By Kalima Rose and Mona Tawatao

Last year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), launched an unprecedented new program to help regions plan for sustainability.   In October of 2010, nearly $100 million was awarded through a competitive process to 45 different regions to create and implement regional plans that integrate housing, land use, transportation, economic and workforce development, and infrastructure investments.  This year, approximately $67 million has been allocated for this competitive grant process.

The theory underlying the Sustainable Communities Initiative is that economic competitiveness, social equity, and environmental and public health are interconnected and that all of these outcomes can be improved if regions better coordinate their public investments, including transportation systems, toward the goal of sustainability.  Past development patterns have prevented regions from maximizing their potential.   Low-income communities and communities of color are often isolated from economic opportunities because the only homes affordable to their members are in neighborhoods far from growing job centers, good public schools, and basic amenities like grocery stores and banks.  Meanwhile, transportation and other infrastructure—critical to attracting and keeping jobs—is crumbling and the risk of climate change is growing.

PolicyLink recently published the 2011 Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Guide:  How to Incorporate Equity into your Grant Application, an update of the inaugural guide released in summer 2010 in preparation for the first round of grants.   The Guide provides information on how regions can incorporate social equity into their applications for the second round of funding for sustainable communities grants, which was  announced this past summer.  Continue reading. . .