Category: Webinars

State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have ambitious goals: improve safety, reduce congestion, enhance economic opportunity, improve reliability, preserve system assets, accelerate project delivery, and help to create healthier, more livable neighborhoods, just to name a few. These goals would be challenging even if money were no object, but dwindling conventional federal and state transportation funding makes these goals even harder to achieve.

The Innovative DOT: A handbook of policy and practice, published earlier this year by Smart Growth America and the State Smart Transportation Initiative, lays out 31 tools transportation officials can use as they position their agencies for success in the new economy.

On December 12, from 3:00-4:30 PM EST, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will host a webinar about the report and its recommendations. FHWA is partnering with the Project for Public Spaces and INDUS Corporation to present this free event.

Wednesday, October 3, 2:00-3:15pm ET. Register for the NALGEP Brownfield Communities Network webinar today and gain valuable information about the recently announced grant guidelines and Request for Proposals for the EPA’s FY2013 Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Program.

Thursday, October 4, 3:00-4:00pm ET. EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities will conduct a webinar on free technical assistance available to communities through EPA’s Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program.

Wednesday, September 5, 2:00-3:00pm ET. Join EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities to discuss the Agency’s voluntary school siting guidelines, which can help local school districts and community members evaluate environmental factors to make the best possible school siting decisions.

Thursday, September 6, 1:00-2:30pm ET. Building Sustainable Communities through Environmental Justice Strategies Register here.

Monday, April 2, 2012, 12:30- 1:00pm ET. Housing and Urban Development Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities: Broad Stakeholder Call. RSVP here by Monday, April 2nd at 10am.

Thursday, April 5, 2012, 1:30- 3:00pm ET. New Tools in Scenario Planning: Denver Region’s Metro Vision 2040 Update. Register here.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 3:00- 4:00pm ET. Creating a Unique Public Space: The Uptown Roundabout in Normal, Illinois. No registration required. More information.

Thank you to everyone who attended SGA’s Sustainable Communities Network Partnership for Sustainable Communities Briefing on February 16th, 2012.

Smart Growth America hosted the senior leadership from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency on this briefing.

Click below to listen to Beth Osborne (DOT), Mariia Zimmerman (HUD), and Tim Torma (EPA) give updates on this year’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities grants and programs, talk about where the Partnership stands in the President’s fiscal year 2013 budget, and outline the work that each Partnership agency plans to do in the upcoming year.

Thank you to everyone who attended SGA’s Sustainable Communities Network webinar Navigating Change: Running Effective Community and Coalition Meetings on November 22nd.

During this training, Odin Zackman, facilitator and community sustainability consultant, walked us through the basics of designing an effective community or coalition meeting. Navigating Change provided facilitation tips and techniques, and offered interventions that can help keep public meetings on track. The presentation (without audio) can be viewed here. Click below for the full presentation, responses to unanswered questions asked during the webinar, and additional resources.

Communities across the country interested in fostering development that supports thriving local economies while protecting the environment and sense of place can turn to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program for resources and tools to help them achieve desired development goals.

A recent informational webinar by the U.S. EPA, Forterra (formerly Cascade Land Conservancy), Global Green USA, Project for Public Spaces and Smart Growth America provided an overview of the available resources and the application process of the Building Blocks program. Materials from this webinar are now available online.

Thank you to everyone who attended SGA’s Sustainable Communities Network “Brownfields Redevelopment, Community Revitalization, and Regional Planning: Making It Work Together” earlier this week.

We heard from Adhir Kackar and Stacy Swartwood of the Environmental Protection Agency on how the federal government is working to streamline investments in community brownfield redevelopment and regional planning efforts, particularly through the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities. We then heard the stories and lessons learned from the community of Ranson, West Virginia already working on brownfield cleanup in conjunction with other economic development projects from Dawn Seeburger, Environmental Resources & Consulting.