How the Protocol Works

The Just Communities Protocol includes three core elements – Pillars, Commitments and Actions – to 1) help communities prioritize racial equity and climate resilience in every phase of the work; 2) set clear goals and targets to determine what success looks like; 3) create a collaborative governing body to drive the work; and 4) build a comprehensive implementation roadmap to guide future development projects, programs, and policies. Each element of Just Communities helps to turn our principles into action and impact.

Centering Racial and Climate Justice

The Protocol starts with an unwavering commitment to Racial Equity and Climate Resilience in every phase of organizing, planning, and implementing neighborhood-scale community development. We call these our Just Communities Pillars and they form the key imperatives that every community must address. The legacy and impact of structural and spatial racism and environmental injustice in land use policy and development – in the form of segregation, disinvestment, and displacement – has led to trapping millions of Black and historically disinvested communities of color in generational poverty (while others sustain wealth and privilege) and at constant risk from the growing impacts of climate change. This framework seeks to begin the important and necessary task of putting justice at the center of community development.

Powerful Metrics to Shape Equity and Resiliency Outcomes

The Protocol includes a set of seventeen comprehensive Just Communities Commitments organized into the five essential categories – Belonging, Opportunity, Wellbeing, Mobility, Environment – to help communities tackle the most entrenched and complex challenges facing communities today – poverty, blight and deteriorating infrastructure, lack of economic opportunity, environmental pollution, climate disruption, and health inequities.

Four Implementation Phases to Advance the Work

The Protocol includes seventeen discrete and practical Just Community Actions organized into four implementation phases. Each action includes guidelines, engagement tips, and templates to help stakeholders move community-scale projects from vision to reality. They include: 1) Groundwork, 2) Governance, 3) Roadmap, and 4) Implementation.

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