Healing our Highways Report
In January 2024, Smart Growth America (SGA) launched the Healing Our Highways program with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kresge Foundation. Aimed at generating creative ideas and activities that build knowledge, connections, and power within communities most harmed by transportation systems and vulnerable to climate change, the program provided funding and support to teams of artists, advocates, and culture bearers from Tampa Heights (Florida), Boyle Heights (California), Doraville (Georgia), and Atlanta (Georgia). Each team received unrestricted funding and technical assistance from SGA and partner Democracy Lab South (DLS). Additionally, the teams received training on cultural organizing and power building during an in-person gathering early in the program.
The Healing Our Highways program is grounded in the recognition that culture bearers and cultural workers—those intimately involved in creating and strengthening the social ties and cultural infrastructure of their communities—can shape and strengthen the physical infrastructure and built environment where they are, especially in places that have experienced historic harms. Our selection criteria emphasized the cultural connections of each grantee to their community, reflecting how critical this familiarity and commitment are to effectively advocate for safe and healthy infrastructure design. Too often, those who know their communities best are excluded from conversations and decisions about the built environment in their community. For agencies and leaders seeking to work closely with communities in undoing, repairing, and healing from past infrastructure harms, enrolling the paid expertise of local artists and culture workers can be essential in connecting with and rebuilding trust with community members.