Evanston Green Homes program launches

CNT partnered more than a year ago with Evanston Development Cooperative and other groups to create the new Green Homes pilot program in two Evanston communities. It uses public funds to provide home upgrades free-of-charge.  Evanston is one of the first communities in the country to launch a program like this.  Homeowners and residents of the pilot program's focus neighborhoods can find out if they are eligible and apply on the new program portal at greenhomes.cnt.org.... Read the rest of this entry »

 

Southeast Side Climate Impacts: Quantitative data without community input misses the full story

Climate change impacts are felt by individuals and communities all over the world through intense or frequent storms, floods, and increased exposure to air and water pollutants. Who is most impacted by this? Unfortunately, those who are lower-income and have non-white racial or ethnic identities. Chicago’s Southeast Side is one of these communities. Here, residents experience health inequities from their proximity to industrial pollution, like higher rates of heart disease and respiratory... Read the rest of this entry »

 

CEJST is a simple map, with big implications – and attention to cumulative burdens matters.

The Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool, or CEJST for short, is a simple map, with big implications. CEJST identifies disadvantaged census tracts for prioritizing federal funding and informing Justice40, which aims to send “40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments… [to] disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. Over the next five years, federal and state agency staff are charged with doling out billions of... Read the rest of this entry »

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Annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) calls for adoption and implementation of equity goals – can IDOT deliver?

I had the pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), which was held from January 8 through 12 in Washington D.C. A particularly poignant moment for me was during the Standing Committee on Equity in Transportation, when Irene Marion, Director of the Office of Civil Rights, and Ariel Gold, Senior Advisor at the Policy Office, presented the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Strategic Plan and the Equity Action Plan. The Strategic Plan includes... Read the rest of this entry »

 

H+T Affordability Index October 2022 Update

CNT’s H+T® Affordability Index has just been updated, the first update since 2016. For most households in the United States, housing and transportation represent the largest and second-largest expenditures respectively. The H+T Affordability Index combines housing and transportation (driving and transit) costs to offer an expanded view of affordability, one that highlights the importance of location-efficient places in supporting livability and affordability.   In this update we... Read the rest of this entry »

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CNT Celebrates Passage of Connected Communities Ordinance

Chicago is beautiful, vibrant and rich in arts and culture. So many corners of the globe are represented in the 77 neighborhoods that create the map of our City. The story of Chicago is the story of Indigenous Peoples, Immigrants, Migrants, and descendants of Enslaved Africans. It is also the story of segregation and redlining. It is a story of a City that was not designed for all of its citizens. To undo that legacy of disinvestment and inequity it takes boots on the ground, amplifying... Read the rest of this entry »

 

Fueling the Electric Vehicle Movement with Equity

This past week, as a member of the Toward Equitable Electric Mobility (TEEM) Illinois cohort, I had the pleasure of attending TEEM’s first in-person annual convening and Forth’s Roadmap Conference in Portland, Oregon. The electric vehicle sector is revved up and eager to expand in the face of the capital to be made and legacies to build, while simultaneously acting in response to climate change. Forth’s Roadmap Conference refocuses the lens, uplifting processes, projects, and... Read the rest of this entry »

 

The New and Improved ETOD Calculator

What is ETOD and Why it Matters CNT has been advocating for transit oriented development (TOD) for more than 25 years. TOD looks like dense, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use projects near train stops that allow people to use transit to access multiple needs like housing, jobs, education, shopping, healthcare etc, reducing their time spent on travel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, as TOD has been rolled out, many Black and Brown, low-income communities have been either... Read the rest of this entry »

 

Rising Gas Prices and Total Diving Costs

Since 2008,  when gas prices reached record highs, CNT’s H+T Affordability Index has highlighted the impacts of gas prices on household transportation costs.  The Total Driving Costs tool allows users to slide the gas price up or down and see how volatility in the price at the pump impacts communities differently. The H+T Affordability Index has long shown that the old “Drive Till You Qualify” real estate mantra fails to capture the higher transportation costs that accompany the... Read the rest of this entry »

 

How Green Infrastructure Affects Home Values in New Orleans

Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is an important tool to build resilience to climate change but needs community support to be effective. In late February, as part of CNT’s continued work to examine the effect of GSI on property values, I joined Leslé Honoré, Managing Director of Strategy and Communications, to discuss this topic with the community of Gentilly in New Orleans. In partnership with Father Tony Ricard and St. Gabriel the Archangel Church, we had the incredible... Read the rest of this entry »

 

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