We build on the work of our colleagues and have selected these definitions to reflect our values and the way we believe community planning should happen.

 

EQUITABLE: Equitable development is an approach to creating healthy, vibrant, communities of opportunity. Equitable outcomes come about when smart, intentional strategies are put in place to ensure that low-income communities and communities of color participate in and benefit from decisions that shape their neighborhoods and regions. [PolicyLink]

 

HEALTHY: A healthy community is one in which all residents have access to a quality education, safe and healthy homes, adequate employment, transportation, physical activity, and nutrition, in addition to quality health care. [Lincy Institute, UNLV]

 

SUSTAINABLE: A sustainable community is one that is economically, environmentally, and socially healthy and resilient. It meets challenges through integrated solutions rather than through fragmented approaches that meet one of those goals at the expense of the others. And it takes a long-term perspective – one that’s focused on both the present and future, well beyond the next budget or election cycle. [Institute for Sustainable Communities]

 

 

We articulate our values and our commitment to ethical practice throughout our work, from the rubric we’ve used to review and select projects to receive NCPF funding and the core competencies we work on developing with the organizations participating in the CDI program, to the framing in each of our field scans and the stories and voices we lift up through our cases studies and social media platforms. We remain committed to a creative placemaking process that considers who decides, who benefits, and what is at stake in furthering equitable, healthy and sustainable communities.