Technical Assistance Providers to Propel Your Land Reuse Initiatives

Land reuse and community revitalization takes time, money, and resources, but you don’t have to navigate the process alone. Historic investment in environmental justice and climate resilience is supporting more technical assistance (TA) providers than ever before. By engaging TA providers at any phase of the reuse process you can fill gaps in capacity, funding, and experience to smooth an often bumpy road to redevelopment.

While each program and provider (see graphic below) differ in scope and approach, they all help communities navigate the many facets of community revitalization. This broad spectrum of experience covers everything from applying for funding to comprehensive reuse planning. Importantly, each of the TA providers’ services, guidance, and support are completely free and the TA is always tailored to the community’s unique needs, challenges, and concerns.

So why engage technical assistance providers or utilize a technical assistance program?

● Technical assistance providers have a wealth of experience in environmental science and regulations, redevelopment planning, grant preparation and management, community involvement and stakeholder engagement, environmental justice (EJ) and equity, economic development and financing, public health, and more. Long standing TA providers and the newer programs each have proven track records supporting underserved communities facing EJ concerns.

● Technical assistance providers have large diverse networks of land reuse and equity-focused practitioners. They can connect you to peer communities who have encountered and overcome similar challenges; organizations with niche and/or local knowledge relevant to your land reuse initiative; regulators who can help you navigate regional regulations and policies; consultants and developers who share your mission and values; and more.

● Technical assistance providers can help fill capacity and funding gaps that too often lead to project stagnation. They can help shoulder the cost and/or time commitment of finding and understanding different sources of funding, developing public engagement strategies, evaluating market conditions and end-use scenarios, producing collateral and/or webpages to support transparency and communication, and more.

● Technical assistance providers can assist in “onboarding” staff and/or community liaisons who are new to the land reuse space. This support helps these practitioners comprehend the brownfields process and its interconnections with environmental justice and other pillars of community vibrancy, such as public health and safety, climate resilience, smart growth, and more.

● Engaging with technical assistance providers increases your chances of success! For example, communities that take advantage of CCLR’s EPA Brownfields Grant Review Services double their chances of award. Similar successes can be found at other steps of the reuse process as well.

Explore these Land Reuse and Environmental Justice Technical Assistance Programs graphics and contact a provider today. Click on the graphic you’d like to view to download a full size version: