Reconnecting America to help provide technical assistance to communities
Reconnecting America and its partners in the newly formed Livability Solutions partnership will be providing technical assistance to communities seeking to implement sustainable and smart growth development programs under a new federal grant.
“Reconnecting America is proud to be part of this coalition. The grant will make it possible for us and our partners in the Livability Solutions coalition to help communities around the nation enhance livability,” said Allison Brooks, Reconnecting America’s chief of staff. “Our goal is to help them create lasting economic and environmental improvements, and to effect positive change in the public and social health of their residents.”
The Livability Solutions partnership is supported by a grant to the Project for Public Spaces from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities under their Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program. The Building Blocks program funds quick, targeted assistance to communities that face common development problems.
With this funding, coalition partners will bring a number of time-honored approaches and innovative strategies for transportation and land use planning to help communities.
Citing the Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development Action Guide (MITOD.org) and the national TOD Database (toddata.cnt.org), Reconnecting America Program Director Catherine Cox Blair said, “With these tools, we can guide communities through the myriad details involved in creating better places to live that are also more sustainable. The combined expertise of our partners will be of great benefit to all involved.”
Partners in Livability Solutions include:
- Project for Public Spaces
- Reconnecting America
- The Center for Neighborhood Technology
- The Walkable and Livable Communities Institute
- National Center for Biking & Walking
- The Local Government Commission
- The National Charrette Institute
- The Congress for New Urbanism
- Paul Dreher of the Newport City Renaissance Corporation
- Leigh Lane of the Center for Transportation and Environment (CTE) at NC State University
- The Surface Transportation Policy Project
More information on the Livability Solutions team is available at www.livabilitysolutions.org.
