A 10-Year Assessment of Equitable Geographic Inclusion in Minnesota's Legacy Amendment
2021-07
Loading...
Persistent link to this item
Statistics
View StatisticsJournal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Title
A 10-Year Assessment of Equitable Geographic Inclusion in Minnesota's Legacy Amendment
Authors
Published Date
2021-07
Publisher
Type
Thesis or Dissertation
Abstract
As a dynamic model for public funding to the arts - and the single largest state-based conservation finance measure to pass in the nation's history - Minnesota's Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment dictates annual government spending to environmental, artistic, and cultural causes in an unprecedented method. The Legacy Amendment boasts the largest voter turnout for an issue referendum in Minnesota's history and represents a nationally distinct policy model responsible for more than $3 billion in total dollars designated for the aforementioned purposes from 2009 to 2021. This project interrogates only one of several measurable areas of the policy model, specifically examining the geographic spread of funds over the amendment's first 10 years and using an equity lens to explore the relationship between government spending and the measure of "fairness" as a key criterion for success. Previous research exploring socially equitable public administration has challenged such ambiguous benchmarks for policy goals, instead encouraging more empirical, contextual definitions of how success might be determined. With these critiques in mind, this study lays the groundwork for understanding the Legacy Amendment as a multi-pronged instrument of economic subjectivity by navigating how the relationship between legislative priorities and spending decisions manifested during the first decade of the policy. Initial findings indicate approximately two-thirds of all Legacy funds affected statewide or multi-county causes, demonstrating a broad alignment with policy goals. Despite significant variances in total dollars spent, higher density urban areas and economic development regions demonstrated relatively parallel ratios in their share of Legacy spending per capita. The baseline data collected through this project lends itself to future examination of the Legacy Amendment's other self-described and perceivably benevolent goals.
Description
University of Minnesota College of Continuing and Professional Studies Capstone in partial fulfillment of the MPS in Arts and Cultural Leadership Program. Advisor Margo Gray. Spring 2021. Degree: Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Leadership. 1 document (pdf).
Related to
Replaces
License
Series/Report Number
Funding information
Isbn identifier
Doi identifier
Previously Published Citation
Suggested citation
Alfaro, Benjamin D. (2021). A 10-Year Assessment of Equitable Geographic Inclusion in Minnesota's Legacy Amendment. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/225049.
Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.