Smart growth can provide a guide for recovery


Our economy is at a virtual standstill because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and healthcare. Businesses of all sizes are facing an existential threat. Local municipal budgets are being gutted. As we hope for light at the end of the tunnel we’ll need to craft a smart recovery. We leaned on our experience with the stimulus of 2009 and our long expertise in infrastructure and community development to produce a package of federal policy recommendations Congress should consider to build the foundation for a long-lasting recovery.

Advocacy Economic development LOCUS Transportation

Webinar recap: the National Opportunity Zones Marketplace


LOCUS & Smart Growth America recently launched the National Opportunity Zones Marketplace, an online resource to help facilitate equitable development and information sharing. It’s the latest evolution of our work to ensure that new investment in Opportunity Zones benefit existing residents the community at-large instead of displacing the people the tax incentive was intended to help. Watch the recorded webinar about how to use the Marketplace.

Economic development LOCUS Technical assistance

New Opportunity Zones Marketplace will help local leaders partner with developers to produce more equitable development

Smart Growth America and its LOCUS coalition of responsible real estate investors & developers today launched the National Opportunity Zones Marketplace to equip the local governments, real estate developers and investors, and community leaders in 13 communities across the country to work together to make smart, equitable development possible in Opportunity Zones—and beyond.

LOCUS

House majority adopts Smart Growth America’s unified approach to infrastructure


The House majority’s recent infrastructure proposal finally recognizes what Smart Growth America has been saying for years: We’ll never be able to build and sustain healthy, prosperous and resilient communities without a unified approach to transportation, climate, water, land use, and community development. This is a smart first step, but the details will determine whether or not these investments improve the deep inequities in America, or just make them worse.

Advocacy Complete Streets Economic development LOCUS Resilience Rural Development Transportation

Opportunity Zones aid in historic revitalization and mixed-use development in Greenfield and Montague


The City of Greenfield and the Town of Montague in Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley sought technical assistance through the first-ever Massachusetts Opportunity Zones Academy to help determine future equitable development project feasibility in their three Opportunity Zones.

LOCUS

Salem considers Opportunity Zones for new mixed-use and TOD development


The proposed South Salem Commuter Rail Station has brought a lot of attention to an underutilized area of land in Salem, which also happens to be a designated Opportunity Zone. During the inaugural Massachusetts Opportunity Zones Academy, SGA provided the City with three different development scenarios to consider for the land use and zoning near the proposed station site.

LOCUS

Barnstable and Yarmouth aim to use Opportunity Zones to promote walkable urban form


The towns of Barnstable and Yarmouth on Cape Cod worked with SGA’s Form-Based Codes Institute during the first-ever Massachusetts Opportunity Zones Academy to gain insight on how to take advantage of their designated Opportunity Zones to create a better sense of place within the two towns.

Form-Based Codes LOCUS Technical assistance