Welcome! This page contains:
- Introductory summary to community engagement
- UConn TAB's SEEDS Framework
- Community engagement resources (to view and download)
- Information on gentrification and displacement
- Community engagement webinars
The Basics:
“SEEDS” Framework:
This is UConn TAB’s framework for community engagement. It outlines different steps for meaningfully involving local residents in your brownfields projects:
- – Finding diverse Stakeholders
- – Education
- – Empowering your community
- – Disseminating important information
- – Practicing Sustainable Outreach
Community Engagement Resources:
This tool will help you find diverse stakeholders, explore who has the most power and influence in your community, and determine who has the most interest in your brownfields redevelopment project.
This tool allows you to examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in your community as they relate to brownfields redevelopment and community engagement.
This tool is designed for municipal officials and nonprofit organizations. It provides different strategies for opening a dialogue and gaining buy-in for affordable housing from community members that are opposed to the idea.
This tool provides an overview what a listening session is, how to plan one for your community, and how they can support your brownfields redevelopment / community engagement goals.
This tool provides a helpful checklist for planning a community meeting, hosting the actual event, and evaluation / follow-up once the meeting is over.
This tool briefly summarizes focus groups and provides some guiding questions to help you get started in hosting one in your community.
Displacement in Brownfields Redevelopment:
Anti-Displacement Strategies:
Click on the green links below for a more detailed description of each strategy, details on implementation, tips for success, and planning questions:
- Community Benefits Agreement: a contract between community members (or a community organization representing the needs of community members) and a private developer. This contract outlines community needs, desired outcomes and benefits, and how funding will be used both during construction and after the development project is completed
- Community Land Trust: when a nonprofit purchases housing or land specifically to rent or sell the units to local residents at an affordable price, ensuring long-term, sustainable housing
- Inclusionary Zoning: a local policy within a community’s local zoning regulations that requires a certain number of affordable housing units to be set aside for people and families under the average median income
- Small Business Preservation Programs: programs intended to support small businesses through funding, workforce development, or other assistance
- Tax Abatement: financial programs and tax reductions designed to help residents and small businesses stay in their neighborhoods
Community Engagement Webinars:
Community Engagement and EPA MAC Grants
September 20, 2023
This webinar provides a brief overview on community engagement and how to understand / discuss this important topic for your EPA MAC grants.
Identifying and Addressing Displacement
October 18, 2023
This webinar goes into more detail on displacement and how it impacts communities, how it relates to brownfields, and how it can be prevented through the redevelopment process.
Affordable Housing and Community Engagement
November 1, 2023
This webinar outlines the importance of affordable housing and goes into some of the common misconceptions around this topic, as well as offering strategies to open a dialogue and debunk stereotypes with your community.