Partnership for *
Sustainable Communities
SUPPORTING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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On June 16, 2009, U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray
Latiood, U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary
Shaun Donovan, and U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator
Lisa P. Jackson announced the formation of
an interagency Partnership for Sustainable
Communities. This action marked a funda-
mental shift in the way the federal govern-
ment structures its transportation, housing,
and environmental policies, programs, and
spending, and Americans are already seeing
the impacts. The three agencies are working
together to support urban, suburban, and rural
communities' efforts to expand housing and
transportation choices, protect their air and
water, attract economic growth, and provide
the type of development residents want.
Sustainable communities are places that pro-
vide homes working families can afford; safe,
reliable, and economical transportation options;
and access to jobs, schools, parks, shopping, and
cultural destinations. Not only do all of their
residents enjoy the same protection from envi-
ronmental and health hazards, but they also
share in the economic and social benefits that
can come from development. By coordinating
housing, transportation, and other infrastruc-
ture investments, the Partnership is promot-
ing reinvestment in existing communities,
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PARTNERSHIP FOR
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
GUIDING LIVABILITY PRINCIPLES
Provide more transportation choices.
Promote equitable, affordable
housing.
Enhance economic competitiveness.
Support existing communities.
Coordinate and leverage federal poli-
cies and investment.
Value communities and
neighborhoods.
expanding residents' access to employment and
educational opportunities, and catalyzing com-
munity revitalization that uplifts people of all
ages, incomes, races, and ethnicities.
HUD, DOT, and EPA have worked together to
distribute nearly $2 billion in grants that sup-
port vital transportation infrastructure, equi-
table comprehensive planning, and brownfields
cleanup and reuse. Some grants are targeted to
areas where disinvestment and industrial pollu-
tion have left a legacy of abandoned and con-
taminated sites. Other grants require recipients
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to have clear plans for involving underserved popula-
tions in their proposed activities. The three agencies
are also working to integrate sustainability and envi-
ronmental justice into their programs and to remove
federal regulatory and policy barriers to sustainable
community development in distressed areas.
The Partnership is also helping to build the capac-
ity of environmental justice and equitable devel-
opment organizations to engage in planning their
neighborhoods' and regions' futures. A working
group is examining how the Partnership can support
the efforts of environmental justice communities to
achieve sustainability. Additionally, the three agen-
cies help to convene an annual Equitable Develop-
ment Workshop offering information and training
on current policy trends, opportunities for collabo-
ration, and successful initiatives around the country.
PROGRESS TOWARD MORE
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES AND
MORE EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
In its first year, the Partnership has undertaken several
projects that bring together environmental justice,
equitable development, and sustainable communities.
The Fairmount commuter rail corridor in Boston's low-income
neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan is one of
the Partnership's Brownfields Pilots. The photo and rendering
show the area around the Uphams Corner station before and
after transit upgrades and planned redevelopment.
Team-EJ, the Partnership's
Environmental Justice Working Qroup
The Partnership created Team-EJ, a work-
ing group focused on the connections
between environmental justice and sus-
tainable communities. Team-EJ, chaired
by EPA's Office of Environmental Justice,
is working with the Partnership to better
understand how the three agencies can
integrate environmental justice and sus-
tainable community goals and use their
existing resources to address environmental jus-
tice needs. The group produced the Environmental
justice and Sustainability Deskbook to provide infor-
mation on the resources available to communities
through EPA, HUD, and DOT. The deskbook will
be available at www.epa.gov/smartgrowth.
HUD Sustainable Communities Regional
Planning Qrants
In October 2010, HUD awarded $100 million to sup-
port metropolitan and multijurisdictional planning
efforts that integrate housing, land use, economic and
workforce development, transportation, and infra-
structure investments. HUD, DOT, and EPA screened
grant applications for engagement of populations not
typically involved in planning, such as low-income
people, minorities, people with limited English pro-
ficiency, youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities.
Extra points were awarded to communities in eco-
nomic distress. With comprehensive regional plans
created through an inclusive process, communities
can better address the interdependent challenges of
economic competitiveness, revitalization, social equity
and access to opportunity, public health, environmen-
tal protection, and climate change.
By working together, [HUD, DOT, and EPA] can make sure that when
it comes to development—housing, transportation, energy efficiency—
these things aren't mutually exclusive; they go hand in hand. And that
means making sure that affordable housing exists in close proximity to
jobs and transportation. That means encouraging shorter travel times
and lower travel costs. It means safer, greener, more livable communities.
-President Barack Obama
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Joint DOT TIQER II-HUD Community
Challenge Qrants
For the first time, DOT and HUD joined forces to
award $68 million—$28 million in transportation
planning grants from the second round of TIGER
(Transportation Investment Generating Economic
Recovery) funds and $40 million in HUD Commu-
nity Challenge Planning Grants to support local plan-
ning activities that integrate transportation, housing,
and economic development. Again, HUD, DOT, and
EPA screened grant applications for the engagement
of underserved populations and economic distress.
JACKSONVILLE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SHOWCASE COMMUNITY
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EPA's Environmental Justice Showcase Communities
program convenes federal agencies, state and local
government entities, non-governmental organizations,
and other stakeholders to help underserved communi-
ties shape their neighborhoods' futures. One Environ-
mental Justice Showcase Community—Jacksonville,
Florida—is receiving assistance from the Partnership to
help address local environmental, health, and eco-
nomic challenges. EPA, HUD, and DOT representatives
participated in the project's kickoff event, where they
toured the northeastern part of the city, a disadvan-
taged area with several Superfund and brownfield
sites and high rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
asthma, and infant mortality.
The agencies are supporting the local partners' vision,
which includes a community health center designed using green building techniques and located on
a cleaned-up brownfield site close to public transportation, community gardens, parks, and other
recreational opportunities. The center may also provide training for health care jobs in partnership
with historically black colleges and universities. Building on the momentum around the showcase
initiative, HUD Region IV has selected the Jacksonville pilot as a Partnership for Sustainable Commu-
nities Signature Project and will explore how housing can be used to make HUD-assisted low-income
households more economically self sufficient.
During the initiative's kickoff event in April 2010,
community leaders talked with federal and local
government officials and private-sector partners on one
of the contaminated sites slated for redevelopment.
// We are delighted that EPA, HUD, and other federal agencies are working with us to
tackle our environmental justice issues. The Partnership for Sustainable Communities
can help us build on the important work of our local partners and create a green,
healthy, and sustainable community in which we can live, work, and play.
Wynetta Wright, Director, Eastside Environmental Council, Inc., Jacksonville
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Communities can work with environmental justice and equitable development
groups to make sure that all the members of a community have a chance to be
engaged in planning and visioning efforts.
Broivnfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot
Initiative
In October 2010, in collaboration with HUD,
DOT, and other agencies, EPA's Brownfields
Area-Wide Planning Pilot Initiative awarded
$4 million to 23 communities, many of which
are economically disadvantaged. The grants
will support the creation of plans that integrate
site cleanup and reuse and address commu-
nity needs such as housing, health facilities,
recreation, and job creation.
Brown/ields Pilot Communities
In 2009, EPA, HUD, and DOT selected five
pilot communities—Boston; Indianapolis;
Iowa City, Iowa; Denver; and National City,
California—that are dealing with economic
distress, multiple brownfield sites, and a lack
of affordable housing, but that have public
transit around which to center revitaliza-
tion efforts. The three agencies are providing
technical assistance to help these communi-
ties clean up and reuse contaminated and
vacant properties and minimize displacement
by supporting affordable housing
around transit. The Partnership will
use lessons learned from the pilots to
make future federal investments more
effective in economically disadvan-
taged places. The agencies considered
environmental justice criteria when
selecting the pilots.
Equitable Development Workshop
The three agencies, along with the
Local Government Commission,
convene an annual Equitable Develop-
ment Workshop in conjunction with
the New Partners for Smart Growth
Conference. The workshop facilitates
collaboration between smart growth and
environmental justice stakeholders and build
the capacity of community-based organizations
to engage in planning and development in their
neighborhoods and regions. Panel and training
topics include leveraging federal funding, col-
laborating with state and local government, and
financing equitable development. More infor-
mation can be found at www.newpartners.org.
RESOURCES
HUD Office of Sustainable
Housing and Communities:
http://www.hud.gov/sustainability
DOT Livability Page:
http://www.dot.gov/livability
EPA Office of Sustainable Communities:
http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
/osc/index.htm
EPA Office of Environmental Justice:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/
environmentaljustice/index.html
Recycled/Recyclable • Printed on 100% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled Paper
that has been manufactured with wind power.
EPA-231-F- 10-002
December 2010
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