Sustainability

Created by Main Street America in partnership with the National Parks Service through the Main Street Community Disaster Preparedness and Resilience Program, this publication is designed to help Main Streets and commercial district organizations better prepare for and respond to more frequent and severe disasters.

This CIRD-created document tracks potential funding opportunities and resources for various rural-related community design challenges. It will be updated periodically as new resources are identified.

Source: Rural Assistance Center Author: Georgia State University, Georgia Health Policy Center. It’s important for communities to situate their projects within a bigger picture when planning around grants and funding. Some foresight and strategy can help to leverage additional funds, and secure long-term viability, rather than recurring dependency.

Source: WalkBoston Authors: Robert Sloane and Wendy Landman Outside of urbanized town centers, many parts of Massachusetts suffer from poor infrastructure for walking, with few sidewalks, a dangerous lack of crosswalks and unattractive streetscaping. Yet, as walking is increasingly recognized as an essential part of healthy living, many residents of rural and low-density suburban areas are seeking opportunities to improve the walking environments in their communities.

Source: ICMA Author: Anna Read This report looks at how natural resource strengths and working landscapes can often provide the basis for rural economic activities. A case study of Killington, Vermont highlights the economic development strategies related to working landscapes and recreation, as the town created cultural and recreational amenities that transformed it into a year-round tourist destination, profiting their economy greatly.

This document produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2012 provides policy options that can help rural communities strengthen their economies while preserving rural character. These policies can help rural communities ensure that their development is fiscally sound, environmentally responsible, and socially equitable.

The Agricultural Urbanism Toolkit Booklet is a resource for communities to learn about the tactics used to develop local food systems. The booklet provides an overview of 19 tactics from small to large scale implementation of local food system opportunities; these include gardening to urban farming to food hubs.

Coming back from a natural disaster can be especially difficult for small rural towns, but tough times can also be an opportunity for recreating the vision of a town. This paper describes the story of Live Oak, Florida, one of CIRD’s 2013 host communities, which experienced heavy flooding in 2010

In October of 2017, encouraged by the National consumer demand to grow and develop local food systems in both rural and urban districts in the United States, the EPA released this toolkit, which offers federal agency support aimed at community-driven planning processes.