With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Smart Growth America’s Community Connectors program will support three city teams in repairing divisive infrastructure, improving safety on local arterial roads, and sparking the long-term partnerships and support necessary for making permanent reconnections.

We’re excited to announce the three communities who were chosen to participate in Community Connectors, our year-long program that will support city leaders and community-based organizations with implementing quick-build demonstration projects. This year’s cohort is:

• Akron, Ohio with the Summit Lake Community Development Corporation
• Baltimore County, Maryland with the Northeast Towson Improvement Association of Historic East Towson
• Little Rock, Arkansas with studioMAIN

Each team is jointly led by city or county staff and community-based organizations, and will include many other local partners throughout the program, which starts in October. Over the course of a series of virtual sessions, an in-person workshop, and one-on-one assistance, along with the support of a grant, these teams will be equipped to design, install, and measure the impact of a quick-build project on an arterial road in their community, which will be in place next spring. By building community-led temporary installations, the teams will be able to build the skills and partnerships to further reconnect their neighborhoods.

Learn a bit about each community and what the teams plan to achieve with Community Connectors:

1. Akron and the Summit Lake Community Development Corporation

The Summit Lake neighborhood in Akron, Ohio is cut off from essential amenities, as well as the lake itself, by busy Lakeshore Boulevard which also lacks sidewalks and crosswalks. The neighborhood is the focus of a lot of ongoing planning work, including a pedestrian master plan, a land use plan, and redevelopment of public housing based on the HUD Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan. Through all of this work, residents have repeatedly brought up unsafe streets as a primary concern. Through Community Connectors, this team aims to test strategies recommended in the pedestrian master plan for improving safety conditions for people walking in this neighborhood, and to build the institutional knowledge to be able to replicate this approach elsewhere, working with nearby residents throughout the process.

2. Baltimore County and the Northeast Towson Improvement Association of Historic East Towson

Historic East Towson in Baltimore County is one of the oldest Black communities in the region. This tight-knit community has worked to celebrate local residents, share the area’s history, and honor the truth of the community through festivals, walking tours, the dedication of the Truth and Community Remembrance Park, and the ongoing Road to Freedom Trail project to connect Historic East Towson and the Hampton National Historic Site. The area still faces challenges from divisive infrastructure, including a power substation that was built in the neighborhood and a highway bypass. At the center of the neighborhood, Towsontown Boulevard divides neighborhood residents from schools, parks, and essential services. This team is planning a demonstration project that will continue strengthening the partnerships between the community and the county, improve safety at key intersections, and connect to the neighborhood’s history.

3. Little Rock and studioMAIN

The Historic 9th Street Corridor Gateway was a thriving center of Black culture, music, and business in Little Rock until the construction of I-630 and associated “slum clearance” devastated the area, displacing hundreds of families and cutting the neighborhoods south of the interstate off from the city’s downtown. Wide arterials with no safe crossings divide the area from the city, creating both a physical and symbolic separation. This team has worked with cultural institutions, youth organizations, local libraries and universities, and city leaders to understand the legacy of I-630 and envision what a safe and connected future for the neighborhood could look like. Through this program, the team plans to install a demonstration project that tells the history of this corridor, amplifies neighborhood residents’ stories, and builds support for permanent street improvements restoring the connectivity to communities south of I-630.

We will be sharing stories about these communities and interviews with the participants in the coming months. Stay tuned to learn more about this year’s Community Connectors cohort!