Report outlines how incoming federal infrastructure money can be best used to deliver health equity and sustainability to communities
NEW YORK, NY – Today, Regional Plan Association (RPA) announced the release of Investing in Infrastructure for Healthy Communities, the first report developed in partnership with members of the Healthy Regions Planning Exchange, the national network of planners and advocates RPA first convened in 2019 to develop solutions for more innovative cities and regions across the country. Based on collaborative new analysis from planners across the country, the report offers recommendations for how new infrastructure dollars can best promote health equity at a crucial moment, following the passage of the landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which will deliver more than $1.2 trillion in total spending for US infrastructure projects.
Infrastructure has a complicated relationship with health equity across the nation that is both positive and negative. For example, while the creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1952 provided new options to connect cities and move goods across the nation, it also resulted suburban sprawl, urban disinvestment, and spatial segregation, disproportionately impacting communities of color. The report offers examples of making health equity a fundamental part of infrastructure planning, and why this matters as an unprecedented amount of new infrastructure funding flows to communities.
Key recommendations include:
State, city, county, and tribal governments should seize the opportunity to apply for funding allocated through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — along with other funding sources — to help meet the needs of their communities. This is a moment to make decisions with future generations in mind and change the way infrastructure is conceived in the United States.
Governmental and non-governmental organizations should focus on health equity to determine which kinds of infrastructure are built where. If projects don’t align with health equity and environmental justice outcomes, they should be reevaluated.
To achieve health equity, projects that heal past harms should be prioritized. Communities that were damaged by or denied the benefits of past highway, transit, water, waste treatment, and power infrastructure can benefit from projects that redress these deep, longstanding inequities.
Building partnerships between the public and private sectors is a necessary step towards building equitable infrastructure. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and non-profit organizations should play a strong role in shaping the infrastructure funding decisions of federal, state, county, and tribal government agencies.
“We are entering a new age of infrastructure investment thanks to our advocates in the federal government. Now is the time to think critically about how we’re investing these billions of dollars to best promote health and equity across the country,” said Tom Wright, President and CEO, Regional Plan Association. “In our now century-long history, RPA’s core focus has been to make regions healthier, more sustainable and more equitable for everyone. The Healthy Regions Planning Exchange is leading this work in communities nationwide.”
The report outlines how non-profits and advocates can break through complicated planning processes to help state and local governments center infrastructure conversations around health equity and community needs. While the largest share of funding in the IIJA is for road and highway funding, there are significant changes in the law that provide flexibility to promote health and environmental justice. The report highlights case studies where groups have been successful in implementing similar projects in the recent past, paired with relevant perspectives from members of the Heathy Regions Planning Exchange, who are advancing their own health equity projects in similar sectors. The Case Studies and accompanying “Perspectives from the Planning Exchange” are presented as follows:
Station Soccer: Community-Oriented Development Meets Transit-Oriented Development in Atlanta, GA with Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Hill District Consensus Group: Calls for New Approach to Non-Profit Leadership in Infrastructure Development–Pittsburgh, PA
Inner Loop East: Realigning Highway Infrastructure with Health and Safety Priorities–Rochester, NY with Multnomah County Health Department: Reframes Transportation as a Public Health Issue to Reform Highway Infrastructure–Multnomah County, OR
Kayak Public Transit: Increasing Connectivity in the Public Transit System–Umatilla Indian Reservation, OR with Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (TVCDC): Uses Cultural Connection to Build Community–Pine Ridge Reservation, SD.
“Our work with the Healthy Regions Planning Exchange has led us to support bold initiatives that foster equity and vibrancy in more than 10 regions across the United States,” said Vanessa Barrios, Manager of Advocacy Programs at Regional Plan Association. “This is a monumental moment for planners and advocates across the country as a new windfall of federal dollars affords us the opportunity to invest in infrastructure projects that can and already have support and backing from the communities. Greenlighting projects which can promote healthier regions is key. These recommendations will help guide this work as projects get off the ground so that our infrastructure can best serve the people.”
The Healthy Regions Planning Exchange is a program focused on promoting healthy communities across the United States through equitable and inclusive urban and regional planning. For the past three years, RPA has convened this national network of planners, practitioners, advocates, and community-based representatives -- from Portland, Oregon to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and from New Orleans, Louisiana to Buffalo, New York and beyond — to develop solutions for reversing the impacts and influence of racism on urban planning and on cities across the US.
“Communities of all sizes should take advantage of large-scale federal infrastructure investment to advance health equity and improve health outcomes in the implementation, and this research shows them how,” said Pamela Russo, Senior Program Office, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “This builds on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s efforts to expand understanding about the many different social, economic and environmental determinants of who stays healthy, and who does not.”
“A healthy community must create an all-inclusive beacon of hope through holistic community-based collective action to overcome disparities across the United States,” said Carol Hardeman, Co-Director of Hill District Consensus Group. “The Hill District Consensus Group believes that this collective action can produce a remarkable measurable community impact.”
“As first nations indigenous peoples of turtle island we have always seem to have been forgotten,” said Kevin Decora, Regional Equity Director of Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation. “We have always fought for a place at the table when it comes to infrastructure dollars. It is time for this nation to look our way and make an effort to include us when it comes to health, infrastructure, and the opportunity to live in a healthy way as we are all meant to. We are still a part of this nation.”
