News

In This Issue

• Federal Policy Update: Leg Schedule, HUD NOFA and Sustainable Communities Conference
• Update on Repair Priorities Press Clips
• Recent SGA Blog Posts and please link to us!
• Assistance with Community Transformation Grant Applications
• Choice Neighborhood Initiative Planning Grants available
• Webinar on Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development

Federal Policy Updates: Legislative Schedule, HUD NOFA and Sustainable Communities Conference

• Legislative Schedule and Update
  • Both the House and Senate will be in session next week and the following week just the Senate will be session.
  • For the past two week the Senate has considered S. 782, the Economic Development Revitalization Act, but it stalled prior to a final vote on the Senate floor after two week of debate on amendments. The House wrapped up consideration of the FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill this week.
• HUD Releases Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) NOFA
  • HUD released notices of funding availability (NOFA) for Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Planning Grants (see below) and BEDI grants. For BEDI, a total of $17,325,000 will be available; grants of up to $3,000,000 will awarded. BEDI is designed to help local governments redevelop brownfields, defined in this NOFA as abandoned, idled, or underutilized real property, including industrial and commercial facilities, where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by the presence or potential presence of environmental contamination. A BEDI grant award will be conditioned upon, and must be used in conjunction with, a new (i.e., not previously approved) Section 108-guaranteed loan commitment. Applications are due by July 14, 2011.
• Solutions for Sustainable Communities Conference
  • The National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy will be hosting a seminar, Solutions for Sustainable Communities: 2011 Learning Conference on State and Local Housing Policy, September 26-28 in Washington, DC. The seminar will cover a wide range of innovative state and local housing policy solutions that may be useful in achieving more sustainable and inclusive communities. Register by July 10 for the best rates.

Update on Repair Priorities Press Clips

Thanks to everyone who helped out and co-released SGA’s latest report “Repair Priorities: Transportation spending strategies to save taxpayer dollars and improve roads.” We wanted to update you on all the press coverage the report has received. You can see the full list here (doc). Again, thanks so much!

Recent SGA Blog Posts

Here are some of SGA latest posts. To get regular updates about new SGA blog posts, subscribe to our feed.

• Smart Growth America applauds Senator Cardin for introducing bill to improve highway maintenance and repair
• Over 50 national organizations voice support for 2012 funding of Partnership for Sustainable Communities
• New book a resource for communities facing foreclosures, blight
• Aging in Place, Stuck without Options: a new report from Transportation for America

Also: We’ve created a ‘Proud Member of Smart Growth America’ logo that you can upload to your website and link to our homepage. The logo comes in 3 sizes: 200, 300, and 500. If you need additional assistance with the graphics, please contact Alex Goldschmidt. Also, if you’re not already a friend of Smart Growth America online, be sure to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. We’ll follow you back!

Assistance with Community Transformation Grant applications

The National Complete Streets Coalition and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership have ideas for technical assistance activities that could be included in the application. More information about what they can offer is available on their blog. Many communities will want to pursue activities in this area, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to build alliances between the smart growth advocacy community and public health. More information about the program is online.

Choice Neighborhood Initiative Planning Grants available

Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants will support the development of comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plans which will transform these communities into viable, mixed-income neighborhoods by linking housing improvements with appropriate services, schools, public assets, transportation, and access to jobs. The program is focused on directing resources to address three core goals: housing, people and neighborhoods. To achieve these core goals, communities must develop and implement a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. The Transformation Plan will become the guiding document for the revitalization of the public and/or assisted housing units while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families. More information is available on Grants.gov.

Webinar on Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development

FTA and CTOD are hosting a webinar on Tuesday June 21st at 2:00pm EST titled “Understanding Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development.” This webinar focuses on introducing participants to the benefits, strategies, and challenges of mixed-income TOD and will introduce a useful tool, the “Mixed-Income TOD Action Guide,” which helps communities develop strategies to implement mixed-income TOD. Space is limited so register soon.