Action Guide

Just Communities includes seventeen discrete and practical Just Community Actions organized into four implementation phases. Each action includes guidelines, engagement tips, and templates to help stakeholders move community-scale projects from vision to reality.

  • Groundwork

    Vibrant and inclusive communities

  • Roadmap

    Vibrant and inclusive communities

  • Governance

    Thriving and upwardly mobile communities

  • Implementation

    Thriving and upwardly mobile communities

Download the Action Guide

Browse Actions By Phases

1

Convene Working Group

The process of launching a Just Community starts with bringing together local leaders who share a common vision and are committed to collaboration.
2

Preliminary Scoping

To assess a community’s interest in becoming a Just Community, preliminary assessment is necessary. This action provides guidance in identifying drivers for change, conducting a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, and defining the geographic boundary of work.
3

Listen & Heal

Many communities have endured significant trauma and harm from the cumulative impacts of unjust and racist land use polices and development practices.
4

Map Community Assets

Community asset mapping is a process of identifying a neighborhood’s most significant strengths, which can include physical, economic, cultural, and environmental resources, in addition to local traditions, history, and events that shape the neighborhood’s identity.
5

Summarize

To understand the potential pace of growth (or lack of) in a neighborhood, it is important to understand the underlying drivers of change from land use plans to proposed projects that could spark gentrification.
6

Conduct Power Analysis

When building a Governing Body, it is important to understand who has power, who does not, and the cumulative impacts of those power dynamics.
7

Form Governing Body

Every Just Community requires a robust management structure with the authority, capacity, and resources to oversee planning and implementation.
8

Develop Community Network

Just Communities calls for consistent and authentic engagement within the community it serves.
9

Craft Community Vision

Visioning is a process by which a community defines the future it wants.
10

Get to Know the Community

This action provides clear guidance in creating a baseline to guide future projects, programs, and policies.
11

Set Targets

The creation of robust performance metrics is fundamental to measuring and evaluating progress over time.
12

Assess Strategies

This action helps identify and rank a set of potential strategies to advance the community vision and Commitments.
13

Develop Work Plan

The last step in building a Just Communities Roadmap is the creation of a detailed work plan to guide implementation.
14

Track Progress

Consistent and accurate project management and reporting helps to build trust among the Governing Body, implementation partners, the Community Network, funders, and other key constituents.
15

Update Governance

Collaborative governance models require maintenance as community dynamics change and leadership and power structures shift.
16

Refine Work Plan

The Just Community work plan is a living document that requires occasional modifications over time to respond to changing priorities, unforeseen challenges, and new opportunities.
17

Communicate Progress

It is important to build a strong, multi-faceted communications strategy to share results and encourage community and stakeholder involvement This action supports the creation of an annual progress report and target tracker to share progress to meeting the Just Communities Commitments.

Each Action Helps

  • Build Local Capacity

  • Structure collaborative governance models

  • Develop indicators and targets to measure impact over time

  • Embed racial equity and climate resilience in all decision-making

  • Shape projects, programs, and policies to strengthen long-term economic growth, improve health outcomes, and repair long-standing social and environmental injustices.

  • Oversee long-term implementation

  • Build trust among stakeholders

Commitments CONVENE WORKING GROUP