Giving Compass' Take:

• The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and intensified long-standing disparities around the world. The authors at The Rockefeller Foundation discuss how cities can better use data, innovation, and partnerships to achieve a more resilient and equitable recovery.

• How can donor investment help sectors with data research and increase access to equitable resources? 

• Here are some suggestions and recommendations for donors responding to coronavirus. 

Whether managing dense housing and mass transit, providing water and sanitation, or creating small business incentives or cultural events, cities concentrate both risk and opportunity. Never has this been clearer than during the current Covid-19 pandemic, and urban communities have not been equally impacted.

In the U.S., African-Americans face a Covid-19 death rate that is six times higher than white Americans. Similarly, job losses for African Americans and Latino workers in the U.S. far outpace national averages. Women around the world are facing a surge of domestic violence as they quarantine in unsafe homes. And for the one in four city dwellers – nearly a billion souls – living in informal settlements, social distancing, and preventative hand-washing practices are luxuries that are far out of reach.

A truly resilient recovery cannot exist without equity.

Inequalities that drive divergent health outcomes are deeply rooted, reflecting a mix of structural racism, and a lack of investment in urban infrastructure and services for poorer and marginalized communities. As cities are already looking ahead to planning and resourcing recovery efforts, there is an opportunity to transform them in meaningful ways that not only protect vulnerable people from health threats, but also build resilience for the looming climate crisis as well.

Read the full article about how cities can help the coronavirus recovery by Lauren Sorkin and Oren Ahoobim at The Rockefeller Foundation.