Pay

4.1 Public Sector 

Employees

$7,317,295 $7,317,295

Eligible public employees received premium pay in the amount of 5% of salary 

(retroactive from 6/20/20-6/18/2021) and an additional lump sum premium bonus 

ranging from $1,500 to $1,000 depending on your salary. 

$1,500 if your salary was equal to or less $50K

$1,250 if salary was between $50K and $90K

$1,000 if salary was equal to $90K or above.

About 63% of city staff received premium pay. Our HR department used the premium 

pay eligibility criteria below:

The options for "Premium Pay Eligible" are Yes, Partially, or No: 

Yes - Select "Yes" if the employee is full-time, part-time, or temporary with 

benefits (exempt or non-exempt) and met one of the following criteria for the 

period 7/1/2020 - current. 1. Employee is a first responder including Fire, Police, 

and Emergency Communications. Not all employees within Police, Fire, and 911 

perform first responder functions, and therefore they are not all automatically 

entitled to premium pay. 2. Employee’s work involves solid waste collection, 

inspections, plant operations, infrastructure maintenance and repairs, fleet 

maintenance, traffic signal operations, or laboratory testing and analysis. 3. 

Employee is not telecommuting but performing essential City work 100% of their 

scheduled working time, and such work places them in the field or at a work site 

that involves exposure to the public or working in groups where social distancing 

is not always possible. 4. Employees who are telecommuting on some days but 
at least 3 or more days per work week have to work in the community or at a 

work site that involves exposure to the public or working in groups where social 

distancing is not always possible. This does not include employees who are 

choosing to work onsite. 

Partially - If the employee met the criteria for "Yes" listed above for more than 4 

weeks between 7/1/2020 and today, but does not currently OR did not meet the 

criteria for the entire time, please choose this option. Then enter the date range 

during which the employee would have been eligible in the "Dates if Partial" 

column. Please round up to include only full work weeks. 

No - If the employee is in the Executive group, is not currently working, is 

teleworking and does not qualify per item 4 above, or does not otherwise qualify 

per the guidelines above. 

Please note, if an employee took approved vacation, sick, management leave, 

floating holiday, banked holiday, COVID leave, etc. during this fiscal year, this 

does not impact their premium pay eligibility. However, if they are on extended 

leave such as long-term FMLA (FFRCA, Paid Temporary Disability, other FMLA 

leaves), military leave, parental leave or worker’s comp, they should not receive 

premium pay for this time.

As additional allocations are made, subsequent reports will include more detailed 

project inventories and performance reports.