Reconnecting America, a national nonprofit dedicated to integrating transportation systems with the communities they serve, published an analysis of recent federal sustainable communities grants.  Analysis includes innovative ideas, common themes, and unique concepts from applications submitted to the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant, Community Challenge, and TIGER II planning programs.  

While 59 of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) received some type of award, metropolitan Chicago received the second highest amount of money at $109.4 million over four different awards from the Sustainable Communities and TIGER grant programs.  CMAP’s $4.25 million grant from the Sustainable Communities program funded our Local Technical Assistance (LTA) Program, which is designed to help communities implement GO TO 2040.  In response to the LTA program's initial call for projects, more than 130 applicants proposed over 220 projects prior to the January 28 deadline. 

Over the next few weeks CMAP will be evaluating proposals and working with project sponsors to develop more detailed scopes.  Work on projects that are high-priority and ready to go will begin in March. 

Continuing on the planning for sustainable communities theme, Next American City magazine recently published an article on work the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is doing to put the “UD back in HUD.”