We believe that place matters, that it's a fundamental building block for health.
We have a bold opportunity to do things differently.
We have to look at decision making through the three lenses of equity, climate and health.
We need to know that we're making a difference.
Now is a time where national level conversation and organizing is crucial.
How can we change the tide and how can we build a strong community once again?
Spark is a collaboration among very unique partners to show that when we invest in our communities, we can ensure that everyone is thriving.
We as partners had seen a lot of great collaborative work and we felt it was a type of work that we would really want to elevate.
Spark chose the community that somebody else is thinking about the same problems that we're thinking about and thinking about it on a bigger level.
Giving us a platform to be able to go and make big changes.
Spark is bringing together the different components that people interact with on a daily basis in order to really strengthen the whole ecosystem and have the supports that people need to thrive.
We couldn't leave communities, especially regions with plans developed and have them sit on a shelf.
So we knew we could be part of that opportunity to get those plans off the shelf and move them forward.
In many of these communities, they've been doing this work for years, but with limited resources, limited access to dollars.
And this is a three-year $90 million initiative looking at systems change across the country.
We have infrastructure that's a huge asset. Many regions would die for our transit system, but it's very stark to see that particularly in communities of color, we haven't seen development happen.
And in communities where development's happening, it's rapid and gentrification is happening.
And so getting ahead of that and figuring out how to ensure that people are able to take advantage of something that connects them.
We don't capture this moment in time. It could easily go away.
Denver has a goal to reduce climate change and there's all different kinds of people that are working together on these goals.
How do we bring renewable energy and accessible energy to new communities? How do we ensure that people can afford energy and that they have access to all the programs that are being created?
We've been looking at this not just as an energy issue, but a housing issue, a health issue, and a community issue.
And when you have everybody at the table talking about it, that's where we've seen the most success.
We have two Atlantis right now and it's been two Atlantis for quite a while. Benefits are happening for people that are living along the Belt Line and people that are in the city of Atlanta.
We're seeing an economic boom. We need to make sure that boom has a balance to it, that it has equity, that we can pivot some of that towards the areas that need it the most.
If we don't do anything about it now, it's going to continue to fester.
Here in the Bay Area, as in many places around the country, we're actually seeing significant housing crisis.
Over the years, we have fought to strengthen eviction protection, we've fought to strengthen rent stabilization for low income people,
and these are the policy solutions that we feel are incredibly important because the solution is not just to help individual families, but to help big groups of folks.
North Memphis is a poverty-stricken area. Senior citizens have to make a choice between food and medication.
Also, you have children that have asthma because they're living in molded houses.
We're going to be a community about all people that needs to change.
LA is at a crossroads right now. We're getting our transit billed out. A lot of new development is coming in and we have a choice to make.
Develop the city for the higher income population or prioritize solutions so that development can be for everyone.
Spark is changing the way that we think about community development.
It is once and for all moving us to a place where our work is community-informed and community-driven.
By re-envisioning how to think about the decisions and the investments that go into a place, we can begin to reduce the growing gap around inequality.
We need to address the way that we build in our communities and Spark is really the right set of solutions for today's problems.
