Helping Communities Thrive through Capacity Building and Collaboration

Across the U.S., communities that are under-resourced and disadvantaged need more effective technical strategies and funding for aging and multimodal infrastructure that support their people and economy. Some of these needs may be immediate, while others could be longer-term, transformative projects that will help communities thrive in either case.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) Thriving Communities Program (TCP) is offering the technical assistance and “capacity building” support needed to focus on these investments. USDOT’s TCP began in 2022 to help communities disproportionately affected by environmental, climate and policy outcomes. The program helps these communities develop the organizational capacity that they need to compete for federal, state, local and philanthropic funding.

“The support provided through this program will enable disadvantaged and under-resourced communities to advance a pipeline of infrastructure projects that will right historic wrongs,” said Jennifer Pangborn, WSP vice president and program manager. “These projects will improve community mobility, reduce pollution and expand affordable transportation options, connecting communities to the essential opportunities and resources that will help them thrive.”

The program offers two years of no-cost technical assistance and strategic support. It also includes guidance and tools to align community projects with available programs created through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

The Fiscal Year 22 program supports 64 urban, rural and Tribal communities. In partnership with Accelerator for America, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, WSP is working with 14 of these communities.

“Our goal is to be a community-trusted advisor,” Pangborn said. “We are working with each community along with their partner organizations and businesses to grow their technical knowledge and skillsets. In addition, we are using an individually tailored ‘do-teach-grow’ approach in each community to expand the longevity and momentum for improvements. We want to recognize the local knowledge and expertise these partners can bring to the table.”

WSP’s “do-teach-grow” approach focuses on capability building at the local level and assessing each community’s goals and needs to identify the best technical support and expertise that can be brought to the table. This has involved an organizational assessment and site visit for each community.

In Brockton, WSP’s capacity-building team and the city organized an event at the Montello train station to hand out coffee and donuts, ask questions and share a public survey during the morning commuter rush. Participants were asked about their experience partaking in public engagement activities with the city and the ways in which engagement could be more accessible to them. Their feedback helped inform the team and the city on specific community needs and future engagement activities.

In Tempe, Arizona, the city organized a bus ride for the WSP capacity building team and local partners to tour a project site. The on-site discussions helped identify the strengths and opportunities of the East Apache area, as did a meeting between the team and Mayor Corey Woods, which illuminated the team’s overlap with the mayor’s vision and helped identify specific needs from the site visit analysis.

Community feedback from events such as these allow capacity-building teams to develop a stronger understanding of the study area and its interconnectivity with transportation and land use. These discussions also highlight opportunities to bring partners to the table and coalesce around priorities.

Such was the case for both Brockton and Tempe. Brockton’s discussion led to the formation of a Community Advisory Group to advise the development of their community engagement framework, while Tempe’s partners identified the needs and vision for resiliency in the East Apache area, as well as the goals and actions needed to drive momentum. Across all these communities, WSP professionals are seeing both excitement and momentum for the TCP, and all these efforts are forging stronger relationships between WSP, local stakeholders and the community.

“Throughout the whole process, our team has to be flexible to adjust our technical assistance approach according to the feedback from community members – recognizing that we are growing together,” Pangborn said. “Seeing people collaborate at these events shows our team that what we are doing is working, and that over time, their long-term visions for their communities will be realized.”