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Greetings Dear Reader,
I didn’t expect to leap and land on the hood of a Buick, but that’s how instinct saved me in an instant. It was a frigid winter afternoon in suburban Maryland, an otherwise typical walk home from the subway. A large sedan turning right from a smaller street appeared to stop as I approached the crosswalk, but suddenly lunged forward as I was nearly across the intersection. Within a second, the driver—who had looked carefully for vehicles, but not for pedestrians—slammed the brakes and was staring at me in shock through their windshield. I probably expressed a shocked look too! Fortunately, neither person nor vehicle was hurt or damaged. In that moment I viscerally understood the urgency of smart growth principles and the need for transportation approaches that protect humans and minimize harm to the natural environment.
While many improvements in traffic calming devices, pedestrian paths, bike lanes, greenways, roadside raingardens, and other features have introduced safer, more environmentally friendly road systems, tragic accidents remain persistently high in many urban, suburban, and rural areas of the U.S. There’s more to be done to ensure such protective infrastructure is equitably available and co-designed with the realities, values, and behaviors of the local community. Lives may depend up on it.
Many communities have faced longstanding challenges with highways and other transportation features that divide communities and create barriers in accessing jobs, services, and facilities. Near my old neighborhood in New Orleans, the Claiborne Corridor is just one of many examples in the U.S. where inequities persist due to 1960’s highway construction that did not incorporate the values and needs of low-income and working-class residents. With funding now available through the Inflation Reduction Act, policy-makers and planners nationwide are engaging in critical conversations. Communities large and small, urban and rural, are coming together to envision safer and healthier ways for people to move about while stabilizing local economies and implementing strategies to decrease stormwater runoff and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Our team within the Office of Community Revitalization remains encouraged and inspired by the creative planning and innovative thinking that is emerging at the intersections of safe transportation, land use and environmental protection. We are eager to continue our work with communities in this new year. Wishing you a safe, healthy, and sustainable 2024.
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Nigel A. Fields
Director, Office of Community Revitalization
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Investing in Electric Vehicles for a More Equitable Future
This inspiring video features our partners in Gonzalez, LA, detailing their approach to adopting electric vehicle and EV charging strategies. It also highlights how they fostered related employment and small business opportunities. Our collaboration was part of an EV technical assistance project focusing on communities where a significant number of households have limited or no access to personal vehicles, but cleaner transportation options would benefit the community as a whole.
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Creating Walkable Communities
OCR's John Thomas grew up seven miles outside of a small town, so it might be surprising that he’s such a believer in the value of walkable communities. But he’s seen first-hand the benefits of walkable communities on quality of life, public health, and the environment.
Learn more in his post on EPA’s Perspectives Blog, Creating Places Where We Love to Live.
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Updating Zoning to Support Sustainability and Health
Last month, OCR and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) co-hosted a Smart Growth Network Quarterly Discussion on zoning reform.
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The engaging discussion explored how communities are taking action based on new innovative thinking about zoning, with overviews of how Arlington, VA implemented more inclusionary zoning practices after a 2-year process to allow for expanded housing options; and how Buffalo, NY adopted a Green Code, which will serve as the City’s blueprint for zoning and development for this century. Inclusive community engagement was essential in both processes.
In breakout conversations, we delved more deeply into Smart Growth Network member organizations’ work on zoning, and we brainstormed possible topics for the Smart Growth Network in 2024.
Learn more about zoning reform in ULI/Smart Growth America’s Reshaping the City report. Please reply to this email for a recording of the panel discussion.
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5th National Rural Transit Assistance Program Conference
Last month, OCR's Reyes Barboza participated on a Sustainable Transit and Tourism panel at the 5th National Rural Transit Assistance Program Conference. The panel discussed partnerships with public lands, community planning and economic development, and sustainable tourism (especially as gateway communities gain more popularity and visitors). The panel also explored how to effectively engage local transit operators when working on economic development activities in a community.
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Reyes highlighted four Rural Economy Rural Communities (RERC) communities that have identified multi-use, recreational trails as an economic development tool and as a way of improving access to recreational activities: Fairfield County, SC; Marshfield, VT; City of Jenkins and Letcher County, KY; and Monte Vista, CO. | |
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The panel also included presentations from the National Park Service about fleet electrification and alternative fuel efforts in the parks, and from Sedona Shuttle in Sedona, AZ, a model partnership providing shuttle service between local park and ride lots and designated Coconino National Park trailheads. | |
Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities | |
EPA’s new Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants program has announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity for approximately $2 billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act funds for environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. There are two technical assistance programs dedicated for these, detailed below. | |
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Community Change and Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance
EPA has launched a technical assistance program to help eligible entities in disaster-prone areas prepare to apply for these grants. This technical assistance consists of free site or project design, project development assistance, community engagement, and partnership development workshops to support climate resilience projects within disadvantaged communities.
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How to Apply: Requests for technical assistance will be accepted via a webform which is open now and will remain open until 50 recipients have been identified.
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Community Change Technical Assistance
For communities not in disaster-prone areas, EPA is also offering Community Change Technical Assistance, which will provide general grant application support, project planning and development assistance, outreach and engagement support, and general capacity building, in conjunction with the Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants.
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Local Foods, Local Places Planning Technical Assistance
EPA and Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently announced an open call for applications for Local Foods, Local Places (LFLP) planning assistance program.
Separately, EPA's Superfund program will support three pilot LFLP workshops in communities with Superfund sites in 2024. Although this is not part of the open call for applications, communities with Superfund sites should contact their Superfund Coordinator for information on how to apply.
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Are you #WinterReady? We loved this FEMA campaign so much we had trouble picking which graphics to share. Be safe this winter!
And thinking about wood smoke from fires this winter, be sure to also protect your family's health by learning more from EPA's Burnwise program.
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Like our new look?
We're updating some of our communications tools to keep you better informed.
Want to learn more?
Visit our new and improved website at epa.gov/smartgrowth.
Let's keep in touch!
We have plenty of upcoming news, so keep watching this space. If you received this email from a colleague, please subscribe so we can connect with you directly!
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