Community Collaboration
Table of Contents
Innovation Lab - Concept Developing and Prototyping: Learning resources to understand the topic.
- 2024 - Community Driven Climate Policy in King County, WA
- 2024 - Community Voice Matters – Evolving from Stipends to Partner MOUs in Berkeley, CA
- 2024 - Facilitating community collaboration to build safe, sustainable urban food production in Portland, ME
- 2024 - Building an Equitable EV Future in Shoreline, WA
- 2024 - Green Infrastructure for Environmental Justice and Flood Mitigation in Hackensack, NJ
- 2024 - Energy Efficiency Workforce Training: Professionalizing roles and building capacity in Memphis-Shelby, TN
- 2024 - Indy’s Thriving Neighbors Series in Indianapolis, IN
- 2024 - Equitable, Community-Driven Climate Justice Planning in Harris County in Harris County, TX
- 2024 - Program development and event supplies for monthly community climate learning sessions in Duluth, MN
- 2024 - Near West Side Greenway: Co-designing with the Community in South Bend, IN
- 2024 - Cross-Community Climate Collaboration (C4) in Cook County, IL
- 2024 - Community Outreach & Engagement to Support Implementation of the Regional Decarbonization Framework in San Diego, CA
- 2024 - Lihu'e Community Placemaking, Forestry & Gardens Initiative in Kauai, HI
- 2024 - Bridging West End to the Rive: A Community Riverfront Vision in Pittsburgh, PA
- 2024 - LNPK 156- Enhancing Resilience Through Food Access and Social Connectedness
- 2024 - Assessing the Cost Effectiveness of Mobile Home Decarbonization
- 2024 - Community and climate resilience building through MHM-SOUP
- 2024 - Collaborative Design of Federal Funding Proposal in Santa Clara County
- 2024 - Community-Centered Climate Training Cohort and Government Partnership
- 2024 - Collective Impact and Climate Art Community Innovation
- 2024 - Power-sharing in the Implementation of Vancouver’s Climate Justice Charter
- 2024 - Waco Green Champions Community Engagement Program
- 2023 - Richmond’s Community Climate Funding Table
- 2023 - Identifying Community Values for Open Space Planning
- 2023 - Climate Action Survey Sessions
- 2023 - Building the Groundwork for Meaningful Climate Empowerment
- 2023 - Yolo County Equitable Engagement: Compensating Community Voices
- 2023 - Multilingual Engagement-Game to Spur Climate Action!
- 2023 - Empowering Local Communities in Melbourne to Advance Climate Justice
- 2023 - Climate Connections for Buffalo’s East Side Youth
- 2023 - Climate Equity Collaborative Principles of Equitable Engagement in Berkeley
- 2023 - Strengthening Frontline Capacity for Climate Resilience Planning
- 2023 - Growing the Circular Economy through Community Trust Building
- 2022 - Centering Justice: Monterey Bay Climate Response
- 2022 - Neighborhood-Level Climate Leadership in City Sustainability Planning
- 2021 - Sydney Better Buildings Cup Pilot Program
- 2020 - Technical Assistance for the Zero Emissions Building Sector
- 2016 - Collaborating for Climate Preparedness - Insights from a 2015 Workshop
- 2016 - Seattle Extreme Heat Scenario-Based Pilot-Project in Frontline Communities - Racial Equity Evaluation
- 2013 - Behavior Wedge Profile Model 1.0
- 2013 - Community Based Social Marketing Campaign - Cold Water Wash
- 2013 - Community Based Social Marketing Campaign - Employee Computer Shutdown
Innovation Lab - Refinement: Tools and guides to inform developing programs.
Adoption Accelerator - Standards Emerging and Scaling: Implementation examples to show how it is being done
- 2022 - Lenox Center Resilience Hub Solar Plus Storage Predevelopment in Detroit, MI
- 2022 - Realizing a Community Vision: Building a Green, Sustainable Parkland Plaza in Louisville, KY
- 2021 - Growing Roots for Environmentally Equitable Neighborhoods Miami-Dade County (GREEN MDC) in Miami-Dade County, FL
- 2021 - New Bedford Resilience Hub and Community Alert System Pilot Project
- 2021 - Park City Community – Climate Drawdown
- 2021 - Milwaukee’s Fresh Coast Schools Green Infrastructure Project
- 2021 - Developing a Green Infrastructure Strategy in Hartford CT
- 2021 - Living Cully Community Engagement Plan in Portland OR
- 2020 - Community Planning Piloted in Indianapolis, IN
- 2020 - Community Climate Action Planning Initiative in Bend, OR
- 2019 - Save Our Food Cincy Program in Cincinnati, OH
- 2019 - The Nevada Neighborhood Project in Las Cruces, NM
- 2019 - Agriculture Park in Columbia MO
- 2019 - Growing a Just and Healthy Food System in Tacoma, WA
- 2019 - The Save Our Sons Jobs Project: Advancing Equity and Opportunity for Knoxville’s Youth of Color
- 2019 - Community Climate Action Planning Initiative in Bend, OR
- 2019 - Washington Neighborhood Engagement Project in Dubuque, IA
- 2019 - Community Engagement for Equity in Las Cruces, NM
- 2019 - Equity in Climate Action: Resilient Communities for a Sustainable City in New Orleans, LA
- 2019 - Green Infrastructure and Water Conservation for Low-Income Neighborhoods in Grand Rapids, MI
- 2019 - Healthy Homes Neighborhood Pilot in Newark, NJ
- 2019 - People for Parks - Community School Parks in Los Angeles, CA
- 2018 - Infusing Equity into Climate Planning in Washington, DC
- 2018 - Using Trees as Green Infrastructure for Economic, Social and Environmental Outcomes in St. Louis
- 2018 - Creating a Unified Community Vision for the Future of Syracuse’s Urban Forest
- 2018 - Chicago Green Living Program in Chicago, IL
- 2018 - Junior Sustainability Stewards Program in Broward County, FL
- 2018 - Net Zero Program Excellence – A Community of Practice in Australia
- 2018 - Design and Resiliency Teams (DARTs) Phase 2
- 2018 - Bringing Renewable Thermal Solutions to Scale in New England
- 2016 - Increasing Energy Efficiency in Low-income Neighborhoods in Chattanooga
- 2016 - Carbon Reduction Efforts Benefit Low-Income Neighborhoods in Portland, OR
- 2016 - Farmers’ Markets Help Low-Income Residents Purchase Healthy, Local Food in Minneapolis
- 2016 - Equity and Environment Initiatives Progress in Seattle
- 2016 - Improving the Food-Based Economy for Latino Residents in Tucson
- 2016 - Green Infrastructure in Low-Income Neighborhoods in Bridgeport CT
- 2015 - Austin 2030 District
- 2015 - Cincinnati Food Fund and Fellowships
- 2015 - Education and Engagement on Energy Efficiency
- 2015 - Engagement through Arts and Community Organizing in Madison WI
- 2015 - Neighborhood Resiliency in Baltimore MD
- 2015 - Residential Climate Change Adaptation in Cleveland OH
- 2015 - Stamford 2030 District
- 2015 - Vulnerable Populations Outreach Program in Bloomington IN
- 2014 - A Chinatown Community Engagement Program in San Francisco
- 2014 - A Resident-Led Sustainability Demonstration Project in Toledo OH
- 2014 - Community Engagement for Transit-Oriented Development in San Diego
- 2014 - CoMo Energy Challenge in Columbia MO
- 2014 - Dashboard of Neighborhood Assets and Sustainability Metrics in Memphis and Shelby County
- 2014 - Diverse Participation in Environmental Progress in Seattle WA
- 2014 - Philadephia Food Policy Council
- 2014 - Resident Empowerment through Urban Agriculture in Milwaukee
- 2014 - Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Education in Buffalo NY
- 2013 - Clean Air Social Marketing Campaign in Salt Lake City UT
- 2013 - Energy and Climate Action Implementation in Oakland CA
- 2013 - Groundswell's Community Power Program in Baltimore MD
- 2013 - Sustainable Dubuque Initiative
Innovation Lab - Concept Developing and Prototyping:
Learning resources to understand the topic.
Community Driven Climate Policy in King County, WA: A project to integrate frontline community participation in the 2025 update to the county’s Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP). (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
» Download
Community Voice Matters – Evolving from Stipends to Partner MOUs in Berkeley, CA: A project to launch a new project to update Berkeley’s General Plan Safety Element, develop a new General Plan Environmental Justice (EJ) Element, and create an Equitable Climate and Resilience Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy and Dashboard. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
» Download
Facilitating community collaboration to build safe, sustainable urban food production in Portland, ME: A project to enhance community resilience by hosting three workshops where participants will work collaboratively to build 70 raised garden beds provided to low income and immigrant gardeners through the City’s Community Garden Program. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
» Download
Building an Equitable EV Future in Shoreline, WA: A project to center and engage the City of Shoreline’s frontline communities in climate action conversations around electric vehicles (EVs) to foster equitable adoption of and minimize displacement from new EV charging infrastructure. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
» Download
Green Infrastructure for Environmental Justice and Flood Mitigation in Hackensack, NJ: A project to enhance existing Combined Sewer separation plans with community designed green infrastructure to mitigate storm water flooding in low income neighborhoods addressing Environmental Justice issues. (Partners for Places, 2024).
» Download
Energy Efficiency Workforce Training: Professionalizing roles and building capacity in Memphis-Shelby, TN: A project to support existing staff to deepen engaged research opportunities around program evaluation and secure energy audit equipment to track impact longer term. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
» Download
Indy’s Thriving Neighbors Series in Indianapolis, IN: A project to re-establish community engagement on sustainability and resiliency in close collaboration with Indy Parks by convening a series of low-barrier engagement opportunities in J40 neighborhoods where partner organizations build capacity of community members with meaningful connections, sustainability education, and climate action tools, as well as identify neighbors interested in participating in more long-term or formal engagement or co-ownership capacities. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
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Equitable, Community-Driven Climate Justice Planning in Harris County in Harris County, TX: A climate justice planning project aimed to co-create local, implementable solutions with frontline residents who have been most impacted by climate hazards and disasters. (Partners for Places, 2024).
» Download
Program development and event supplies for monthly community climate learning sessions in Duluth, MN: A project to increase Duluth residents’ awareness of and capacity for implementing clean energy and climate actions through a monthly series of learning events and outreach materials. With hands-on sessions, residents will better familiarize themselves with climate actions, policy, technology and funding mechanisms. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
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Near West Side Greenway: Co-designing with the Community in South Bend, IN: A project to create a greenway, as a linear park, in a neighborhood on the Near West Side of South Bend that lacks a park and has asked for one for several years. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
» Download
Cross-Community Climate Collaboration (C4) in Cook County, IL: A project to support building additional partners in C4, implement structures for communication and collaboration within and across communities, and implement specific equitable climate projects. (Partners for Places, 2024).
» Download
Community Outreach & Engagement to Support Implementation of the Regional Decarbonization Framework in San Diego, CA: A project to develop an equitable, inclusive community engagement process that supports the engagement of impacted refugee, asylee and immigrant communities in the implementation of the County of San Diego’s Regional Decarbonization Framework. (Partners for Places, 2024).
» Download
Lihu'e Community Placemaking, Forestry & Gardens Initiative in Kauai, HI: A project to support the installation of native street trees and community gardens in Lihu'e and create a plan/partnership framework for future green infrastructure. (Partners for Places, 2024).
» Download
Bridging West End to the Rive: A Community Riverfront Vision in Pittsburgh, PA: A project to build a foundation for community leadership as significant riverfront planning efforts get underway in Pittsburgh’s West End. (Partners for Places, 2024).
» Download
LNPK 156- Enhancing Resilience Through Food Access and Social Connectednessin Duluth, MN: A project to build climate resilience and address health disparities in a low-income neighborhood through creative placemaking and collaborative partnership development.(Partners for Places, 2024).
» Download
Assessing the Cost Effectiveness of Mobile Home Decarbonization in San Luis Obispo, CA: A research project to evaluate the cost effectiveness of electrification in mobile homes and determine whether a climate and public health solution can co-solve for the acute energy burdens faced by mobile home residents. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
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Community and climate resilience building through MHM-SOUP:A project that innovated by addressing climate change challenges in the Montreal borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (MHM) through a supportive and facilitating monthly event that aims at strengthening social fabric, implementing local initiatives and building community and climate resilience. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
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Collaborative Design of Federal Funding Proposal in Santa Clara County: A project to collaboratively develop a federal funding proposal in partnership with community-based organizations, local jurisdictions, and the County of Santa Clara to drive equitable approaches for environmental justice and climate resilience. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
Community-Centered Climate Training Cohort and Government Partnership in Alameda County, CA: A project that will build a relationship for County government agencies to collaborate on wildfire/extreme heat training, communication, and preparedness needs with community-based partners, and to co-create and co-design replicable, relevant, and modifiable training and educational materials to support the health, safety, and resilience of priority and frontline communities during and beyond these events.(Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
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Collective Impact and Climate Art Community Innovation: A project that brings together several city-wide and community-based climate and social well being organizations, as well as youth and local artists from equity deserving communities to collectively design, coordinate and implement a climate art project(s) in North Scarborough. (CNCA Climate Justice Fund, 2024).
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Power-sharing in the Implementation of Vancouver’s Climate Justice Charter (CJC) in Vancouver, CAN: A project that uses processes to draw from the fields of social innovation and systemic design as alternatives to the standard policy-making, program delivery, and public engagement processes that we use at the City. (CNCA Climate Justice Fund, 2024).
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Waco Green Champions Community Engagement Program: A project that engages community members in educational survey events to inform the development of the Sustainable Action Roadmap and federal grant applications as well as increase community buy-in of city-based sustainable initiatives. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2024).
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Richmond’s Community Climate Funding Table: A project that introduces collaborative working sessions, convened by the Office of Sustainability, to gather Richmond’s sustainability leaders to prioritize project ideas and co-create pathways and materials to apply for and be awarded Federal funding to bring them to fruition.(Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Identifying Community Values for Open Space Planning in Douglas County, KS: A project to complete Phase I (of III) of Open Space Plan development focused on building relationships and identifying guiding community values related to open space.(Partners for Places, 2023).
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Climate Action Survey Sessions in South Bend, IN: A project to empower community-led and equity-focused climate action through educational, celebratory, 1-hour events. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Building the Groundwork for Meaningful Climate Empowerment in Pierce County, WA: A project to empower frontline communities in climate planning, informing how local government will initially engage communities and building the groundwork for shared implementation. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Yolo County Equitable Engagement: Compensating Community Voices in Yolo County, CA: A project dedicated to ensuring equitable community engagement is centered in Yolo County’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) development so that individuals/groups who have been excluded from previous planning processes — such as farm workers, BIPOC community members, residents from rural/unincorporated areas, non-English speakers, youth, etc.—have the opportunity to guide CAAP development, participate in CAAP working groups, and receive the compensation and support needed to do so. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Multilingual Engagement-Game to Spur Climate Action! in Seattle, WA: This work will use the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) robust transportation emissions “Climate Calculator”, to develop an innovative DIGITAL GAME to engage Seattle residents and workers on key strategies to deliver on Seattle’s climate and equity goals through the Seattle Transportation Plan.(CNCA Game Changer Fund, 2023).
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Empowering Local Communities in Melbourne to Advance Climate Justice: A project to develop a guide to enable deeper and more deliberative collaboration between disadvantaged and marginalized communities and local governments to address climate justice issues. (CNCA Game Changer Fund, 2023).
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Climate Connections for Buffalo’s East Side Youth in Erie County, NY: A project to lay the foundation for authentic relationships between existing sustainability efforts in Erie County and citizens of the East Side of Buffalo, starting with the youth participating in the Omega Mentoring Program. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Climate Equity Collaborative Principles of Equitable Engagement in Berkeley, CA: A project to Convene a new Climate Justice Collaborative with the support of a skilled equity coach and facilitator to build capacity within community organizations and strengthen the network of community-based partners and leaders working in the nexus of climate and justice.(Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Strengthening Frontline Capacity for Climate Resilience Planning in Palm Beach County, FL: This project strengthened the capacity of frontline communities for climate resilience planning to ensure more equitable processes and outcomes when the County creates its forthcoming county-wide climate change vulnerability assessment and resilience action plan (VARAP). (USDN Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Growing the Circular Economy through Community Trust Building in Ann Arbor, MI: This project built community trust and informed Ann Arbor’s Circular Economy strategy in a way that is visible, appealing, and accessible to Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County residents of all income levels, and that engages the expertise of Ann Arbor’s BIPOC and frontline residents in developing Circular Economy goals. (USDN Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Centering Justice: Monterey Bay Climate Response in Santa Cruz, CA: A project to co-create a vibrant climate justice network serving the northern Central Coast of California to rapidly scale up capacity and investment in work at the nexus of climate and justice. (USDN Emergent Learning Fund, 2022).
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Neighborhood-Level Climate Leadership in City Sustainability Planning in Cincinnati, OH: A project to institute community leadership throughout climate action planning for neighborhood representation in city policy-processes across intersectional climate work.. (USDN Emergent Learning Fund, 2022).
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Sydney Better Buildings Cup Pilot Program: This project created a framework to increase whole building engagement in achieving net zero emissions using a gamified approach that catalyzed building owners to leverage existing programs, resources and industry stakeholders to deliver coordinated and meaningful environmental engagement with their tenants and occupants. (CNCA Innovation Fund, 2021)
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Technical Assistance for the Zero Emissions Building Sector: Findings from the City of San Francisco's multi sector Zero Emission Building Taskforce. Taskforce findings are designed to guide the City's first Roadmap to Zero Emission Buildings. (CNCA Game Changer Pilot, 2020)
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Collaborating for Climate Preparedness - Insights from a 2015 Workshop: A 2015 workshop of local government and community organization representatives about how they can better collaborate within local communities to enhance climate preparedness and equity, highlighting secrets to successful collaborations and examples of collaboration for climate preparedness. (USDN Special Project, 2016).
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Seattle Extreme Heat Scenario-Based Pilot-Project in Frontline Communities - Racial Equity Evaluation: A pilot program in Seattle to understand how these municipal agencies can better support low-income communities and communities of color during extreme heat events. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2016).
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Behavior Wedge Profile Model 1.0: This report documents a low-cost means for developing city-specific assessments of behavior-based energy and carbon reduction opportunities. The product of this approach is a city-specific Behavior Wedge Profile that highlights local opportunities and targets that can guide behavior-based strategies. (USDN Special Project, 2013).
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Community Based Social Marketing Campaign - Employee Computer Shutdown: A multi-city campaign to use community based social marketing to foster sustainable behavior through an employee computer shut down program. (USDN Special Project, 2013)
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Innovation Lab - Refinement: Tools and guides to inform developing programs.
Communicating Climate Justice Issues Through Art in Multnomah County, OR: A project to work with community-based artists to help bring visions of climate justice to life through art. (Emergent Learning Fund, 2023).
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Yokohama City Renewable Energy Promotion Project: This project created a platform for Yokohama residents and businesses to promote the introduction of renewable energy without the help of city subsidies. (CNCA Innovation Fund, 2021)
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Real-Time Wildfire Smoke Communications Project:This project developed replicable resources for local governments and partners to use in advancing resilience to wildfire and grass fire smoke, particularly among those populations most impacted. This work provides a template for ways to engage internal and external stakeholders in climate resilience, as well as sample workflows that can be used for response to air quality or other public health issues. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2019)
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From Community Engagement to Ownership: This project developed an engagement plan with case studies so that city staff and frontline communities of color can work together towards racially equitable decision-making. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2019)
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Inspiring Local Action through Sustainable Marketing: Phase 2: Through this phase two project, ten diverse cities successfully applied the 2017 Innovation Fund Marketing for Action framework to develop strategic marketing campaigns and test scalability. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2019)
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Responsible Events - A Framework for Achievement: This project enabled USDN members and partners to create a resource kit, complete with tools, templates, and best practices. This library of responsible sporting materials, is designed to assist cities as they build their ‘event ecosystem’, predicated on a transparent global event sustainability standard, that will assist events in supporting local community goals for jobs, social cohesion, safety, culture, and sustainability. Due to the volume of material, only the Best Practice Guidebook and its appendices are available for download on this site. Access this curated set of resources on the City of Eugene’s Responsible Events page, here. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2018)
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Marketing for Action Guidebook: This project enabled USDN core members and partners to leverage an existing prototype to develop and scale a customized training on the basics of marketing for sustainability directors. The ensuing guidebook describes marketing fundamentals that any sustainability director can use to create and shape a strong local behavior change campaign. It plots a course for city sustainability teams to apply modern best practice marketing techniques to the objective of improving the environmental behaviors of its residents. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2017)
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Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) for Drought Response in California: USDN-affiliated regional network Green Cities California (GCC) adapted a USDN Innovation Fund project on community based social marketing to address drought response for staff members who are primarily responsible for municipal water programs. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2016).
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Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) in the Southeast: The Southeast Sustainability Directors Network (SSDN) collaborated to (1) plan, develop, and implement a CBSM campaign by providing expert-level educational resources tailored to each community; (2) foster sustainable behavior within participating communities; and (3) record and communicate insights on the CBSM methodology to the entire regional network. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2016)
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GHG Reduction RFI and Evaluation Toolkit: A customizable toolkit for cities to engage a broad set of stakeholders, technical assistance providers, and innovators in identifying and implementing actionable greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategies and create a means of evaluating costs and benefits of various strategies. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2016).
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RentRocket - Building Energy Tool: A prototype rental housing website that aims to (1) help renters consider sustainability factors (such as utility costs) alongside other factors (such as rent) when making housing decisions and (2) help landlords recognize the value of sustainability investments as a marketable asset. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2016).
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Municipal Workplace and Neighborhood Challenge: A sophisticated online template to allow USDN members to efficiently launch turnkey neighborhood and workplace sustainability challenges, including web-based applications with customizable homepages and bank-end functionalities for each participating community, as well as an implementation manual with strategies for other municipalities. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2016).
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New England Design and Resiliency Teams: A collaborative effort to help the New England Municipal Sustainability Network (NEMSN) create Design and Resiliency Teams (DARTs) to help Providence RI and Belchertown MA identify strategic and paradigm shifting resiliency opportunities and to catalyze action. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2016).
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Social Networking Tools Guidebook and Case Studies: A guide to using web-based social networking tools for interactive community engagement. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2012).
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Adoption Accelerator - Standards Emerging and Scaling: Implementation examples to show how it is being done.
Lenox Center Resilience Hub Solar Plus Storage Predevelopment in Detroit, MI: A project incorporating solar and storage into renovations of the Lenox Center, creating Detroit's first resilience hub, and serving as a model for future city retrofits. (USDN Mid-Sized Cities, 2022).
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Realizing a Community Vision: Building a Green, Sustainable Parkland Plaza in Louisville, KY: A project to bring partners and community together to realize a long-held community vision of a green, active, engaging civic space that will support and bolster a thriving community. (Partners for Places, 2022)
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Growing Roots for Environmentally Equitable Neighborhoods Miami-Dade County (GREEN MDC) in Miami-Dade County, FL: A project to address food insecurity and promote environmental equity by educating residents on effective gardening practices through workshops and installation of home gardens in four low-income communities. (Partners for Places, 2021)
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New Bedford Resilience Hub and Community Alert System Pilot Project: A project to evaluate the feasibility of creating Resilience Hubs in two New Bedford communities, identify a community-based organization to lead each, and create business plans for funding. (Partners for Places, 2021)
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Park City Community – Climate Drawdown: A community stakeholder-driven process to co-develop an equitable building decarbonization and efficiency plan to help meet Park City’s net-zero carbon goals by 2030. (Partners for Places, 2021)
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Milwaukee’s Fresh Coast Schools Green Infrastructure Project: A project to promote equity and sustainability in Milwaukee Public Schools with natural schoolyards and outdoor classrooms, green infrastructure, and a new sustainability project specialist. (Partners for Places, 2021)
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Developing a Green Infrastructure Strategy in Hartford CT: A project to provide critical support in building capacity for a larger, comprehensive green infrastructure effort to secure the long-term resilience of Hartford. (Partners for Places, 2021)
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Living Cully Community Engagement Plan: A project to implement a community energy plan in the Cully neighborhood through community-led investments that address both environmental needs as well as economic and social disparities,ensuring efforts directly benefit low-income residents. (Partners for Places, 2021)
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Community Planning Piloted in Indianapolis, IN: A project to create a comprehensive, equitable, and socially just sustainability, climate action, and resilience plan for Indianapolis, with actions initially implemented within revitalization-focused neighborhoods. (Partners for Places, 2020)
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Community Climate Action Planning Initiative in Bend, OR: A project to engage diverse voices to co-create and implement a community climate action plan with innovative strategies that balance equity, efficiency, economic development and meaningful climate benefits. (Partners for Places, 2020)
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The Nevada Neighborhood Project in Las Cruces, NM: A project to connect a green infrastructure corridor and build community capital to combat extreme heat, drought, and provide overall support in a low/moderate income urban neighborhood.(Partners for Places, 2019)
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Save Our Food Cincy Program in Cincinnati, OH: A project to enhance the sustainability of Cincinnati’s regional food system through strategic, collaborative activities to prevent, recover, and recycle food waste and educate the public on the issue. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Agriculture Park in Columbia, MO: A project to expand Columbia’s Urban Farm as a central feature of a health-focused, community agricultural, recreational, commercial, and educational facility in a low-income neighborhood. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Growing a Just and Healthy Food System in Tacoma, WA: A project to support community members' research, and provide them the tools, resources, and influential audience needed to implement resilient food system ideas and projects. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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The Save Our Sons Jobs Project: Advancing Equity and Opportunity for Knoxville’s Youth of Color: A project to align partners in Knoxville to advance opportunities for youth of color to succeed more equitably in local green and traditional economies. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Equity in Climate Action: Resilient Communities for a Sustainable City in New Orleans, LA: A project to engage the community in making equity a priority in implementation of the City of New Orleans’ Climate Action Strategy and to help the City meet the strategy’s climate mitigation goals equitably. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Community Climate Action Planning Initiative in Bend, OR: A project to engage diverse stakeholders to co-create a community climate action plan (C-CAP) with innovative strategies that balance equity, efficiency and meaningful climate benefits. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Washington Neighborhood Engagement Project in Dubuque, IA: A project to carry out authentic community engagement with a group of partners by making significant efforts and investments to support resilient neighborhood development in Dubuque’s Washington Neighborhood. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Community Engagement for Equity in Las Cruces, NM: This project recorded video narratives of community members to help decision makers and others explore the relationship between data and the qualitative stories of marginalized residents. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Equity in Climate Action: Resilient Communities for a Sustainable City in New Orleans, LA: A project to engage the community in making equity a priority in the implementation of the City of New Orleans’ Climate Action Strategy and to help the City meet the strategy’s climate mitigation goals equitably. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Green Infrastructure and Water Conservation for Low-Income Neighborhoods in Grand Rapids, MI: A project to develop a strategy for implementation of residential green infrastructure practices and reduction in water utility costs. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Healthy Homes Neighborhood Pilot in Newark, NJ: A project to develop and implement scalable strategies for promoting healthier, more energy-efficient homes through a pilot targeting children under six exposed to lead in two target neighborhoods. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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People for Parks - Community School Parks in Los Angeles, CA: A project to open vibrant school playgrounds to the public in underserved Los Angeles; empower low-income residents through enhanced community engagement; and advance local joint-use policies. (Partners for Places, 2019).
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Infusing Equity into Climate Planning in Washington, DC: A project to infuse equity into its climate planning through the creation of a community Equity Advisory Group and team of equity and resiliency consultants. (Partners for Places, 2019)
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Using Trees as Green Infrastructure for Economic, Social and Environmental Outcomes in St. Louis: A project to employ teens and to host neighborhood tree-planting events to help address stormwater management while also enhancing tree canopy, reducing heat island impact, and strengthening community relations (Partners for Places, 2018).
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Creating a Unified Community Vision for the Future of Syracuse’s Urban Forest: A project to create a public outreach campaign for urban forest master planning (Partners for Places, 2018).
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Chicago Green Living Program in Chicago, IL: A project to create a residential package of all of the beneficial energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste & recycling, transportation, and other “green” programs that the City offers and to connect low and moderate income residents to this package of offerings (Partners for Places, 2018).
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Junior Sustainability Stewards Program in Broward County, FL: A project to bring knowledge around climate and environmental justice topics to underrepresented youth by introducing at-risk students to STEM/environmental citizen science, experimentation, mentoring, scholarships and a career path toward environmental science or advocacy/policy making (Partners for Places, 2018).
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Net Zero Program Excellence – A Community of Practice in Australia - This project engaged a cohort of Australian cities to align around the application of a values-based approach to communication and engagement. This approach is designed to catalyse action for net-zero carbon outcomes. Three successful workshops facilitated a learning environment that resulted in tools to enable city campaign planning. (CNCA Innovation Fund, 2018)
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Design and Resiliency Teams (DARTs) Phase 2 - Dubuque, Fraser, Southern Nevada, and Vinalhaven: This project implemented a phase two of Design and Resiliency Teams (DARTs). Four community reports are posted here. Reports from phases 1 and 2 can also be found on this website. Outcomes from both phases reflect an interest in the DART’s unique approach and DART’s ability to help advance community conversations around resilience. (USDN Innovation Fund, 2018)
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Bringing Renewable Thermal Solutions to Scale in New England: This project developed and implemented pilot programs designed to expand the early adoption of renewable thermal in the existing residential building stock in New England. It created market analysis and campaign design methodologies, and summarized campaign findings so other cities can use lessons learned as they follow suit. (CNCA Innovation Fund, 2018)
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Increasing Energy Efficiency in Low-income Neighborhoods in Chattanooga: A project to expand a successful program that helps low-income neighborhoods – which use 43 percent more energy per square foot during the winter than the city’s average home – increase their energy efficiency. Residents will be encouraged to create their own locally-based solutions (Partners for Places, 2016).
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Carbon Reduction Efforts Benefit Low-Income Neighborhoods in Portland, OR: A project to help this city ensure that its successful efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions directly benefit low-income neighborhoods by supporting a resident-led Community Energy Plan in the Cully neighborhood. Portland has seen impressive results from its carbon-reduction efforts – in 2014 per person emissions were 40 percent below 1990 levels – and seeks to support historically underserved communities in implementing low-carbon investments and solutions (Partners for Places, 2016).
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Farmers’ Markets Help Low-Income Residents Purchase Healthy, Local Food in Minneapolis: A project to strengthen the local food system by helping Minneapolis’ 35 farmers’ markets work together, collect metrics on their impact and conduct a joint “Minneapolis Buy Local” marketing campaign. In addition, the program will expand an innovative program at the West Broadway Farmers Market’s that incentivizes low-income residents to purchase healthy foods by having doctors give patients food prescriptions (Partners for Places, 2016).
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Equity and Environment Initiatives Progress in Seattle: A project to implement the city’s Equity & Environmental Agenda, a roadmap to ensure that people of color, immigrants, refugees and those with low-income and limited English proficiency both lead and benefit from the city’s environmental progress. Unveiled in April, the agenda provides goals and strategies so that the city, funders, environmental organizations and the private sector can work together with the community for change. Funding will support community participation in a new Environmental Justice Committee and support pilot projects with communities of color that demonstrate environmental justice in action (Partners for Places, 2016).
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Improving the Food-Based Economy for Latino Residents in Tucson: A project to help the mostly Latino residents of the La Doce neighborhood strengthen their food-based economy by having citizen folklorists trained in ethnographic research assess local needs. The study will look at the informal economy and what home-based food businesses exist, how they and local supermarkets are faring, and what these businesses need to thrive. As UNESCO named Tucson a City of Gastronomy last year, honoring its rich food culture, the city wants to enhance the local food economy in neighborhoods (Partners for Places, 2016).
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Green Infrastructure in Low-Income Neighborhoods in Bridgeport CT: A project to engage residents in developing a plan to create more tree canopy, open spaces and stormwater solutions that will reduce flooding in a low-income area of this city. (Partners for Places, 2016).
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Austin 2030 District: A project to launch the Austin 2030 District, a voluntary initiative to reduce energy and water consumption and carbon emissions from Austin buildings. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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Cincinnati Food Fund and Fellowships: A project to enhance and strengthen Cincinnati’s regional food system through civic engagement, new policies, and creation of a Cincy Food Fund and food fellowships. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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Education and Engagement on Energy Efficiency: A community engagement campaign to empower disadvantaged residents in Knoxville to reduce utility bills through energy efficient behavior and cost-effective upgrades. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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Neighborhood Resiliency in Baltimore MD: A project to increase and enhance resiliency in neighborhoods most vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards and climate change. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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Residential Climate Change Adaptation in Cleveland OH: A project to mitigate and adapt to climate change by engaging residents in improving tree canopy, transportation mode shift, and entrepreneurship, delivering tangible outcomes for neighborhood resilience and equity. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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Stamford 2030 District: A resilient, high-performance building district in downtown Stamford with goals to dramatically reduce demand for energy and water resources and increase resiliency by 2030. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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Vulnerable Populations Outreach Program in Bloomington IN: A project towards establishing and enhancing programs which assist vulnerable populations and create an outreach coordinator position to help meet Bloomington's new residential energy reduction goal. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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A Chinatown Community Engagement Program in San Francisco: An effort to engage immigrant and monolingual communities to identify strategies to sustain Chinatown's unique culture and affordability by raising the environmental performance of the neighborhood’s infrastructure and buildings. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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A Resident-Led Sustainability Demonstration Project in Toledo OH: A resident-led demonstration project in the Overland Park neighborhood that mobilized citizens to promote sustainability in their neighborhood. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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Community Engagement for Transit-Oriented Development in San Diego: A community engagement effort during the planning phase for light rail stations along the Mid-Coast light rail line extension. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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CoMo Energy Challenge in Columbia MO: An overview of Columbia's CoMo Energy Challenge program. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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Dashboard of Neighborhood Assets and Sustainability Metrics in Memphis and Shelby County: An interactive dashboard for Memphis and Shelby County citizens mapping neighborhood assets, indicators, and metrics. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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Diverse Participation in Environmental Progress in Seattle WA: A project to create opportunities for all residents, especially people of color, immigrants, refugees, low-income, and those with limited-English proficiency, to fully participate in and benefit from Seattle’s environmental progress. (Partners for Places, 2015).
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Philadephia Food Policy Council: A project to sustain and exapand the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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Resident Empowerment through Urban Agriculture in Milwaukee: A resident empowerment program that repurposes vacant lots to support local food production and distribution. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Education in Buffalo NY: A community engagement campaign about stormwater management and green infrastructure projects. (Partners for Places, 2014).
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Clean Air Social Marketing Campaign in Salt Lake City UT: Clean Air Neighborhoods, a neighborhood-based social marketing campaign to help individuals negotiate barriers to alternative transportation. (Partners for Places, 2013).
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Energy and Climate Action Implementation in Oakland CA: A project to engage community organizations and residents in the implementation of the City of Oakland’s Energy and Climate Action Plan. (Partners for Places, 2013).
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Groundswell's Community Power Program in Baltimore MD: Expanding Groundswell’s Community Power Program in Baltimore, to help community institutions and low-income families access sustainable power, build connections, and save money on electricity bills. (Partners for Places, 2013).
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Sustainable Dubuque Initiative: A project to build new connections between Dubuque’s sustainability efforts (Sustainable Dubuque) and low-income families living in at-risk neighborhoods through the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI). (Partners for Places, 2013).
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