Democracy Collaborative

Location: Nationwide

Website: democracycollaborative.org

Through our cutting edge research and our many diverse programs, The Democracy Collaborative works to carry out a vision of a new economic system where shared ownership and control creates more equitable and inclusive outcomes, fosters ecological sustainability, and promotes flourishing democratic and community life.

We are a national leader in equitable, inclusive and sustainable development through our Community Wealth Building Initiative. This initiative sustains a wide range of Advisory, Research and Field Building activities designed to transform the practice of community/economic development in the United States. We also host the Next System Project, ongoing intellectual work designed to connect Community Wealth Building to the larger context of systemic economic transformation.

Our staff and associates are involved in a wide range of projects involving research, training, policy development, and community-focused work designed to promote an asset-based paradigm of economic development and increase support for transformative strategies among community stakeholders, anchor institutions, and key policymakers. As the premier innovator and leading national voice in the field of Community Wealth Building, we are known for our research and advisory services, as well as informing public policy, promoting new models and strategies, and establishing metrics to advance the field.

Throughout this work, our mission is to catalyze the transformation of our economy, working to build community wealth and create a next system anchored in democratic ownership and based on:

Broadening ownership and stewardship over capital Democracy at the workplace Stabilizing community and emphasizing locality Equitable and inclusive growth Environmental, social, and institutional sustainability

Resiliant Landscape Guide

Location: International

Website:asla.org/resilientdesign.aspx

Working with nature -- instead of in opposition to it -- helps communities become more resilient and come back stronger after disruptive natural events. Long-term resilience is about continuously bouncing back and regenerating. It's about learning how to cope with the ever-changing “new normal.”

As events become more frequent and intense due to climate change, communities must adapt and redevelop to reduce risks and improve ecological and human health. It's also time to stop putting communities and infrastructure in high-risk places. And we need to reduce sprawl, which further exacerbates the risks.

Resilient landscape planning and design offers a way forward for communities. We can now use multi-layered systems of protection, with diverse, scalable elements, any one of which can fail safely in the event of a catastrophe.

Many communities have attempted to find a single solution to disasters through heavy-handed infrastructure projects: walls to keep out water, power plants to cool cities. But working with nature to create multi-layered defenses provides several co-benefits.

For example, constructed coastal buffers, made of reefs and sand, can also provide wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities; urban forests made up of diverse species clean the air while reducing the urban heat island effect; and green infrastructure designed to control flooding also provides needed community space and creates jobs.

The goal of resilient landscape planning and design is to retrofit our communities to recover more quickly from extreme events, now and in the future. In an era when disasters can cause traditional, built systems to fail, adaptive, multi-layered systems can maintain their vital functions and are often the more cost-effective and practical solutions.

In an age of rising waters and temperatures and diminishing budgets, the best defenses are adaptive, like nature.

This guide is organized around disruptive events that communities now experience: drought, extreme heat, fire, flooding, landslides, and, importantly, biodiversity loss, which subverts our ability to work with nature.

The guide includes numerous case studies and resources demonstrating multi-benefit systems as well as the small-scale solutions that fit within those. The guide also explains landscape architects’ role in the planning and design teams helping to make communities more resilient.

S.O.A.R.

Location: Ventura County, California

Website:www.soarvc.org

SOAR is a series of voter initiatives that require a vote of the people before agricultural land or open space areas can be rezoned for development.

The first SOAR initiative was approved by the voters in the City of Ventura in 1995. Since 1995, nine SOAR initiatives have been enacted protecting open space and agricultural land around all of the major cities in Ventura County as well as in the county’s unincorporated areas. The County SOAR initiative blocks the Ventura County Board of Supervisors from rezoning unincorporated open space, agricultural or rural land for development without a vote of the people. Eight city SOAR initiatives require city councils to obtain the approval of their citizens before allowing urban development beyond a City Urban Restriction Boundary (CURB), or, in the case of the City of Ventura, before rezoning agricultural land within the city’s sphere of influence.

No other county in the United States has more effective protections against urban sprawl.

Who is SOAR?

SOAR is a non-profit grassroots group of citizens in Ventura County, California who are dedicated to keeping Ventura County from following the same urban sprawl pattern that has plagued the rest of Southern California. SOAR has over one thousand active members with a presence in each city of the county.

Why do we need SOAR?

Sitting on Los Angeles County’s northwestern boundary, Ventura County is subject to tremendous sprawl development pressure. Ventura County’s rolling hillsides, rugged mountains, beautiful beaches and fertile plains and valleys present a spectacular setting that creates conflicting incentives to preserve and develop this landscape. With a population of approximately 900,000 and over 100,000 acres of agricultural land in production the county offers a highly attractive semi-rural respite from the urban sprawl of Los Angeles County, where one city’s strip malls and subdivisions merge indistinguishably with the next.

The history of wasteful sprawl development in Southern California over the last several decades, often over the strenuous and vocal objections of residents, is testament to the fact that local elected officials have been more responsive to development pressure than to the core values of their citizens. The fact that the largest source of campaign funds for local elected officials in Southern California is pro-development money was a primary reason that Ventura County citizens recognized the need an extra level of review for urban sprawl development proposals. Most of the SOAR initiatives were passed in 1998 and most of them will expire in 2020. Ventura County citizens need to renew SOAR protection against urban sprawl for another generation by passing new initiatives during the November 2016 election.

Meeting of the Minds

Location: International

Website: cityminded.org

Meeting of the Minds is a global knowledge sharing platform based in San Francisco, CA.

Since it was founded, Meeting of the Minds has been dedicated to a singular proposition: bring together a carefully chosen set of key urban sustainability and technology stakeholders and gather them around a common platform in ways that help build lasting alliances. We believe that such a platform is a vital ingredient for smart, sustainable and equitable urban (re)development strategies.

Meeting of the Minds focuses on the innovators and initiatives at the bleeding edge of urban sustainability and connected technology. Through our blog, magazine, webinars, monthly meetups, workshops, roundtables, and an annual summit held each fall, we invite international leaders from the public, private, non-profit, academic and philanthropic sectors to identify innovations that can be scaled, replicated and transferred from city-to-city and across sectors.

Among the thousands of international leaders who participate in the Meeting of the Minds network are innovators scaling-up practical urban solutions in infrastructure, policy, design, equity, technology, energy, mobility, water, finance, and more.

Now in its 10th year, our annual summit brings together 400+ opinion-shapers, policy-makers, leading thinkers and innovators from all over the world for 2+ days of intensive immersion in thought leadership and cross-sector development.

Change by Us

Location: New York, NY

Website: nyc.changeby.us

Change by Us NYC is a new website created by Local Projects and run by the City of New York. It's a place for New Yorkers to put their ideas into action by creating projects and building teams to make our city a better place to live. We're kicking things off by asking how we can make our city greener. Get started today!

Share Ideas:

New Yorkers have always been full of great ideas about what will improve their neighborhoods. Use Change by Us NYC to broadcast to others what you have in mind. No idea is too big. No idea is too small.

Join or Create Projects:

Look for projects in your neighborhood or around the city where you can help. Become a member and plug into a network of those who want what you want! You can also use Change by Us NYC to set up and lead your own project, and turn your idea into reality.

Build Teams:

Use Change by Us NYC to connect quickly with the people who will help your project from start to finish. Someone has the idea, someone has the plan, someone has the tools, and together you succeed.

Use Change by Us NYC to find and connect with public and non-profit programs that can help your project succeed. Whether you need to access a City service or find some local knowledge, there are resources ready to provide guidance. Help us spread the word about Change by Us NYC — and check back often to see the line-up of influential New Yorkers who have agreed to follow projects and connect with community members online.

If there are any features or resources that you think will make Change by Us NYC easier to use or more effective, please contact us.

Change by Us NYC is a new platform created by Local Projects — known for its innovative work on StoryCorps and the 9/11 Memorial Museum — and the urban think tank CEOs for Cities. It is funded with the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the Case Foundation.

Change by Us NYC is run by New York City's Office of the Mayor. New York City is also proud to have the following partners working with us on the site: Citizens Committee for New York City, Pratt Center for Community Development, ioby and the United States Forest Service.

citymetric

Location: International

Website:intelligence.citymetric.com

City administrations use citymetric to get a clear understanding of how their city is performing compared to other key competitor cities. Interactive tools showing long-term forecasts of key economic, demographic, income and employment series provide clients with an independent assessment of the city’s characteristics benchmarked again other major global cities.

With insight and analysis produced by Timetric analysts as well as respected journalists, policymakers and academics, city administrators and other public bodies operating at the city-level can keep up to date with latest trends and issues affecting cities around the world.

Non-Profit Quarterly

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.nonprofitquarterly.org

NPQ was launched as a national print journal in the winter of 1999 and was designed to fill a gap by providing credible, research based articles for nonprofits about management and governance. Soon after it began it also started to cover issues related to the operating environment for nonprofits, specifically public policy and philanthropy. The quarterly print journal soon became known as "The Harvard Business Review for the nonprofit sector."

In April 2006 NPQ spun off from its original parent and became an independent nonprofit. NPQ added an active online publishing component virtually overnight stemming from a realization that its readers needed a constant stream of well analyzed and contextualized information to stay abreast of an environment full of both unprecedented opportunity and unforeseeable peril, and so it started a daily send out of news and features. This material is designed to help nonprofit practitioners negotiate their rapidly changing landscape. NPQ’s budget did not expand as a result of the shift but instead it eventually began to call upon its readers to act as regular correspondents . This required a complete redesign of our revenue and publishing models.

This engagement of our readership in collaborative journalism model has expanded NPQ’s intelligence and its capacity to gather and analyze the news in real time and from a variety of perspectives. It is highly innovative, however, and one of many experimental models in the field of digital publishing. NPQ partners actively with many other groups to make sure that its readership and community is continuously expanding; and that it reflects the mix of organizational sizes and types in the civil sector. NPQ is a nonprofit based in Boston. It has six staff members and a board of directors;but what really fuels it and provides it its credibility are its community of volunteer content contributors/readers and cash contributors.

NPQ has always been known for its rigor and grounded understanding of nonprofits and philanthropy and it has always depended upon its readership to guide its editorial agenda. This is what keeps it relevant and a trusted source for hundreds of thousands of practitioners across the country and beyond. NPQ’s guiding philosophy is that an active and engaged and sometimes disruptive civil sector is critical to a healthy democracy in the same way that a free and independent press is.

NPQ is striving to be the authoritative independent news source for civil society and we will only get there with your involvement.

City Accelerator

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.governing.com/cityaccelerator

As local government resources contract and challenges ranging from economic inequality to infrastructure compound, cities must design new and more effective responses. Cities are increasingly looking for ways to implement promising innovations that will have a significant impact in the lives of their residents, especially those with low income.

The City Accelerator, an initiative of Living Cities and the Citi Foundation, aims to help accelerate the adoption of such innovations within and across cities. The City Accelerator will work with three cohorts of three cities each over an 18-month period to advance innovative efforts that improve the lives of low-income people and help cities run more effectively.

Cities participating in each cohort will outline the progress that they intend to make in advancing innovative practice over the duration of the cohort, and then will use a number of program elements to accelerate progress on their work, including: an innovation guidebook that highlights how leading practices can be concretely adapted; periodic convenings to learn from other cities and leading practitioners; and coaching, technical assistance, and implementation resources to advance strategy and overcome barriers.

Participation in the City Accelerator will be drawn from cities that participate in the Project on Municipal Innovation(PMI), a network of 35 of the nation’s largest and most innovative cities. The first cohort will launch in September, with the second and third cohorts launching at six-month intervals.

About Living Cities:
Living Cities harnesses the collective power of 22 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions to develop and scale new approaches for creating opportunities for low-income people and improving the cities where they live. Its investments, research, networks, and convenings catalyze fresh thinking and combine support for innovative, local approaches with real-time sharing of learning to accelerate adoption in more places.

About the Citi Foundation:
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress in communities around the world and focuses on initiatives that expand financial inclusion. We collaborate with best-in-class partners to create measurable economic improvements that strengthen low-income families and communities. Through a "More than Philanthropy" approach, Citi's business resources and human capital enhance our philanthropic investments and impact.

Silence is Violence

Location: New Orleans, LA

Website: www.silenceisviolence.org

SilenceIsViolence is a campaign for peace in New Orleans, founded following the murders of musician Dinerral Shavers (December 28, 2006) and filmmaker Helen Hill (January 4, 2007). Dinerral and Helen were beloved friends, neighbors, and artists of New Orleans’ Bywater-Marigny district.

Following these tragedies, Ken Foster, Helen Gillet, and Baty Landis organized a march to New Orleans City Hall to express dismay at the silence of city leadership on the issue of violent crime. The January 11, 2007 March For Survival was attended by 5,000 concerned citizens. On that day, citizens from all parts of the city spoke directly to our leaders and each other about their fears and hopes for a safer and more equitable city—and SilenceIsViolence was founded.

The mission of the Silence is Violence is to call upon both citizens and public officials to achieve a safe New Orleans across all communities. We engage youth in positive expressions and actions to counter the culture of violence. We demand respect for every life, and justice for every citizen in our city.

Center for an Urban Future

Location: New York, NY

Website: www.nycfuture.org

The Center for an Urban Future is a NYC-based think tank dedicated to highlighting the critical opportunities and challenges facing New York and other cities, and providing fresh ideas and workable solutions to policymakers. The Center’s primary focus is on growing and diversifying the local economy, expanding economic opportunity and targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods. We consistently elevate important, but long overlooked, issues onto the radar of public officials—and we push policymakers to think differently about economic and workforce development.

The Center does this through publishing fact-based research reports that are accessible to a wide audience and holding high-profile policy forums.

Jonathan Bowles is the Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank dedicated to independent research about key policy issues facing New York and other cities. During his 12 years at the Center, he has been the architect of the policy agenda for the Center and is responsible for making it one of New York's most innovative and influential organizations and one in which its policy ideas are well-respected and widely used by policymakers, business leaders, and nonprofit practitioners.

At the Center,Jonathan has authored more than two-dozen reports, including a widely acclaimed 2007 study about the significant impact immigrant entrepreneurs are having on cities' economies, an influential study about New York City's innovation economy and a report about how to retain and grow New York's middle class. He has been asked to be a guest contributor for the New York Times and The Council on Foreign Relations on a range of urban issues including New York City's need to diversify its economy and immigrant entrepreneurs.

His research about key economic trends facing New York and its five boroughs, the value of small businesses to cities, and the economic impact of industries ranging from air cargo to biotechnology has been covered in publications ranging from the New York Times to The Economist. Jonathan is a frequent moderator and speaker at conferences and panel discussions on urban policy in New York and nationally.

Georgetown Climate Center

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.georgetownclimate.org

The nonpartisan Georgetown Climate Center seeks to advance effective climate, energy, and transportation policies in the United States—policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help communities adapt to climate change.

The Center performs a vital role in the development of policy by:

- Analyzing legislative and regulatory developments and assisting with program design,

- Sharing best practices and success stories with state and federal policymakers, and

- Serving as a resource to all states in addressing climate change and promoting a clean energy economy.

Based at Georgetown Law, the Center works extensively with government officials, academics, and an array of stakeholders to strengthen state and federal climate partnerships.

The Center analyzes the provisions of federal policy relevant to states and territories, and encourages policymakers to learn from and adopt innovative policies emerging from the states.

To that end, the organization plays a key role in a number of state-based initiatives. For example, the Georgetown Climate Center serves as the convener of the Transportation and Climate Initiative — a collaboration that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector across 11 states and the District of Columbia.

The Center is a facilitator of the “Three Regions” process, which brings together representatives of the nation’s three regional climate and energy programs to discuss common issues and explore opportunities for joint action.

The Georgetown Climate Center also coordinates the Governors’ Energy and Climate Coalition, a group of governors and U.S. territorial leaders who support federal action on climate policy and strong state roles.

Led by Executive Director Vicki Arroyo and Faculty Director Professor Peter Byrne of Georgetown Law, the Center also seeks to ensure that national climate and energy policy is informed by lessons from existing state efforts and that national policies maintain an ongoing role for state innovation and implementation.

Urban Intelligence Unit

Location: Africa

Website: www.futurecapetown.com/urbaniu

Our mission is to conduct high-quality, innovative and trans-disciplinary research, to foster knowledge sharing and to review policy matters in the area of urbanism, Born out of our collective curiosity for cities – and the people and places shaping them – the Urban Intelligence Unit (UIU) was formed in late 2012, as a research wing of Future Cape Town, to experience, explore and engage with this curiosity.

Embracing a trans-disciplinary approach – based on the simple yet radical idea that everybody contributes, beyond their individual expertise – our team background ranges from finance to the arts, psychology to law, urban infrastructure to graphic design – all of which contributes to forming the diverse and broad perspective we feel necessary to approach contemporary urban challenges and complexities.

Our mission includes:

- carrying out innovative, trans-disciplinary research,

- fostering knowledge sharing in the area of urbanism,

- facilitating and conducting research into and reviews of policy matters.

Our work includes:

- current research projects include Future Spaces, which explores the potential role of multimedia in exploring and understanding public spaces,

- Your City Idea, involving testing of the use of installations in public space as a study of public engagement and participation.

We are also passionate about becoming a centre for the dissemination of knowledge infographics and data visualisations, hosting knowledge share sessions for our team and the public in the form of the Urban Knowledge Network and supporting the research programmes of other organisations.

Within Future Cape Town, the team plays an important role by supporting the advocacy aim of the organisation, with reviews and research into urban policy matters, the formulation of position statements, and producing discussion papers to support the Future Cape Town summits.

If you need a nimble, dynamic, open-minded team to support your organisation, we would love to explore working with you.

Streetfilms

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.streetfilms.org

Streetfilms produces short films showing how smart transportation design and policy can result in better places to live, work and play.

Founded in 2006,Streetfilms has become the go-to organization for educational films about sustainable transportation, and inspires action and behavioral change worldwide. Individuals,public agencies, non-profit organizations, schools, and transportation advocacy groups use Streetfilms to educate decision makers and make change for livable streets in their communities.

Streetfilms are freely distributed online, and our nearly 500 videos have been viewed over 5 million times. Thousands of daily viewers watch Streetfilms on our site, through embeds on hundreds of other sites, social media, digital files and DVDs, film festivals, and community screenings.

OpenPlans a 501c3 non-profit orgaization. We are funded by foundation grants, sponsorships and advertising, and through generous donations from readers like you.

Terwilliger Center for Housing

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.uli.org/research/centers-initiatives/terwilliger-center-for-housing/

The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing engages in a multifaceted program of work that includes research, publications, convenings, awards, and technical assistance. Our mission is to facilitate creating and sustaining a full spectrum of housing opportunities—including affordable and workforce housing—in communities across the country.

Established in 2007 with a gift from longtime ULI member and former ULI chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger, the Center’s initial mission was to expand workforce housing opportunities for families earning 60 to 120 percent of the area median income.

While the Center’s primary focus remains on housing affordability, with a particular emphasis on workforce housing policies and projects, our mission has expanded in 2011 to include a broader range of housing issues.

This expanded focus will help to integrate ULI’s many housing efforts into a coherent program of work that furthers the development of mixed-income, mixed-use communities and a full spectrum of housing affordable to all, a critical aspect of ULI’s core mission of the “responsible use of land.

In The Public Interest

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.inthepublicinterest.org

In the Public Interest is a comprehensive resource center on privatization and responsible contracting. It is committed to equipping citizens, public officials, advocacy groups, and researchers with the information, ideas, and other resources they need to ensure that public contracts with private entities are transparent, fair, well-managed, and effectively monitored, and that those contracts meet the long-term needs of communities.

The mission of the Resource Center is to provide:

- Accurate, high-quality information, across a variety of sectors and jurisdictions about trends and developments in privatization, the impacts of privatization on the public, and responsible contracting policies and practices.

- Tools and resources to help public officials, researchers, advocates, workers, and administrators ensure that essential public goods and services are available to those who need them, managed by people who are publicly accountable, and affordable to all.

In The Public Interest is a project of The Partnership For Working Families.

Reconnecting America

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.reconnectingamerica.org

Reconnecting America is a national nonprofit that advises civic and community leaders on how to overcome community development challenges to create better communities for all. Reconnecting America develops research and innovative public policy, while also building on-the-ground partnerships and convening players needed to accelerate decision-making.

The community where we live holds a special place in our hearts. Some of us still live in the same neighborhood where our family has had roots for generations. Some of us choose a community with an eye toward a new beginning. Where we live matters.

At Reconnecting America, we help transform promising ideas into thriving communities, where transportation choices make it easy to get from place to place, where businesses flourish, and where people from all walks of life can afford to live, work and visit.

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Location: Nationwide

Website: www.cnt.org

Founded in 1978, the Center for Neighborhood Technology has been a leader in promoting more livable and sustainable urban communities. In fact, our work focused on sustainable development before the term became as popular as it is today. As a creative think-and-do-tank, we research, invent, and test urban strategies that use resources more efficiently and more equitably.

Over the years, CNT’s work, especially in the areas of climate, energy, water, transportation and community development, has paid off by fueling a generation of community development and learning institutions, earning CNT a reputation as an economic innovator and leader in the field of creative sustainable development.

CNT is an “innovations center for urban sustainability.” We approach our work by participating in three primary activities:

Researching urban problems to build knowledge through tools and activities that change how residents, policymakers, and market actors respond to issues such as efficient use of resources, strategies for reducing pollution, or ways to improve public transportation. Our studies are readily available for use by residents, policymakers, students, and other researchers.

Building coalitions to advocate for public policies that can help address urban sustainability issues.

Designing, developing, and operating economic development demonstration projects to address urban sustainability in innovative ways.

CNT launched two nonprofits that advance our mission:

- CNT Energy, an organization that develops and implements initiatives to help consumers and communities control energy costs and reduce energy use.

- IGOSM CarSharing, a membership-based car sharing organization that provides hourly rental of a fleet of cars located across Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.

Our Urban Practice Consulting offers a unique menu of tools and strategies which can be applied individually or collectively to urban development and redevelopment

CNT has ongoing long-term relationships with a number of organizations with complementary missions.

With the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD), CNT works on a number of studies for communities seeking to maximize transit resources through more targeted development near transit, especially development that can serve lower- and moderate-income households.

Studies were undertaken for the Bay Area, Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, New Mexico and Australia.
With Reconnecting America, CNT continues to promote a national policy for intercity transportation. The partners used the findings of its late ’03 report, “Missed Connections: Financing Intermodal Transportation” to educate policy-makers about what resources could be used to connect the separately functioning transportation modes into a more integrated and efficient transportation system.

As a co-founder and leader in the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) coalition, CNT spent much of 2004 working to educate constituents about the federal “highway bill,” up for reauthorization after lapsing in 2003.

Specifically, the coalition worked to preserve basic federal protections like that which ensures that citizen participation in transportation plans “be early and continuing.” The coalition also helped build public understanding about the importance of efficient, intermodal transportation to reducing the cost of living.

Our LEED-Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building demonstrates how we work—from innovation to implementation—within a framework that values places.

Causa Justa :: Just Cause

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Website: www.cjjc.org

Causa Justa :: Just Cause builds grassroots power and leadership to create strong, equitable communities.

Born from a visionary merger between a Black organization and a Latino immigrant organization, we build bridges of solidarity between working class communities of color.

Through rights-based services, policy campaigns, civic engagement, and direct action, we improve conditions in our neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area, and contribute to building the larger multi-racial, multi-generational movement needed for fundamental change.

Causa Justa :: Just Cause envisions equal rights for people of color, immigrants, women, and all oppressed and exploited people. We envision an end to racism, and want to build a society based on self-determination, social justice, and solidarity.

We envision a future without displacement through real estate speculation and forced migration. We envision a society where housing is a human right and all families thrive.

We envision a future where corporate control is replaced by an economy run by the people and for the people, and political power is in the hands of those who need change the most.

We envision a restoration of balance between humans and nature, and an end to ecological plunder.

We believe that bringing together Black and Latino people is a crucial part of building a multi-racial people’s movement in the US that contributes to a global movement for liberation.

Slum Dwellers International

Location: International

Website : www.sdinet.org

Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) is a network of community-based organizations of the urban poor in 33 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

It was launched in 1996 when “federations” of the urban poor in countries such as India and South Africa agreed that a global platform could help their local initiatives develop alternatives to evictions while also impacting on the global agenda for urban development. In 1999, SDI became a formally registered entity.

In each country where SDI has a presence, affiliate organizations come together at the community, city, and national level rooted in specific methodologies. SDI’s mission is to link urban poor communities from cities across the South that have developed successful mobilisation, advocacy, and problem solving strategies. Since SDI is focused on the localized needs of slum dwellers, it has developed the traction to advance the common agenda of creating “pro-poor” cities that address the pervasive exclusion of the poor from the economies and political structures of 21st century cities.

Further, SDI uses its global reach to build a platform for slum dwellers to engage directly with governments and international organizations to try new strategies, change policies, and build understanding about the challenges of urban development.

SDI believes that the only way to manage urban growth and to create inclusive cities is for the urban poor to be at the center of strategies for urban development.

Concurrently, there is no government that can hope to stop or ignore the challenges of urbanization. Forward-looking cities prepare for the urban population growth, and work with their citizens to harness the social, technological, and economic benefits of urbanization.

Achieving scale in urban development policy and practice begins at the individual settlement level. When local authorities engage with informal settlement communities, residents become active partners in upgrading their built environment.

When communities and authorities learn together and produce developmental outcomes together, they are able to reach many more communities than the top-down initiatives that some countries attempt. Further, when communities own the process of upgrading, they are able to ensure that it is sustainable and continues to grow over time.

Urban growth presents monumental challenges for policy makers and ordinary people alike. By working with the people urban interventions affect, these problems become more manageable, and the solutions more sustainable.

LA2050

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Website: www.la2050.org

LA2050 unites citizens, stakeholders, and organizations to address our region’s toughest challenges. LA2050 is rooted in a vision of a successful Los Angeles—a healthy, thriving, and desirable place to live.

LA2050 looks at the health of the region as it exists today along eight well-defined indicators: education, income & employment, housing, public safety, health, environmental quality, social connectedness, and arts & cultural vitality. And we’ve made informed projections about where we’ll be in the year 2050 if we continue on this current path.

The condition of Los Angeles today matters because who we are and how we live now sets us on a course for who we will be and how we will live tomorrow. We are confident that with your help, we will shape the LA story anew – and build the LA2050 of our aspirations.

Explore LA2050.
Follow the stories of these eight indicators.
Then join us to shape and build the future of Los Angeles.