Regional Plan Association

Healthy regions - rpa launched the healthy regions planning exchange to bring together planners, public health officials, and community advocates to share knowledge and best practices on Regional planning and health. The current cohort hails from 11 regions across the country, sf / bay area, ca, los angeles, ca, multnomah county, or, twin cities, mn, nashville, tn, new orleans, la, buffalo, ny, pittsburgh, pa, pine ridge reservation, sd, and the new york region. Together, we aim to exchange methods and ideas which promote health equity into Regional planning work. We convened this group with a symposium in april 2019 and followed that with a webinar series focused on planning issues related to transit equity, climate justice, and housing affordability. Our closing symposium is tentatively set for early march 2020. This is part of a broader effort at rpa to do more to promote social and racial equity within our organization and in the policies and projects, we promote across the region. It is made possible through generous funding from the robert wood johnson foundation and bloomberg philanthropies.

Desegregate Connecticut - founded in 2020, desegregatect has been a program of rpa since february 2022 and is dedicated to enacting land use reform at the local and state level in Connecticut to encourage economic growth, racial equity, and environmental sustainability. It operates as a coalition of nearly 80 nonprofit and neighborhood groups and provides original research, educational outreach, and advocacy to pass local and state legislation to encourage more diversity of housing options, particularly near transit hubs. It is supported by open philanthropy and several locally based community foundations including the hartford foundation for public giving.

Build gateway now coalition - rpa launched the build gateway now coalition five years ago, bringing together over 40 civic, business and labor partners to support the nation's most critical infrastructure project: the gateway program. Through original research, communication efforts (social media,op/eds, digital public engagement tools, regular contact with the media), advocacy efforts (testifying at gateway development commission board meetings, lobbying in Washington dc, hosting press conferences and other rallies), our coalition has helped move the project along and made it clear in the public eye that the gateway program must be built. Our work is supported by amtrak. We received a $350,000 grant for 18 months starting january 2022. Our grant was recently renewed and increasedby $500,000 for 18 months beginning january 2024.

Included in other program services are the following projects:regional planning exchange, peter herman/richard kaplan chairs, congestion pricing nj committee, sandy 10 resilience, desegregate Connecticut, cornell atkinson, municipal impacts of buyouts, gateway/amtrak, hudson valley housing, nys housing campaign, streets and parks , open streets, taub civic engagement, equitable energy, leidos, brooklyn greenway user study, ceqr mas, fccho communications, eastern Connecticut cheo, ct urban centers coalition, fairfield Connecticut community, transforming cbd's, connecting children to nature, suffolk on call - brentwood, licf affordable housing, new city parks, nys health