Equitable Development Tools

Restorative Community Development

Achieving truly equitable community development requires investments in both places and people, informed by the realities of life on the ground in brownfield-affected communities and centered on people’s lived experience and their innate resilience.

While advancing brownfield cleanup and reuse and encouraging new, place-based investments, practitioners must also engage local stakeholders in developing strategies, partnerships, and linkages that prevent displacement of longtime residents—especially people of color and low-income people, for whom the experience of “revitalization” has become synonymous with “displacement.”

In the white paper below, our team makes the case for why people-centric investments are critical for achieving more equitable development outcomes. We introduce the foundational elements of a set of restorative, trauma-informed practices and offer guidance on where and how to start in integrating them in daily work.

By investing first in the health and well-being of the whole individual—and, by extension, their family and community—through our programmatic work, we can disrupt the patterns of inequity that have long sidelined people of color and low-income people so they can seize new opportunities for building wealth, owning a home, establishing a fulfilling career, cultivating community, and raising a thriving family.

This work is critically important for disrupting historical patterns of inequity, and it isn’t easy. Alongside workshops we’re developing to introduce the conceptual nuts and bolts of this approach, we’re beginning to convene a community of practice for those who wish to learn and do their community-building work differently. To learn more about our Equitable Development Working Group and how to get involved, click the “Submit a Technical Assistance Request” button under “Direct Technical Assistance” below.

Achieving Equitable Community Development: Creating a Restorative Trauma-Informed Approach in Environmental Community Development Organizations

direct technical assistance

Are you interested in GWUSA’s Direct Technical Assistance?

Submit a Technical Assistance Request

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GROUNDWORK USA DIRECT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PRE-APPLICATION

Groundwork USA represents a national network of nonprofits with decades of experience in long-term community revitalization using brownfield sites as catalysts for achieving equitable development and environmental justice outcomes. Groundwork USA has been funded by EPA to offer “boots on the ground” knowledge to assist brownfield-affected communities with achieving meaningful community benefits from the reuse of brownfields, especially in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.

ELIGIBILITY
Nonprofit organizations, local government bodies, and tribes whose communities are impacted by brownfields are all eligible to apply. Completing the online form below will serve as your pre-application for technical assistance.

PROCESS
Please fill out and submit the online form below. A member of Groundwork USA’s technical assistance team will contact you within a week of receiving your online, pre-application form to set up an informational phone call. If it is decided that your community is a good fit for the available technical assistance, Groundwork USA will request a formal statement of interest, which will be used to create a scope of work.

Name

Title

Phone

Organization

City, neighborhood, or geographic area where your work is concentrated:

Please tell us about your community context. Briefly cover overall demographics and trends, particularly with regard to lower-income communities and communities of color, how brownfields are impacting these populations, and the potential for community revitalization.

To receive the very latest information about Groundwork USA's Brownfields Technical Assistance program and our Equitable Development / Environmental Justice Community of Practice, please sign up for our e-newsletter below. Our e-newsletters are filled with resources, funding opportunities, and food for thought gleaned from across our diverse and ever-broadening field. We only email periodically, and will never make your information public.