The primary objective of the Healthy Regions Planning Exchange is to coordinate a learning network of advocates, planners, health officials, and community-based representatives from ten regions across the United States. Each region’s participants are committed to working collaboratively to highlight the vital connection between health equity and regional planning practices.

The Exchange supports region-specific initiatives that advance equitable transportation and land use policies. Examples of projects inspired, seeded, or supported by the Exchange include: improving fair fare programs in New York City; enhancing transit safety through community-based and community-informed safety programs in Los Angeles; and equipping community members with land use and zoning knowledge to navigate and reimagine Chicago’s zoning system for better health outcomes. While these localized efforts address the unique needs of each region, the true power of the Exchange lies in its function as a convening space for shared learning.

Through the consistent sharing of project wins and the tactics that led to successes, production of targeted research and data supporting advocacy efforts, and diverse online and in-person events, the network has demonstrated the importance of exchanging best practices in key activities such as coalition building, transit planning, and fighting for affordable communities, among many others. This cross-regional learning model enables participants to adapt successful strategies from peer regions to their local contexts, optimizing resources, reducing redundancy, and streamlining efforts.

Over the past five years, the Exchange has created a multiplier effect: innovations developed in one region become resources and inspiration for all participants, building collective capacity and strengthening and accelerating the impact of equity-focused planning across the country.

Participants

Bay Area, CA: SPUR, Urban Habitat, Working Partnerships USA
Buffalo, NY: Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transport & Co., LISC Buffalo, PUSH Buffalo, East Buffalo Community Development Corporation
Chicago, IL: Chicago Department of Public Health, Illinois Public Health Institute, Metropolitan Planning Council, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)
Los Angeles, CA: Alliance for Community Transit – LA, Thai CDC, County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, Colectivo Poder Comunitario/Community Power Collective
New Orleans, LA: Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, Operation Restoration, Foundation For Louisiana
New York, NY: Community Voices Heard, Make the Road New York, Regional Plan Association
Pine Ridge Reservation, SD: Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation C
Pittsburgh, PA: Hill District Consensus Group, Pittsburghers for Public Transit, Just Harvest
Portland, OR: Gresham Redevelopment Commission, Multnomah County Health Department
Twin Cities, MN: Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, Frogtown Neighborhood Association, New American Development Center, Move Minnesota, Native American Community Development Institute

Our Progress

Phase I (2019-2020)

The Exchange was established by an application and vetting process to ensure a dedicated and diverse cohort of participants. Ultimately, the Exchange was formed as a partnership of ten distinct regions from across the U.S. Through monthly meetings, two in-person events, and five webinars, participants built new relationships, expanded their networks with other members as well as with the experts and advisors brought in as part of the Exchange’s learning opportunities, and shared challenges and concerns while collectively refining scopes and approaches for advancing racial and health equity in planning.

Phase II (2020-2022)

The Exchange focused on implementing specific legislative, policy, and budgetary changes in each region. Regional work was supported through network discussions and monthly calls, original research endeavors, and ad-hoc problem-solving sessions on shared challenges. Much of this phase was dedicated to supporting each other through Covid-19. The pandemic made clear the importance and impact of the built environment on community health, as well as the inequities that existed in access to open space, transportation, and other supportive resources in different communities. Centering health equity in planning was more urgent than ever, and the Exchange strategized reforms and investments in different regions to advance tangible progress toward health and racial equity in metropolitan planning.

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Pathways to Health Equity

Although it will take years to break down barriers to health equity, real progress is taking place across the United States. These are some of the regions showing the way.

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Investing in Infrastructure for Healthy Communities

By putting community needs first, we can ensure that federal funding is used to build and restore health equity as well as the nation’s infrastructure.

Phase III (2022-2024)

The Exchange continued nurturing collaborative partnerships across multiple U.S. regions. Phase III was dedicated to advising on and guiding community-driven actions addressing housing, transportation, and health equity. Projects ranged from improving housing access for people with criminal and eviction records in Louisiana, to promoting safer street design and reducing traffic fatalities in Portland, to advancing transit equity through fair fares programs in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. Chicago embedded health equity into citywide planning, and Thunder Valley CDC on the Pine Ridge Reservation developed a Regional Equity Initiative addressing systemic poverty and violence against Indigenous women. Across all regions, the Exchange provided funding, facilitated knowledge sharing, and amplified marginalized voices in policy discussions, strengthening connections between public health, transportation, and community organizations.

Preventing Another Ida

Stormwater Management and Basement Apartments in Central Queens

During Hurricane Ida, extreme rain, unlicensed apartments, and underlying socioeconomic conditions resulted in death and disaster in central Queens. These strategies can help prevent that from happening again.

Federal Dollars for Local Infrastructure: Tracking IIJA Funding in Our Region

In November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized over $1.2 trillion for rebuilding and renovating America’s infrastructure. RPA analyzes which projects are being funded in our region.

Demystifying Federal Funding for Healthy Communities

By successfully navigating the IIJA process, it is possible to promote health equity in infrastructure projects. RPA State Directors demystify the process to ensure projects in all communities promote a healthy future.

Phase IV (2024-2025)

The final phase of the Exchange deepened connections and supported critical initiatives during a period of federal leadership transition and policy change. The network continued monthly calls with partner groups, offering opportunities for regions to share wins and strategies for navigating potential challenges to campaigns, programs, and/or funding. Each session highlighted a team or specific project focused on advancing health and racial equity, allowing for peer-to-peer learning, tools sharing, and solidarity during an unprecedented time. Cross regional connections were the focus of Phase IV. RPA prioritized the following actions to strengthen connections and to boost partner capacity, visibility, and also morale:

Sustained regular communication with regions, consistently sharing insights, tools, guidance, and technical assistance. RPA encouraged partners to leverage our own expertise as well as each other’s to tackle new or unexpected challenges to their work
Maintained the production of reliable, responsive research in collaboration with participating regions, and, when possible, enhanced the visibility of partner initiatives through RPA’s events, publications, social platforms, and networks
Shared additional resources and support to help participants address health as related to urban planning within the participating regions.
Published research investigations and hosted research and policy webinars to broaden the reach and impact of the Healthy Regions Planning Exchange’s objectives, insights, and innovations during a period of shifting local and federal priorities, policies, and budgets.

Housing as a Framework for Health Equity

As the third in a series of investigations on pathways to health equity, this report is intended to provide insights and a framework for understanding and advancing health equity through the lens of housing.

The Planning Exchange demonstrates how both the advancements and obstacles faced across various regions can be learning opportunities for planning experts as they navigate the challenges of providing adequate housing.

Reclaiming Public Space for Health Equity

How communities can creatively leverage public spaces to improve safety, health, and food security, reclaiming them as shared assets and channeling public investments into wide-ranging positive outcomes.

Reduced Fares

Lessons from Across the Country

Across the nation, reduced fare programs aim to assist those who rely on mass transit the most. Here’s what we can learn from their successes and challenges.

Events and Convenings

The Planning Exchange hosted, supported the organizing, and/or participated in a wide range of events throughout the program:

Twin Cities Convening (May 2025)

The Exchange’s annual in-person convening took place in Minneapolis, MN in May 2025. Staff from the Minneapolis-based organizations of The Alliance, New American Development Centre (NADC), and the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI) have been regular participants in the Exchange’s monthly calls. The convening was a unique opportunity for these partners to share their work and showcase the real place-based progress they have successfully advanced as part of the Exchange. This convening included conversations with local and regional government leaders from City of Minneapolis and St Paul, site visits, and a keynote address from Minneapolis Council Member, Andrea Jenkins, the first African American openly trans woman elected to public office. The convening provided ample opportunities for participants to listen, learn, and strategize. We closed the convening with a candid conversation on how this network could continue in two scenarios: if funding is abundant or if funding becomes limited.

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Event Highlight

Climate Week 2025: Fair Fares

Fair Fares, Fair Cities (2025): The Exchanges hosted a national online panel discussion on equitable and affordable public transportation featuring experts and practitioners from Pittsburgh, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City. The conversation spotlit how different cities and advocates are driving change to ensure transit equity through income-based fare programs and innovative funding models.

Speakers

Laura Chu Wiens: Executive director of Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Cynthia Bourjac: Power Building Director, ACT-LA
Finn McGarrity: Emerging Practice Principal Planner at Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Fostering Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Change: Reflecting on the Lakota Media Summit

Portland Convening (June 2023)

RPA hosted an in-person public convening in June 2023 in Portland, Oregon. The two-day event was attended by 22 participants representing 10 metropolitan areas from the Exchange. Twenty additional participants from the Multnomah County area were represented by government officials, community organizations, and indigenous partners. The organizations from Multnomah County include the Multnomah Department of Public Health, the City of Gresham, the Emanuel Displaced Persons Association 2, The Street Trust, Albina Vision Trust, Future Generations Collaborative, and the Seven Waters Canoe Family.

Our agenda focused on infrastructure investment, its effects on communities in the past, and the tools we can use to ensure that planning facilitates healthy communities today and in the future. We learned from community members who were directly affected by displacement caused by highway expansion and eminent domain in Portland

RPA facilitated working groups to discuss lessons from our speakers, field visits, and experiences. We identified how to incorporate these lessons to tackle tough challenges within our home regions. The cohort left with concrete next steps and new relationships to build from for the rest of Phase 3.

Event Highlight

Infrastructure Equity in Action

In June, 2022 as federal funding for infrastructure begins coming down the pipeline, participants from the Planning Exchange described the steps they’re taking to ensure that infrastructure projects achieve more equitable results than many have in the past.

Speakers

Laura Chu-Wiens: Executive Director, Pittsburghers for Public Transit
Lynn Cuny: Deputy Director, Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation
Odetta Macleish-White: Director, Georgia Initiatives, Center for Community Progress
Charlene McGee: Program Manager, Multnomah County Department of Health
Joo Hee Pomplun: Executive Director, The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability

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Closing Symposium

In March, 2020, the group convened in New Orleans at the Ashe Power House Theater. Cohorts from each region shared their progress from the past year of work and described new challenges ahead.

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Campaign Healthy Regions Second Symposium

Campaign Healthy Regions Planning Exchange Symposium1 Program Cover

Opening Symposium

In April 2019, the group convened at our offices in Manhattan for three days of discussions centered around how community partnerships inform better planning and how race and racism shape planning.

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