Monday Mailing
Year 24 • Issue 26 02 April 2018 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
10 Ways to Design Healthy Communities Feeding or Starving Gentrification: The Role of Food Policy AARP Launches 2018 Community Challenge Grant APA and Partners Call on Congress to Improve Flood Mitigation Efforts Happy Camp: Builds on Rich History Announcing the 2018 Great American Main Street Award Winners Regional Infrastructure Fund – Request for Applications The Partnerships Enabling Disabled City Residents to Better Explore Their Surroundings New ULI Report Offers Bold Principles for Building Resilience Cities and Regions Did Fort Collins Grow Too Big Too Fast? Workshops Help Farmers Transition Land to Next Generation
1. 10 Ways to Design Healthy Communities Making healthy choices easy is a public-health goal. And how communities are designed can actually have a dramatic impact on that goal. Better still, any civic-minded group or individual can initiate community-health-oriented projects, from developing a new trail or park to reprogramming existing facilities.
Quote of the Week: "Almost always the creative, dedicated minority has made the world better." ~Martin Luther King Jr. Oregon Fast Fact: Multnomah Falls is a 620 foot waterfall in two stages that is the second tallest waterfall in the United States. It is located in the Columbia Gorge along the Columbia River.
Until the 1930s, it was understood that most people would walk to local destinations, and streets were planned accordingly. But with the rise of the automobile, planning models changed, especially in the U.S. Instead of creating communities within a few minutes walk, it was assumed everyone would drive. Blocks became very large, intersections were spaced to reduce traffic stops and essential places such as grocery stores were located where they required long travel routes. That’s why the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its National Center for Environmental Health established the Healthy Community Design Initiative and hired Dee Merriam in 2008 as a community planner. Merriam, a landscape architect, was charged with helping identify planning policies that might lead to healthier communities. To access the full story, click here. 2. Feeding or Starving Gentrification: The Role of Food Policy Gentrification has transformed low-income communities worldwide. The process is complex but often follows a consistent pattern: capital flows into low-income neighborhoods, more affluent residents move in, real estate values go up, the housing stock is upgraded, low-income residents are forced to leave, and community character changes to accommodate the newcomers. Gentrification can happen abruptly, with people and businesses displaced through eviction, but more commonly occurs gradually, even over generations, as children of longtime residents leave because they cannot afford to remain in the Page 1 of 5
neighborhood in which they grew up. The impact of gentrification varies, too. Those able to remain in place while their neighborhoods gentrify may benefit from new investments, more political influence, and better infrastructure and services, or they may suffer the loss of place as commerce, culture, civic life, aesthetics, and the people living around them become unaffordable, unfamiliar, or unwelcoming. Food plays a significant role in gentrification. “Foodie” culture often serves as gentrification’s leading edge by signifying that a community is ripe for investment. Gentrification also changes food retailers that comprise the local food environment, sometimes creating “food mirages,” with abundant, high quality food priced just out of reach of longstanding residents. Food policies play an important role in gentrification by catalyzing the process and protecting against or counteracting its negative effects, and policies that address gentrification can affect local food environments. This brief discusses the relationships between food and gentrification and identifies ten opportunities for advocates to shape the process. To access the full story, click here. 3. AARP Launches 2018 Community Challenge Grant AARP just announced a second year of a grant program that aims to “help make communities better places to live for all ages.” The grants are available for a range of projects and can be for small onetime programs or large-scale projects, ranging from several hundred dollars to several thousand. The grants can go to transportation projects, either permanent or temporary ones, that help increase walkability, bikeability, wayfinding, or access; to permanent or temporary projects and programs that activate and improve open spaces and parks; to projects that support or help increase access to affordable housing; and toother innovative projects that improve a community. They are “aimed at catalyzing change and improving the quality of life for people of all ages in communities nationwide,” said AARP California State Director, Nancy McPherson. These are “quick-action” grants—applications are due May 16 and projects must be completed by November 5, 2018. The quick turnaround is deliberate, to get communities to work together and “coalesce” around specific projects. The aim is to encourage putting creative ideas into action immediately. To access the full story, click here. 4. APA and Partners Call on Congress to Improve Flood Mitigation Efforts Last week, APA was one of 14 national organizations on a joint letter to Congress supporting the creation of the State Flood Mitigation Revolving Fund. The legislation, S.1507, led by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), would create a new partnership with states to provide low-interest loans for projects that save lives and dollars. Since 2000, flood-related disasters have cost over $750 billion. According to a 2018 report by the National Institute of Building Sciences, for every dollar spent on hazard mitigation, the nation saves $6. To access the full story, click here. 5. Happy Camp: Builds on Rich History Happy Camp, California, is a remote community of about 1,200 people, nestled at the base of the Marble Mountains on the banks of the Klamath River. The nearest population centers are Yreka, about 70 miles away, and Grants Pass, Oregon, a two-hour drive over a seasonal road. The former
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gold rush town is located in the aboriginal territory of the Karuk Tribe of California, which is headquartered there. It’s a town rich in history, but not in material goods. Happy Camp’s economy has struggled due to changes in the timber industry, and its population and average income have steadily declined in recent years. But that isn’t stopping a dedicated group of community volunteers from launching a bevy of initiatives to revitalize the town and serve its residents. To access the full story, click here. 6. Announcing the 2018 Great American Main Street Award Winners The National Main Street Center, Inc., announced Downtown Oregon City, Rock Springs Main Street/Urban Renewal Agency, and Howell Main Street as the 2018 Great American Main Street Award (GAMSA) winners during its annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The awards were made possible through support from U.S. Bank. “This year’s winners are a testament to the power of Main Street revitalization,” said Patrice Frey, president and CEO of the National Main Street Center. “Thanks to dedicated leadership, broad community support, and commitment to a comprehensive and incremental approach, these three Main Street programs have brought renewed vibrancy to their downtowns. It’s truly inspiring.” To access the full story, click here. 7. Regional Infrastructure Fund – Request for Applications The Regional Solutions Program – consisting of advisory committees, Governor’s coordinators, and interagency state teams – provides a one-stop shop for communities throughout the state. Eleven Regional Solutions teams support community and economic development to help attract and expand business and industry, create good jobs, and improve the economy. They bring the right people to the table and coordinate state action to solve problems and streamline government. These state agency teams help integrate and align permitting requirements, remove barriers to business retention and expansion, and quickly respond to issues that address community and economic development priorities in the region. One of the tools used by Regional Solutions to support economic and community development is the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF). The RIF provides grants and loans to local governments for Regional Solutions capital construction projects. During the 2017 Legislative Session, the Legislature authorized the issuance of lottery bonds to produce $4 million in net proceeds for the RIF and requested that projects be approved by the Legislature or Emergency Board before the bonds are sold in spring of 2019. The $4 million is to be distributed statewide, with each of the 11 regions being allotted a minimum of $200,000. We are seeking applications for capital construction projects between $50,000 and $1 million.
Deadline to Apply is Monday, April 30, 2018 by 5:00 p.m. RIF Application 1. Download or save the form to your desktop, then open the desktop copy 2. Submit completed application & attachments via email to infrastructurefund.regional@oregon.gov For more information, click here. Page 3 of 5
8. The Partnerships Enabling Disabled City Residents to Better Explore Their Surroundings As cities work to add technologies to improve residents’ lives and mobility, many are putting a renewed focus on inclusivity and equitable innovation distribution. Yet despite this inclusivity push, experts say people with disabilities remain an overlooked group, especially during city planning processes. "Very few [cities] are thinking about all of their citizens, including specifically, citizens with disabilities," said James Thurston, vice president for global strategy and development at G3ict. "Cities are transforming the way they do services and businesses but they’re not thinking about the accessibility ... These enormous investments in technology that cities are making are actually making the digital divide for people with disabilities bigger, not smaller." To access the full story, click here. 9. New ULI Report Offers Bold Principles for Building Resilience Cities and Regions If A new report from the Urban Land Institute’s Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance outlines ten fundamental principles for building resilient cities and regions that successfully anticipate, respond to, and recover from both immediate shocks such as hurricanes and other extreme weather events and long-term stresses such as sea-level rise, poverty, and declining population. Ten Principles for Building Resilience proposes bold guidelines for city and regional leaders as well as real estate and land use professionals to design, plan, and build communities and infrastructure in ways that address vulnerabilities related to climate change and other threats to prosperity and well-being. To access the full story and report, click here. 10. Did Fort Collins Grow Too Big Too Fast? Linda Stanley doesn’t go downtown anymore. There’s plenty to do there. Breweries galore, underground bars, old warehouses converted into hipster eateries and yoga studios — College Avenue, what serves as main street in Fort Collins, Colorado, is a long way from what its founders envisioned the area would become when it was nothing more than a tiny military outpost. But the city’s rejuvenation has brought with it symptoms that will ring familiar to those in Montana’s Gallatin Valley: The restaurants are booked, traffic is a nightmare, everything is more expensive than it used to be, parking is a gamble. It’s what Stanley likes to describe as a Yogi Berra paradox, quoting the baseball legend: Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded. To access the full story, click here. 11. Workshops Help Farmers Transition Land to Next Generation The Oregon nonprofit Rogue Farm Corps is convening four, day-long events this April to help the current generation of farmers develop succession plans and the next generation of farmers find working land. “Changing Hands: A Workshop Series on Farm Succession Planning and Access to Land,” will feature the critical tools and resources that farmers, ranchers, and foresters need to keep Oregon’s working lands working.
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“The goal of the Changing Hands series is not only to educate, but to help build the connections necessary for a resilient farm community,” Nellie McAdams, RFC’s farmland preservation program director, said in a press release. McAdams has been on the road this winter and spring talking about succession planning with ranchers, farmers, foresters, and other community members. To access the full story, click here.
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