The Just Communities Blog

News and Updates from Our Team

  • Development
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Social Vulnerability Index

The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is a tool designed to identify and quantify communities experiencing social vulnerability. It uses demographic and socioeconomic factors to help public health officials and local planners prepare for and respond to emergencies, aiming to reduce human suffering, economic loss, and health inequities.
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Backbone Starter Guide

The "Backbone Starter Guide" by the Collective Impact Forum serves as an essential resource for organizations involved in collective impact initiatives. It outlines the key roles and responsibilities of backbone organizations and provides practical guidance on how to effectively manage and support collaborative efforts.
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Harnessing the Policy Power of Stakeholder Mapping

The Beeck Center's resource on "Harnessing the Policy Power of Stakeholder Mapping" provides a step-by-step guide for policymakers and designers to create stakeholder maps. These maps help visualize the various actors involved in a policy issue, their relationships, and their influence, enabling more effective and user-centered policy design.
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Power Mapping and Analysis

The "Power Mapping and Analysis" resource from The Commons Social Change Library is a comprehensive guide designed to help campaign teams visualize and analyze power dynamics related to their issues and campaigns. It provides a step-by-step process for creating a visual map of power holders and relationships, which can inform campaign strategies and identify key players to target.
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Conflict Literacy Framework

The Conflict Literacy Framework on Mediators Beyond Borders' website offers a roadmap for leaders, organizers, activists, conflict practitioners, and peacebuilders to build conflict literacy, develop conflict resilience, and learn tools and skills to engage with conflict creatively and constructively.
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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.
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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.
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City of Chicago Equitable Transit Oriented Development (ETOD) Policy Plan

The Chicago eTOD Policy Plan outlines a comprehensive set of actions for the City to take to advance racial equity, wealth building, public health and climate resilience goals through equitable Transit-Oriented Development (eTOD). Recommendations were informed through a cross-sector engagement process and analysis of City programs, and an evaluation framework focused on outcomes, equity, and implementation criteria. In partnership with Elevated Chicago, an eTOD Work Group was created to engage over 70 stakeholders representing numerous City departments, community-based organizations, the private sector, philanthropies, and regional non-profit and governmental partners.
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The Salzburg Statement on Confronting Power and Privilege for Inclusive, Equitable and Healthy Communities

The scale of current and potential inequalities in the urban environment demands a revolution of purpose and accountability. The challenges we face in building and sustaining healthy and equitable communities demand new forms of thinking, problem-solving, governance, and decision making. Most importantly, it requires that we learn the skills of interrogating power and analyzing privilege.
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