Evaluation design for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund

What was the challenge?

The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) is a program run by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments across the country to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 provided $350 billion of funding to SLFRF to fight the pandemic and support families and businesses struggling with its public health and economic impacts; maintain vital public services, even amid declines in revenue resulting from the crisis; and build a strong, resilient, and equitable recovery by making investments that support long-term growth and opportunity.

What did we do?

We partnered with Treasury to identify and recommend data sources and evaluation opportunities to build evidence about the ARP funds spent through the SLFRF program. We reviewed SLFRF guidance and conducted a systematic review of research reports on SLFRF to identify data that can be used to monitor and assess the program. OES then designed descriptive and impact evaluations options to assess a range of important economic and equity outcomes.

What did we learn?

We identified a number of potential short-term and longer-term evidence-building opportunities to use administrative and survey data to build evidence about the role of the SLFRF program in improving outcomes for disproportionately impacted populations.

See the Treasury Office of Capital Access (formerly the Office of Recovery Programs) learning agenda for more.