The Just Communities Blog

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.

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.

Zero Net Energy Communications Toolkit

The Zero Net Energy Communications Toolkit is a set of online resources developed by the New Buildings Institute and Resource Media to address zero net energy (ZNE) communications goals. The toolkit answers commonly asked questions about ZNE and provides messaging for consistent communications around this ultra-efficiency goal.

Participatory Asset Mapping Toolkit

Healthy City's Participatory Asset Mapping Toolkit is an instructional guide that provides community-based organizations with concepts, methods and tools to collect knowledge and experiences from community members about local assets.

Building Healthy Places Toolkit

ULI’s Building Healthy Places Toolkit: Strategies for Enhancing Health in the Built Environment outlines evidence-supported opportunities for enhancing health outcomes in real estate developments. The toolkit is a useful complement to the EcoDistricts Protocol Health + Wellbeing Priority area.

Mobile Grocery Store Units

Mobile grocery units are gaining momentum as a way of combatting food deserts. The USDA defines food deserts as “a census tract with a substantial share of residents who live in a low income area that have low access to a grocery store or healthy affordable retail outlet.” Their mobility allows for outreach to multiple neighborhoods at a time.

Transportation Demand Management

Transportation demand management (TDM) refers to various strategies that change travel behavior (how, when, and where people travel) in order to increase the efficiency of transport and parking systems in alignment with planning objectives. Many factors affect people’s transport decisions, including the relative convenience and safety of travel modes, cost and land use.