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HUD/
Southern Maine Partnership



Southern Maine Partnership for Sustainable Development
Knowledge Sharing Network Fact Sheet

The Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG) with involvement from the Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission, Cumberland County and the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, has been awarded a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) national Sustainable Communities Regional Planning initiative. The project is called the Southern Maine Partnership for Sustainable Development (SMPSD).

HUD Livability Principles

  1. Provide more transportation choices.
  2. Promote equitable, affordable housing.
  3. Enhance economic competitiveness.
  4. Support existing communities.
  5. Coordinate policies and leverage investment.
  6. Value communities and neighborhoods.
The Partnership involves representatives from over thirty-five municipal governments, special purpose public agencies such as community action agencies and housing authorities, nonprofit service corporations such as AVESTA Housing, Inc. and public interest organizations such as GrowSmart Maine. The geographic scope spans Cumberland and York Counties. At the most general level, these projects, and our Partnership, are aimed at furthering HUD’s six Livability Principles (see sidebar). Perhaps the most consequential of these and the result of a special agreement among USDOT, HUD and USEPA to better support local sustainability, is the principle of aligning federal investment and policies (#5) to “remove barriers to collaboration and leverage funding” if regions develop strategies and partnerships to help do so. Further information about the Partnership is available on the GPCOG website.

The Knowledge Sharing Effort

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As part of these projects, HUD requires “knowledge sharing, capacity building, data sharing and analysis” to help inform professional and leadership communities across the region of successful practices that can benefit the public and help to create a common dialogue about the regional future and sustainability.

The Muskie School’s Community Planning and Development Program and the USEPA Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at Muskie are serving as lead for this aspect through the creation of a Knowledge Sharing Network. Initially, this effort is being supported by this web-based home at the EFC. In 2012, the network and information about upcoming and previously-presented workshops and information access will become linked to a Partnership-wide web site as well.

Making the Most of What We Know — Learning Together About What We Don’t

Some of the Initial locally-developed practices, projects and information for our sessions:

  • Population and Housing Trends Across the Region (New Report from joint Maine EPSCoR/SMPSD effort)
  • Placemaking, Form-Based Code Innovations and Village Redevelopment (Standish and Others)
  • The Future of the Transportation Corridor Initiatives
  • Consensus-Building and Scenario-Planning Tools To Use
  • Affordable Housing Resources and Issues in Our Region — Initial Discussion ad New Housing Council Formed
  • Communities of Opportunity for sustainable work, travel access and healthy living (e.g., Brunswick Landing)
 

The focus of the regional planning efforts is on affordable and sustainable development and healthy environments across southern Maine. The knowledge network’s purpose is to share best and new practices and lessons from among our own regional community including from some of the members of our Partnership and existing projects, as well as from others of these projects across the nation.

Why? Not everybody in the broader Partnership has had the opportunity to learn and hear about innovative existing efforts in our own region and we need to build common knowledge to support regional dialogue, invention and future action. Early face-to-face workshops will hear about new data on the region’s future and the implications of current trends (resulting from a cooperative partnership with the National Science Foundation-sponsored Sustainability Solutions Initiative which Muskie participates in) and the revitalization efforts from our small towns to urban centers being assisted by some of the best local professionals in our community. (See sidebar of session topics). These sessions will be available afterwards on the web along with other resources. We will also be able to tap into national capacity-building resources being developed by a number of organizations that HUD has engaged as resources, mainly conveyed via web resources. As a member of the national Environmental Finance Center Network, which is one of the dozen organizations tapped by HUD for its national “Learning Network,” the Muskie School will be in a good position to help us draw on those sources.

First Session February 13: Placemaking to Sustain A Region

Our first in-person session was Monday, February 13, 2012 in the Lee Community Hall of the Wishcamper Center on the University of Southern Maine campus. To watch the tape of Session One online, click this link or copy/paste to your browser : http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL11D13752BC560A06

Second Session February 28: Regional Population and Housing Trends

Our second in-person session is scheduled for Tuesday, February 28 from 2:00 p.m. to 400 p.m. in the Lee Community Hall of the Wishcamper Center on the University of Southern Maine campus. To watch the tape of Session Two online, click this link or copy/paste to your browser: http://efc.muskie.edu/media/stream_video_hud.html.

Click Here for Session details.

For more information, please email Dr. Jack Kartez (jackk@usm.maine.edu) or Natalie McWilliams (Natalie.McWilliams@maine.edu) at the Muskie School.
 


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