Equity Metrics
With the approval of Proposition B in June 2016, a revision to Section 16.107 Park, Recreation, and Open Space Fund of the City Charter mandates the Department to formally consider and measure equity. Specifically, the Charter directs
“… the Department shall develop, and the Commission shall adopt, a set of equity metrics to be used to establish a baseline of existing Recreation and park services and resources in“ low income neighborhoods and disadvantaged communities, compared to services and resources available in the City as a whole.”
Using a dataset adopted by the State of California called CalEnviroScreen 2.0, which provides a standard definition of“ disadvantaged” by census tract. Setting the standard at the 20 % most disadvantaged residents by census tract in San Francisco, the map below illustrates these areas now designated as Equity Zones. With this designation, the parks in service of these residents could be named, on data for those sites was collected, calculated, and compared to all other sites and the City as a whole:
Equity Zone( EZ) |
20 % of the City’ s population |
Park Access |
35 % of parks by number and 19 % of park acreage located in EZs |
Park Maintenance |
EZ parks had average Park Evaluation score of 85 % |
Recreation Resources |
46 % of all Recreation Resources were provided in EZ parks |
Park Investment |
52 % of Capital funding( FY15-FY17) allocated to EZ parks |
Volunteers |
22 % of Volunteer hours( both park and recreation) given at EZ park |
Safety |
57 % of all SFPD Incidents near-a-park were at EZ parks |
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See Appendix C on Page 28 for full Equity Metrics data, sources, and comparative values