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Smart growth strategies help towns and cities across the country become healthier while improving resiliency and sustainability. With support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Active People, Healthy Nation Initiative, Smart Growth America’s Champions Institute provides mayors, city councilors, tribal chairpeople and councilors, and other local elected officials with knowledge and resources to support plans, policies, and funding that promote activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations. We’re accepting applications for our 2025 cohort! 

About the Champions Institute

The Champions Institute is a technical assistance and peer learning program designed to help local elected officials become effective champions for Complete Streets, downtown revitalization, and other local initiatives that increase opportunities for walking, biking, and rolling to everyday destinations. Selected participants from across the country will form a cohort of local leaders, attending six interactive virtual learning modules over three months beginning March 2025 on a variety of topics related to supporting activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations. Sessions will be two-hours and will be hosted every other week at a day and time determined to best suit the availability of the Champions.

Champions will learn from national experts and each other in a collaborative and supportive environment. Participants will use their new knowledge and resources to develop an action plan specific to their own communities to begin implementing their own local initiatives in line with the goals of the program.

Eligibility

Any mayor, city councilor, tribal chairperson or chief executive, tribal council member, or other local elected official may apply to become a participant within the Champions Institute. Participants who have already completed a Champions Institute are not eligible to apply. Participants from jurisdictions who have already participated in the Champions Institute or other Smart Growth America technical assistance programs are eligible to apply.

Selection process and criteria

Applications for the Champions Institute will be evaluated based on the following criteria established by SGA.

• SGA staff will review each application for completeness. Only complete applications shall advance to the next step.
• A committee will review each application per the criteria listed below.
• SGA will determine which applications best meet the selection criteria and offer a formal invitation to participate to those individuals.
• SGA reserves the right to reject any or all applications as not meeting its requirements.
• Successful applicants will be notified beginning February 5, 2025.

The primary selection criteria are:

1. Interest in increasing activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations and developing Complete Streets in the applicant’s community (25% of score) – The applicant should demonstrate interest in implementing more activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations and Complete Streets in their jurisdiction/community as a way to address public health, transportation safety, and sustainable development. The applicant should also demonstrate existing commitment to their community’s traditional center and affordable housing.
2. Need for technical assistance (25% of score) – The Champions Institute is seeking leaders from communities that are interested in smart growth and/or sustainable community development strategies but who may not have the current capacity or connections to local experts to implement local solutions. Applications should address broader equity concerns in their community including but not limited to income levels and demographics, along with other factors that may speak to the community’s need.
3. Involvement of other community leaders and organizations (25% of score) – Evidence of support for the applicant from elected and other leaders in the community, including commitment to supporting activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations and Complete Streets.
4. Ability to commit to time requirements (25% of score) – Applicants should affirm their commitment to fully participating in all functions and sessions if selected for the Champions Institute. Applicants are reminded that Champions Institute Champions may not appoint substitutes to participate in Champions Institute functions on their behalf.

Other factors that will affect the selection of communities to participate in the Champions Institute:

• Geographic diversity – To the extent possible, Champions Institute participants and/or communities should reflect a variety of states, regions, and communities and with a diverse set of populations.
• Equity – The degree to which the application contributes to the diversity of the communities being assisted through this program—and the diversity of communities that have adopted smart growth more broadly—with an emphasis on low-income, disadvantaged, and mid-sized cities or rural communities. The extent to which the applicant is able to incorporate this diversity into their application and demonstrate how the Champions Institute would address existing disparities in their communities as they relate to public health, transportation, and related topics.
• Past or current receipt of assistance – The degree to which the community has received or is currently receiving assistance related to activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations or Complete Streets and can demonstrate how this support would further the implementation of Complete and related initiatives through the Champions Institute. Has the community received related technical assistance from the CDC or other federal agencies in the past related to community design, active transportation, or sustainable community development? Is the community currently applying for or receiving technical assistance or funding from the CDC or other federal agencies? If yes, how will the assistance work with this application complement or leverage the other assistance already received or being applied for?

Timeline and application deadline

The deadline for Smart Growth America Technical Assistance applications is Friday, January 17, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Applications shall be submitted using the application form below by this time or using alternative arrangements previously approved and confirmed by SGA.

Apply to be part of the 2025 Champions Institute!

We will notify participants beginning February 5th, 2025. Virtual workshop sessions will take place from March 3 through May 12. Office hours to support the creation of action plans will take place the week of May 26, with a final session for presentations of those plans scheduled for the week of June 16.

Disclaimer: The 2025 Best Complete Streets Policy Report including policy analysis is made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Cooperative Agreement CDC-RFA-PW-24-0080). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. These efforts are part of the CDC’s Active People, Healthy NationSM Initiative that is working to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027. We would also like to extend our thanks to our partner in this work, the YMCA of the USA.