§ 16. Special fund for equity assistance.

(a) Authorization.

(1) By Ordinance, the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore may establish a continuing, nonlapsing fund for purposes of assisting efforts that reduce inequity based on race, gender, or economic status in Baltimore.

(2) These purposes include supporting and augmenting programs and activities that are designed to:

(i) provide equity in housing;

(ii) provide equitable access to education;

(iii) assist efforts to redress past inequities in City capital budget spending; and

(iv) eliminating structural and institutional racism and other forms of discrimination based on immutable characteristics.

(b) Revenue sources.

The fund established under this section may consist of:

(1) money appropriated to the fund in the annual Ordinance of Estimates;

(2) grants or donations made to the fund; and

(3) proceeds from fines, fees, surcharges, or other revenues dedicated to the fund by ordinance.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Charter, unspent portions of the fund established under this section:

(1) remain in the fund, to be used exclusively for their ordained purposes;

(2) do not revert to the general revenues of the City; and

(3) their appropriations do not lapse.