ProGov21 Policy Library

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2023

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source The Trust for Public Land

Policy Areas Community Development, Health, Public Spaces

Parks and natural spaces promote mental, physical, and environmental wellbeing, and many parks departments are leveraging parks and recreational resources to improve health outcomes. This report outlines the benefits of preserving access to parks and green spaces and provides policy...

The Excellent City Park System: What Makes it Great and How to Get There

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2013

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source The Trust for Public Land

Policy Areas Community Development, Economic Justice, Public Spaces

This report outlines best practices for effective park development and recommends that cities take inventory of their land assets, prioritize park safety and equity, and regularly engage with the public. It also highlights case studies that have implemented successful park development...

A Short Guide to Setting Up a City-Scale Retrofit Program

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2009

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Green for All

Policy Areas Energy, Environment & Natural Resources

This policy brief explains how local governments can design and implement retrofitting and/or renovation programs that make homes more energy efficient. It also presents strategies for capturing financial savings from retrofits, creating high-quality green jobs, and ensuring that...

Complete Parks Playbook

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2018

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States, Pennsylvania, Texas

Source ChangeLab Solutions

Policy Areas Education, Environment & Natural Resources, Health, Public Spaces

Parks enhance communities by promoting physical, mental, and social health. This guide outlines the 'complete parks approach', which helps local governments promote parks improvements by engaging communities who have historically been overlooked during parks planning discussions,...

Generating and Prioritizing Funding for Active Transportation

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2020

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Policy Areas Public Spaces, Transportation & Mobility

Transportation plays a critical role in the health and economic development of a metropolitan area. When people have the ability to walk, bike, or take transit safely to a destination, the whole region benefits from healthier people, better air quality, and reduced traffic fatalities....

More Jobs, Less Pollution: Growing the Recycling Economy in the U.S.

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2011

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Tellus Institute

Policy Areas Community Development, Public Spaces, Environment & Natural Resources, Economic Justice

This report evaluates the positive impacts of implementing a bold national recycling and composting strategy across federal, state, and local governments. Its recommendations of energy, resource, and waste management would allow for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,...

How Green Banks Help Cities Transition to Clean Energy

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2019

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source Meeting Of The Minds

Policy Areas Energy

In the face of climate change crisis, it is urgent for policymakers at state, local, and city level to make transition to clean and renewable energy. However, the construction of renewable projects is usually capital-intensive and requires bank’s upfront investment. Green banks help...

Local Sustainability: A menu of policy options greening communities

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2011

Level City or Town, County, City or Town

State(s) Ohio

Source Policy Matters Ohio

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Energy

This policy brief provides an overview of "The Oberlin Project," a partnership between the City of Oberlin and Oberlin College exemplifying energy, waste, transit, industrial, and workforce development policies designed for sustainable economic growth. Among a variety of interventions...

Local Technical Assistance Toolkit: Energy Efficiency in Water and Wastewater Facilities

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2011

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

Policy Areas Energy, Community Development, Public Spaces, Environment & Natural Resources, Economic Justice

This toolkit recommends local governments improve the efficiency of their water facilities by requiring energy audits, updating regulations on equipment management, and providing financial incentives for energy-efficient projects. It also includes links to relevant resources and features...

Leveraging Catastrophe Bonds: As a Mechanism for Resilient Infrastructure Project Finance

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2017

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Re:Focus Partners

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Community Development

Often the most cost-effective solutions to disaster risk are the ones available to communities prior to a disaster to protect against a loss occurring in the first place. Yet cities around the world are struggling to fund even basic infrastructure projects, let alone more complex...

Elizabeth City Parks and Recreation Department Comprehensive Master Plan

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2016

Level City or Town, County

State(s) North Carolina

Source Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County Parks and Recreation Department

Policy Areas Community Development, Democracy & Governance, Public Spaces

Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County consolidated their parks departments which reduced costs but maintained quality facilities and services. This report provides an overview of how major changes that followed the merger helped improve community access to sports complexes, and recommends...

2012 San Francisco Ordinance 162-12 Establishing an Urban Agriculture Program

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2012

Level City or Town

State(s) California

Source City of San Francisco

Policy Areas Community Development, Public Spaces, Democracy & Governance, Economic Justice, Environment & Natural Resources, Food

This ordinance establishes land and buildings as different classes of property and establishes a procedure to tax building values at lower rates than land values. It also ensures availability of full public information regarding assessments and appeal procedures; ensure that shifts...

A Guide for Public-Sector Resilience Bond Sponsorship

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2017

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Re:Focus Partners

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Community Development

Governments are typically “insurers of last resort.” When disaster strikes, vulnerable communities turn to government agencies for support and recovery assistance. More recently, as the frequency and severity of different types of disasters have grown, the gap between insured losses...

Park Impact Fees 101

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2015

Level City or Town, County

State(s) Washington

Source Clark County

Policy Areas Community Development, Economic Justice, Finance & Procurement, Public Spaces

Park Impact Fees (PIFs) are fees levied on the construction of new residential housing to provide an ongoing source of revenue for park and recreational space development. This guide outlines best practices for implementing PIFs and highlights how Clark County and Vancouver have developed...

The Economic Benefits of BREC Parks

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2023

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source The Trust for Public Land

Policy Areas Economic Justice, Environment & Natural Resources, Health, Public Spaces

This report examines how Baton Rouge's parks promote recreation, reduce healthcare costs, bolster tourism, reduce pollution, and provide other economic benefits. It provides a guide for quantifying the economic impacts of the parks system and outlines how parks can be used as a tool...

The Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) Approach

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2023

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Environmental Protection Agency

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Finance & Procurement, Public Spaces

The Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) Initiative provides support to communities in urbanized watersheds looking to reduce stormwater runoff using green infrastructure. This brief outlines how communities can incorporate green technology into roadway and utility upgrades....

2018 Pierce County Resolution R2018-39s2 Recommending an Update to the County Coordinated Water System

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2018

Level City or Town, County

State(s) Washington

Source Pierce County

Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

This resolution outlines membership and responsibilities of the county Water Utility Coordinating Committee which oversees the Coordinated Water System Plan (CWSP). The committee's voting members include county officials and representatives from water purveyors with over 50 service...

Leveraging Catastrophe Bonds As a Mechanism for Resilient Infrastructure Project Finance

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2015

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Re:Focus Partners

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Energy, Transportation & Mobility, Democracy & Governance

This paper offers a new approach for systematically linking catastrophe bonds and conventional project finance to support large-scale resilience projects. The following sections describe the RE.bound Program framework for catastrophe modeling, bond structuring, and bond sponsorship;...

Comparative Research on Funding Tools and Financing Mechanisms for Economic Development

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2009

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Futureworks

Policy Areas Energy, Environment & Natural Resources

This report examines economic development funding tactics and innovations in sustainability strategies among 11 major U.S. cities. It highlights the relationship between environmental sustainability and regional economic development, identifies new sustainability tools, and highlights...

Invest in Water Infrastructure

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2021

Level City or Town, National

State(s) All States

Source National League Of Cities

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources

Local governments provide over 95% of the total funding for U.S. water infrastructure. To meet the nation’s growing water infrastructure needs, address the impacts of climate change on water quality and availability, and to ensure equity and affordability for low- and fixed-income...

The Road to Shared Prosperity: The Regional Economic Benefits for the San Pedro Bay Ports' Clean Trucks Program

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2007

Level City or Town

State(s) California

Source Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Transportation & Mobility

This brief presents the benefits of a Clean Trucks Program (CTP) for the San Pedro Bay port area. High-volume port trucking in this region creates costly externalities, and drivers often receive substandard pay and benefits. The brief argues that CTP would return nearly $4.2 billion...

Integrating Valuation Methods to Recognize Green Infrastructure's Multiple Benefits

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2010

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source Center for Neighborhood Technology

Policy Areas Energy, Environment & Natural Resources

This report outlines the environmental and economic benefits associated with different types of green infrastructure, including urban forests, permeable pavement, water harvesting technology, green roofs, and infiltration practices like rain gardens, bioswales, and constructed wetlands....

2019 San Francisco Ordinance 74-19 Benchmarking Energy Usage

Type Ordinance or Resolution

Year 2019

Level City or Town, County

State(s) California

Source City and County of San Francisco

Policy Areas Data & Technology, Energy

The ordinance requires owners of certain residential and non-residential buildings to track and report their energy usage to San Francisco's Department of the Environment. In turn, the Department of the Environment will make this data available to the public. ...

Connecting People To Parks

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2021

Level City or Town, County

State(s) All States

Source Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces, Transportation & Mobility

This guide provides a framework to increase safe and equitable access to parks and green spaces. It focuses on access to parks via active transportation as well as ensuring a high-quality, safe experience within the park itself. The guide includes recommendations to help local decisionmakers...

The Power of Parks to Address Climate Change

Type Policy Brief or Report

Year 2022

Level City or Town

State(s) All States

Source The Trust for Public Land

Policy Areas Economic Justice, Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces

Parks and green spaces reduce air temperatures and absorb floodwater, making them vital resources in mitigating the effects of climate change. This report outlines how cities are supporting park services and promoting natural spaces to lower urban temperatures, manage stormwater,...

ProGov21 Policy Library

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