The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a toolkit describing how low-income and minority communities can successfully develop and grow using sustainability, Smart Growth, environmental justice, and equitable development principles.

From the EPA’s toolkit webpage:

[The toolkit] aims to build on past successes and offer low-income, minority,  tribal, and overburdened communities approaches to shape development that  responds to their needs and reflects their values. It provides a menu of land  use and community design strategies that bring together smart growth,  environmental justice, and equitable development principles and that  community-based organizations, local and regional decision-makers, developers,  and others can use to revitalize their communities. The publication provides a  brief introduction to each strategy and examples of how it has been used.

Strategies  are grouped under seven common elements that connect environmental justice,  smart growth, and equitable development:

• Facilitate Meaningful Community Engagement in  Planning and Land Use Decisions
• Promote Public Health and a Clean and Safe  Environment
• Strengthen Existing Communities
• Provide Housing Choices
• Provide Transportation Options
• Improve Access to Opportunities and Daily Necessities
• Preserve and Build on the Features That Make a Community  Distinctive

Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable  Communities was developed jointly by EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and Office of Sustainable Communities. It  was also informed by comments from 40 reviewers received through a public  comment process.

For hard copies  of the report, email nscep@bps-lmit.com or call 800-490-9198 and request EPA 231-K-10-005.