Smart Growth America, with support from CDC’s Active People, Healthy Nation initiative℠, launched the Complete Streets Leadership Academies in Alaska, California, Connecticut, and Tennessee to equip and train local agencies and state departments of transportation to collaborate, innovate, and commit to making changes together to address safety on these dangerous state-owned roads. Cohorts were selected … Continued
Day 1 | 4:00-4:55 p.m. At the Equity Summit, we’ve invited partner organizations to lead workshop sessions to examine real-world equity implications in planning. Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, CityFi, and Center for Creative Land Recycling for engaging and interactive discussions to move what we hear at the Summit into practice. Check out the … Continued
After over eight years at the helm, today Jair Lynch is transitioning from his role as President of LOCUS, Smart Growth America’s coalition of triple-bottom-line real estate developers and investors. As we thank Jair for his profound impact on LOCUS and the landscape of sustainable real estate development writ large, we wanted to share his reflections on his tenure.
Smart Growth America (SGA) is looking for an individual or small firm with experience in data visualization and visual storytelling to support a new effort that analyzes the need for both vehicle miles traveled reduction and vehicle electrification to meet greenhouse gas emissions goals. These visuals and animations should be interactive and will be displayed … Continued
Divisive infrastructure has had long-term damage, both tangible and intangible, on Black and Brown communities. While we are beginning to see policies, programs, and funding to combat the destructive legacies of past decision-making, work remains and barriers to finding solutions exist. This panel will discuss how street design, community engagement, and a holistic approach to … Continued
Smart growth practitioners seeking to advance equity in and through our work experience tremendous, often overwhelming, stressors and challenges on a daily basis that can lead to exhaustion and burnout. This workshop aims to help people engaged in equity and justice work become more attuned with how such stress may be showing up in our … Continued
To provide a practical response to the information presented in Dangerous By Design, a Smart Growth America report that identifies unsafe road design as the main culprit in rising pedestrian deaths, this panel will explore a unique partnership between WABA, Howard University, and local high school students to address traffic violence before it happens through … Continued
Learn from cultural organizing groups from community-based organizations across the country working to preserve commercial corridors and community centers through arts and culture outside of historic urban ethnic enclaves. BIPOC/immigrant community members will find effective cultural community organizing strategies to build power and renegotiate exclusionary, top-down, community planning processes. Panelists will also discuss national initiatives … Continued
Structural racism in land use, infrastructure, and lending policies have physically divided and damaged communities of color and denied generations opportunities for wealth-building. Frontline community and advocacy organizations, frequently led by people of color, have fought these discriminatory practices and policies as well as their de facto effects for years, often with little support from … Continued
Efforts to advance equity in today’s environment face major structural setbacks, including the recent Supreme Court decision overturning affirmative action and reduced corporate commitment to DEI. Panelists representing a range of fields, including transportation, housing, and the civic sector, will reflect on how they are continuing to center equity in the face of these challenges. … Continued