Stories of Philanthropic Leadership in Advancing Regional and ...

PART I:IntroductionThe Purpose of this ReportThe Funders’ Network for Smart Growth andLivable Communities commissioned this report tohelp document the progress being made by fundersand their partner organizations to advance regionaland neighborhood equity on the ground in regionsand communities across North America. The storiesshared here highlight not only specific projects andorganizations, but also share lessons learned bygrantmakers who have been involved in and arecommitted to supporting them.Throughout North America, cities have sufferedfrom the migration of jobs, population, investmentcapital, and opportunity away from urban centersand into the fringes of metropolitan areas. Thispattern, commonly referred to as sprawl, has beenthe dominant shape of growth and development forover 50 years. It is the result of both public decisionsabout land use and the process by which thosedecisions are made.Low-income communities and people of color have beenforced to pay a terrible price by these public decisions.Too many neighborhoods are isolated, cut-off from theeconomic opportunities, services, and social networkscritical for full participation in society. The residents ofthese communities live with high crime rates, crumblinginfrastructure, poor services, and inadequate housing.Reinvestment, where it does occur, often fails to addressthe needs and aspirations of the residents of thesecommunities, which can lead to displacement andfurther isolation. Gentrification and disinvestment donot necessarily operate in isolation. In many instancesone community is struggling with the costs and benefitsof gentrification while a neighboring community in thesame region remains severely disinvested.Until relatively recently, the interplay betweenregional development patterns and inequality/inequityhas not been widely addressed by social justiceadvocates. As this report documents, this is beginningto change. Many foundations are developing andencouraging innovative approaches to link advocacyfor social justice to policy change focused on land useand regional planning. Recognizing that land usedecisions impact a broad range of issues that funderscare about (such as poverty alleviation, economicopportunity, the state of children and families, andmore), since its inception, the Funders’ Network forSmart Growth and Livable Communities haspartnered with organizations such as PolicyLink toadvance the objectivesof opportunity,justice, and equity byencouraging betterdecisions aboutgrowth anddevelopment.The intendedaudience for thisreport includesfunders, individuals,and organizations advocating for better planning anddecisionmaking to improve communities andregions. Several goals exist for this report. At onelevel, its purpose is to lift up the profiled projects asnational examples of foundation leadership in orderto encourage other funders to engage in this work.Second, its purpose is to demonstrate to keystakeholders that extend beyond philanthropy—public and private sector leaders, practitioners, andadvocates—that cross-sectoral collaborations cancreate sustained progress. Finally, this report isdesigned to inspire, catalyze, and strengthenphilanthropic leadership and expand funders’ abilitiesto support organizations working to build moreequitable and livable communities.The Movement for Smarter GrowthMany foundations aredeveloping and encouraginginnovative approaches to linkadvocacy for social justiceto policy change focused onland use and regionalplanning.Place-based strategies for improving communities andregions have coalesced into a movement based on a setof principles known as smart growth. The AmericanPlanning Association (APA) defines smart growth asusing comprehensive planning to guide, design,develop, revitalize, and build communities that:• Value long-range, regional considerations ofsustainability over short-term, incremental,geographically isolated actions;• Preserve and enhance valuable natural andcultural resources;• Equitably distribute the costs and benefits ofdevelopment;Part I: Introduction2