DC bike tour: 9:30 am – 11:30 am
Join the League of American Bicyclists and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) for a casual bike ride to experience some of Washington DC’s latest and best bike infrastructure. We’ll discuss safety, mobility, equity, and how bikeways fit into the conversation of a community’s smart growth and equitable transportation networks. The ~2-hour bike ride will begin and end at the MLK Jr Memorial library, and DC offers multiple public bike share options if you don’t have your own bike for the ride.

Bridging DC – the 11th Street Bridge Park: 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Take a walking tour of Washington DC’s first elevated park over the Anacostia River. Set to break ground later this year and informed by over 1,000 stakeholder meetings, this once in a generation park is transforming an aged out freeway into a civic space that supports the community’s environmental, cultural, economic and physical health. Programming includes an Environmental Education Center, 250 seat outdoor amphitheater, “Mussel Beach” interactive playspace, urban agriculture and public art that amplifies local voices. In addition to the park’s bricks and mortar, the Bridge Park team has invested in a series of housing, workforce, small business, arts / culture and health strategies to ensure long term residents can stay and thrive in place. This work has become a national template for building strong and resilient neighborhoods and has informed nearly a dozen similar projects across North America. The tour will be led by Bridge Park Founder Scott Kratz. A coach bus will pick up and drop off participants at the MLK Jr Memorial Library.

Accessibility is for everyone: Equitable mobility in DC: 9:00 am – 11:35 am
What happens when we make our environment accessible? Accessibility is often framed as something just for people with disabilities, but designing our communities to be accessible creates safe, user-friendly environments for everyone. We will visit spots across DC and talk about the impacts of accessible streets, sidewalks, transit, and more through a combination of lived experience and professional expertise. The tour will be led by Courtney Cole, Dustin Robertson, and London Weier.

Participants should come dressed comfortably, with everything they need to walk/roll for the duration of the tour (2.5 hours)

Guided meditation session with the Center Mindful Living – 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
The session will include a centering meditation designed to help participants become grounded in their moment-to-moment experience. The meditation will guide them through body-centered awareness and from that it will explore creating space for whatever arises in the heart and mind, as well as self-compassion. Participants will be guided to explore how they can meet emotional challenges with their own care and support, and to appreciate that they are not alone; stressful emotions are a part of our human experience.Following that we will have a brief period to hear from participants through questions and comments.

Tour of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library – 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
The 400,000-square-foot Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library was designed by pioneering Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1972. Despite calls for the library’s closure in the early 2000s, the city moved forward with rehabilitating and adapting the building for modern use. In 2020, DC Public Library completed the full transformation of the historic building. The results of the city-owned landmark’s modernization includes 100,000 square feet of additional public space for exhibits, programming, and services that redefine the library experience for District residents in the 21st century. Tour attendees will visit all six levels of the library.

We’re thrilled to announce Jerusalem Demsas, staff writer at The Atlantic and thought leader on housing, urban policy, and economic equity, as the keynote speaker for the 2025 Equity Summit. Jerusalem is known for her ability to connect policy with real-world impact, and her writing deftly sheds light on the challenges and opportunities in creating equitable communities. Her keynote address will inspire us to think boldly as we build a shared movement for vibrant communities. Learn more>>

Zoning reform is critical in addressing housing affordability, access, environmental challenges, and systemic inequities. Zoning created these problems—but it can also be part of the solution. However, real reform requires broad support and a movement to drive change.

Reform is never simple. It’s messy, costly, and involves trade-offs. How do we change hearts and minds? What are the most effective arguments? And what tangible steps lead to truly equitable and sustainable reform?

A major challenge is engaging communities in advocacy, especially when they are facing immediate crises. While zoning reform could ultimately address these crises, the benefits often feel distant. How do we bridge that gap? One potential process: address urgent needs, educate, mobilize, and then sustain action. Learn more about the panelists >>

This interactive session offers attendees the option for structured networking or engaging in dynamic world café discussions on key themes. Participants can rotate between topic-focused tables to exchange insights or take advantage of guided networking to build meaningful connections and advance their work.

Storytelling methods for reconnecting communities | Adam Paul Susaneck

This workshop will feature on storytelling methods for efforts to reconnect communities, focusing on the use of historic research, data, and photography to build compelling narratives around infrastructure removal or redesign. Featuring a case study highlighting the resources used to create visuals representations of divisive infrastructure, including those that have appeared in New York City official efforts to cap the Cross Bronx expressway. It will also cover strategies for engaging with local community groups, such as Loving The Bronx and The Bronx River Alliance.

These storytelling methods serve not only to educate about the past but also to equip stakeholders with media tools to raise awareness, build coalitions, and take concrete steps toward community reconnection. For example, these methods have been successfully used in grant applications to state DOT discretionary programs, as seen in The Bronx.

This workshop will provide valuable insights into how storytelling can be a powerful tool for advocacy and change.

Collaborative policy mapping for health equity and land use reform | Patrick Spence & Jack Callahan

Join us for an interactive World Café session where we bring together diverse perspectives to create a real-time policy scan mapping. This dynamic, discussion-based format will engage participants from various disciplines—urban planning, public health, community development, and policy advocacy—to collectively identify and analyze policies that impact health equity and land use reform.
Attendees will explore key policy frameworks, challenges, and opportunities in different regions. As discussions progress, insights will be captured and synthesized into a live policy scan, providing a comprehensive toolkit of policies that community-based organizations (CBOs) can leverage. Whether organizations are currently navigating technical assistance for health equity and land use reform or looking to engage in these efforts, this session will equip you with actionable strategies and policy models.

By the end of the session, participants will have contributed to a living policy map that highlights effective approaches and gaps in existing regulations. This collaborative process will not only enhance cross-sector learning but also ensure that CBOs have access to a curated set of policies that support equitable development and land use transformation.

How we build: Demystifying real estate development | Payton Chung

Join a leader from LOCUS, SGA’s national coalition of real estate developers and investors who champion sustainable, equitable, and walkable development, for a presentation and discussion on the real estate development process. Learn more about how the financing and mechanics of real estate development in the current economic environment shape the buildings that rise around us and how community leaders, local governments, and developers can foster vibrant and sustainable neighborhoods by centering equity in their development decisions.

Surface transportation reauthorization | Transportation for America staff

Federal transportation funding is at a crossroads, with executive orders and USDOT directives reshaping priorities and halting projects, not to mention federal surface transportation program planning already underway. In this World Cafe discussion, join the policy team at Transportation for America and your fellow attendees to discuss what’s working, not working, missing from our current surface transportation program around the global lens of equity and around the core issues of safety, state of repair, and investing in the rest of our transportation system. We wrap up this group conversation regarding what comes next and how you can make a meaningful impact.

Highways and other infrastructure practices have destroyed neighborhoods by limiting access to schools, grocery stores, and healthcare resources. Increased lanes have made it more difficult and dangerous simply to cross intersections, leading to more individuals likely to avoid contact with roads unless using a private vehicle. Transportation for America has long acknowledged the root of these issues via our reports Dangerous by Design and Divided by Design, but now we look at the change we are creating to undo the damages that harm us now. Now is the time to look to best practices and solutions on how to undo these damages. Beth Osborne our Vice President, Transportation and Thriving Communities, Smart Growth America will moderate. Learn more about the panelists >>

The event reception will be held at Boqueria in downtown DC. Stay tuned for more details.

As our new political reality shifts federal grantmaking and limits opportunities for nonprofits to prioritize initiatives focused on creating equitable and accessible communities, we must find new ways to fund the future we envision. This means embracing innovative strategies to advance our work, regardless of the current circumstances.

This panel will bring together leaders with deep experience in funding equity-centered work, including experts from CDFIs, philanthropy, community organizations, and the government. Together, they’ll explore creative funding strategies to help keep your projects moving forward and making an impact. James Hardy, Interim Deputy Director at RWJF will moderate. Learn more about the panelists >>

 

Data for equitable access to walkability | Dr. Michael Rodriguez, Smart Growth America

The Data for Equitable Access to Walkability Workshop will explore how data can be leveraged to assess, improve, and advocate for walkable communities that serve all residents equitably. Participants will engage with real-world case studies, learn about key datasets and analytical tools, and discuss policy strategies that enhance walkability in historically underserved areas. This interactive session will bring together planners, policymakers, and advocates to identify data-driven solutions for creating safe, accessible, and connected urban environments.

Smart Growth strategies for climate havens

Tens of millions of Americans will leave climate-risky homes and communities affected by hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and other environmental hazards. The coming shift is predicted to be “the largest migration in North American history.” But is the U.S. ready? So-called “climate havens”—areas that are relatively protected from the worst of climate change impacts—have been widely discussed, but how many are truly secure and what does the path look like for getting there? This workshop shares key lessons for aspirational climate haven communities and highlights land use policies and practices that advance climate-informed, mixed-use, and location-efficient, equitable development. Participants will discuss promising climate haven policies and activities occurring in their communities and will ideate on additional pathways for strengthening climate haven preparedness.

Quick thinking: The long-term benefits of quick builds

Join an interactive workshop on quick-build demonstration projects—what they are, the benefits they bring, and how to implement them.

After a brief introduction, participants will work in small groups to design and pitch their own quick-build projects. Using pre-printed diagrams of existing dangerous streets, each team will identify project goals, sketch proposed interventions, and outline engagement and data collection plans.

The session will culminate in rapid-fire presentations, where teams share their ideas with the full group. A closing discussion will provide an opportunity to reflect on key takeaways and explore how quick-build strategies can create safer, more vibrant streets in communities everywhere.

Enjoy lunch provided by DC Central Kitchen.

With each administration change, there are significant shifts at the federal level in terms of priorities and approaches to transportation, land use, and other aspects of smart growth. One thing is clear in our minds, the issues we work on are vital and urgent, we cannot throw up our hands and wait for the government to change. Instead, it is important that Smart Growth America, and all of those who believe in smart growth, to find ways to advance our agenda and make progress, regardless of who is in charge. With this in mind, we bring together a panel of experts to give perspectives about smart growth policy, advocacy, and real-world actions to take at three different levels. Learn more about the panelists >>

Accessibility in our streetscape environment 

Our surface transportation system (whether in the United States or abroad), with its roads, sidewalks, bikeways, transit, and passenger rail, carries many people and goods within and across communities to jobs, services, and other community functions. However, the system isn’t built and maintained equitably and safely within and across communities—and accessibility is often an afterthought. Whether by lack of awareness, exposure, or concern, policy discussions about transportation system infrastructure and investments routinely fail to acknowledge and consider people with disabilities. This workshop stems from a growing need to understand what it means to talk about, design, build, operate, and maintain an accessible streetscape.

Big ideas to build back the block: Community leadership for smart growth

Effective community engagement is the foundation for smart growth and sustainable development. This interactive workshop will explore strategies to empower local leaders, build community trust, and drive incremental yet impactful change.
Through a mix of PechaKucha presentations, and a collaborative group activity, participants will:

• Learn about successful community engagement efforts via a range of use cases (including, attainable housing, equitable transit oriented development, parking reform, and small business support via community engagement)
• Develop a tailored community engagement strategy to advance these “small steps” in their communities

By the end of this workshop, participants will leave with a clear plan for small, strategic actions that can create lasting change. Whether tackling zoning reform, parking policy, or economic development, this session will equip you with the tools to build back the block—one step at a time.

Green and Complete Streets

Join a hands-on design workshop and pitch session on transforming existing roads into Green and Complete Streets. This session will introduce key concepts before guiding participants through a collaborative design activity. Working in small groups, attendees will use print-outs of pre-selected locations, street elements, magazines, and markers to create redesigned roadways that prioritize safety, sustainability, and community space.

The workshop will conclude with a pitch session, where each group will present their proposal and explain how their interventions enhance the street for all users. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore creative, practical solutions for reimagining public space!

Vision boarding smart growth

This workshop combines visual storytelling and smart growth! As planners, advocates, and officials working in transportation/housing, it’s important to remember our “why.” Using magazines, pictures, words, and other materials, we’ll create vision boards that tell the story of why we do this work and how we envision the communities we want to live in.

We will end the Equity Summit with a final presentation and interactive activity to reflect on what we learned at the Equity Summit.