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Great Neighborhoods is an exciting and innovative partnership taking place in five communities in Greater Boston. Through the generous support of the Barr Foundation and Ford Foundation, the MSGA is partnering with local stakeholders in order to enable smart community development in the communities of Lawrence, Winchester, Somerville, Boston’s Fairmount-Indigo Line Corridor and the Warren Street Transit Corridor in Roxbury.
We work with local residents, stakeholders, community leaders, municipal and state officials in these communities to create affordable homes, shops and stores, recreational spaces and businesses close to public transportation so people can work, shop and play where they live. Through Great Neighborhoods we will help our partners identify and overcome legislative, regulatory, and financial obstacles to implementation of their smart growth projects. These five sites represent a range of significant projects for advancing equitable smart growth in the region as laid out in Metrofuture, the region's plan for growth through the year 2030. Together they are part of a regional vision supported by local action.
Five Great Neighborhoods
Interested in our Theory of Change? See the Great Neighborhood’s Logic Model here. Great Neighborhoods: Placemaking in Action
Great Neighborhoods are also great places, and Placemaking is central to our work with our Great Neighborhoods partners. Placemaking is a process that invites community members to design, plan and implement vibrant public spaces that help build strong communities and capitalize on neighborhood assets. Through Placemaking activities, we are supporting our Great Neighborhoods partners in creating good public spaces that promote health, happiness, and economic well-being. Project for Public SpacesThe MSGA is collaborating with the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) to engage in Placemaking in our five Great Neighborhoods communities. Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a nonprofit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. Based in New York City, they bring over 35 years of experience to this work and have engaged in placemaking across the country and around the world. PPS recently facilitated a Placemaking Academy and training for Great Neighborhoods. For two days over 50 community- based leaders and organizations gathered in Dudley Square to learn the basics of placemaking and how to apply placemaking tools to the work they are doing to create positive change in their communities. Throughout the spring PPS will continue to work closely with our Great Neighborhoods communities to elicit ideas from community members, stakeholders, local leadership and city staff in order to develop a vision for a selected public space or spaces as well as identify “lighter, quicker cheaper” improvements, and develop a strategy for implementation. Through its Placemaking workshop and other outreach tools, PPS – working closely with local stakeholders in the community – will engage a wide range of participants of different age groups, ethnicities, and cultures in meaningful discussions about the issues and potential of a community’s public spaces. For more information about PPS visit their website http://www.pps.org/ Click here to see pictures from the Great Neighborhoods Placemaking Academy. Placemaking Resources
Press ReleasesMass. Smart Growth Alliance Unveils Innovative Great Neighborhoods Program in Five Mass. Communities In the NewsBoston.com: Roxbury chosen to participate in Great Neighborhoods program Banker & Tradesman: Menino: City Development Progress Hinges on Collaboration Boston Business Journal: Barr and Ford foundation's grant $1.5M to community climate change program Boston Business Journal: With Vertex in hand, Menino turns sights to Dudley Square The Somerville Journal: Op-Ed: Somerville is a city of great neighborhoods Shelterforce.org: Smart at the Roots |
