The Just Communities Blog

What Does Antiracist Community Development Look Like in Practice?

An article from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that highlights that using an antiracist lens for community development along with specific actions by investors, government, and philanthropy can move the United States toward more racially just community development financing.

A Local Leader’s Guide to Community Engagement and Building Public Trust

As national and global issues and the myriad of other problems confronting local governments continue to rise, so do the challenges facing local leaders tasked with maintaining public trust and confidence with residents. The key to building and maintaining public trust and confidence is community engagement.

Data Driven Detroit Mapping Tools

Data Driven Detroit is the local Data intermediary for Detroit, Michigan. They have a variety of tools available for use by community members, non-profits, and developers to in order to provide accessible, high-quality information and analysis to drive informed decision-making.

A Placemaking Vision for Downtown Detroit

This report focuses on how the public spaces, and particularly the three major downtown parks, can be transformed, both in the long and short term so that they support this exciting commercial and residential rebirth in the downtown Detroit, and also become destinations in their own right.

Equity Foundations: A USDN Capacity Building Program

In September 2015, USDN developed a holistic curriculum of webinars, videos, and worksheets to help local government staff to apply an equity lens to a sustainability project, including choosing a good project, communicating about the project and racial equity, building a team, applying proven equity tools, and designing the project to embed an equity lens in local government practice.

Community Energy: Planning, Development, and Delivery

District Energy is the local production and distribution of thermal energy used for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. This guide is an important read for municipal officials, planners, and neighborhood champions interested in building a district energy system in their community.

The Community Engagement Guide for Sustainable Communities

The Community Engagement Guide for Sustainable Communities includes the essential framework for effective community engagement. The guide covers the benefits of community engagement from hyper-local to regional planning projects, explains practical strategies, highlights case studies, and answers frequently asked questions about the topic.

Neighborhood Climate Action Planning Handbook

Developed by Portland State University, this handbook details climate action strategies to help neighborhoods reduce carbon footprint and fossil fuel dependency. While primarily focused on planning for Southeast Portland, this tool is certainly applicable to any neighborhood planner or advocate that is looking to bring the community together to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change.

A Local Leader's Guide to Community Engagement and Building Public Trust

Community Engagement and Building Public Trust provides the tools needed to help local leaders build and maintain public trust, plan for bumps in the road, and develop relationships with residents to mitigate alienation, anger, and a lack of trust.