The Pillars

Just Communities starts with an unwavering commitment to Racial Equity and Climate Resilience in every phase of organizing, planning, and implementing neighborhood-scale community development.

Racial Equity

WHY WE PRIORITIZE RACIAL EQUITY

Just Communities starts with an unwavering commitment to racial equity in every phase of neighborhood-scale community development. The legacy and impact of structural and spatial racism and environmental injustice in land use policy and development – in the form of segregation, disinvestment, and displacement – has led to trapping millions of Black and historically disinvested communities of color in generational poverty (while others sustain wealth and privilege). The Protocol integrates practical asset-based actions, strategies, and metrics to ensure racial equity is considered in all phases of organizing, planning, and implementation.

What is Racial Equity

Racial equity is when people of all races have fair access to opportunities and resources, and race no longer determines someone’s life outcomes. It recognizes that Black and historically disinvested communities of color require specific types of support to achieve fair results because of historical disadvantages and existing barriers. Racial equity work typically involves:

Identifying and addressing systemic barriers and disparities
Creating policies and practices that distribute resources according to need
Ensuring meaningful participation and voice for historically marginalized communities
Transforming institutions and systems that perpetuate racial disparities

Racial equity acknowledges that racism operates at various levels—individual, institutional, spatial, and structural—and that achieving equity requires interventions at all these levels rather than simply addressing individual prejudices.

THE IMPACTS OF RACISM IN LAND USE & DEVELOPMENT

Concentrated poverty strips wealth and economic opportunity

Poverty has increased dramatically in the past 50 years. The multi-generational effects of redlining and other race-based restrictions related to real estate first denied Black and historically disinvested communities of color the opportunity to own a home, and then undercut their potential to build wealth traditionally associated with home ownership. Persistent obstacles to economic mobility create cycles of poverty from one generation to the next, which often coincide with experiences of trauma and disinvestment that weave through a family’s history.

Ongoing environmental pollution degrades public health

Due to the concentration of industries, weather patterns, past dumping, and upstream pollution, Black and historically disinvested communities of color are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards which can affect health and deepen disinvestment over time.

Persistent educational disparities slow access and opportunity

Racial and economic segregation in schools perpetuates achievement gaps and disparate access to opportunities. Segregation leads to gross disparities in funding and quality of schools.

A lack of basic services and infrastructure erodes trust

Many communities are not designed to provide what residents need for their health and well-being. Disinvested neighborhoods often lack adequate access to healthcare services, healthy foods, active transportation, safe places to play, and other basic needs. When development does materialize, it comes at the expense of legacy residents who are often displaced due to growing housing costs.

COMMITTING TO RACIAL EQUITY IN EVERY DECISION

Throughout the Protocol, users are asked to address the following areas of focus to help put racial equity into practice:

Recognize

A commitment to ensuring traditionally underrepresented voices are authentically heard and accounted for through meaningful and rigorous engagement in all aspects of Just Communities.

Reconcile

The commitment to explicitly take steps to repair the cultural and economic damages inflicted on Black and historically disinvested communities of color by ensuring that Just Community projects, programs, and policies result in a fair and equitable distribution of benefits and burdens across the whole community they serve.

Repair

A commitment to implement tailored, targeted investments that specifically support Black and historically disinvested communities of color wealth building, health, healing, and liberation.

Respect

A commitment to embrace and nurture transparent decision-making, accountability, and the codification of an inclusive governance model that recognizes and corrects the structural and institutional dynamics that advantages white communities over Black and historically disinvested communities of color.

CLIMATE RESILIENCE

Why We Prioritize Climate Resilience

The climate crisis is here, and our cities and communities are now frequently experiencing the impacts of a warming planet. Over 85% of the world’s population has experienced a climate-related disruption, and every year, the number of climate-related events grows more frequent and devastating. The Protocol integrates a set of actionable steps and strategies in all phases of organizing, planning, and implementation to assess and combat climate change, especially in the most disinvested and at-risk neighborhoods, which are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat events, floods, fires, droughts, disease, and storms.

What is Climate Resistance?

Climate resilience refers to a community’s capacity to prepare for, withstand, recover from, and adapt to climate-related events and disruptions while also strengthening the long term health and well-being of its residents. The Protocol focuses on two key climate resilience priorities:

Reducing Stresses: Slow-developing, chronic conditions that gradually undermine community stability. Examples included sea level rise, drought, changing precipitation patterns, gradual temperature increases, persistent economic, food, and housing insecurity. These challenges require long-term planning and systematic adaptation strategies, and often create “background conditions” that make shocks more damaging when they occur.
Mitigating & Managing Shocks: Typically sudden, isolated events or disturbances that threaten a neighborhood and core functions. Examples include hurricanes, floods, wildfires, heat waves, severe storms, ad energy and water infrastructure failure. These are characterized by their intensity, relatively short duration, and potential for immediate damage, and typically require emergency response and rapid mobilization of resources.

While climate-related shocks may be more visible and dramatic, the underlying stresses often determine how severely a shock impacts a community and how quickly it can recover. Building resilience therefore involves both immediate preparedness for acute events and long-term adaptation to changing baseline conditions.

The impacts of climate change in Land Use & Development

Heat Exposure

Climate change is intensifying heat exposure globally through more frequent and severe heat waves, creating dangerous conditions particularly in urban areas and among vulnerable populations. This increased heat burden causes significant health impacts ranging from heat exhaustion to fatal heat stroke, while also disrupting cognitive function and reducing workplace productivity.

Food Insecurity

Climate disasters like floods, droughts, and storms damage crops and disrupt food supply chains, causing shortages and price increases. Low-income communities suffer most from these disruptions as they already face limited access to affordable, nutritious food options. This combination of climate shocks and existing inequality worsens food insecurity, creating lasting negative effects on health and wellbeing in vulnerable populations.

Respiratory & Water-Related Illness

Climate change worsens air and water pollution by increasing particulates, allergens, wildfire smoke, and ground-level ozone in the atmosphere. Rising temperatures and extreme weather events flush contaminants like fecal matter into water systems, compromising drinking water safety. These pollution increases harm vulnerable populations and worsen respiratory, cardiovascular, and waterborne illnesses.

Mental Health Effects

Climate change negatively impacts mental health through acute trauma from extreme weather events and chronic stress from gradual environmental changes that trigger displacement, economic instability, and food insecurity. Vulnerable populations and those with pre-existing conditions experience disproportionate psychological effects like eco-anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

COMMITTING TO climate resilience IN EVERY DECISION

Throughout the Protocol, users are asked to address the following areas of focus to help put climate resilience into practice:

Knowledge & Expertise

Investing in education and leadership development to advocate, organize and plan.

Organizations & Networks

Building up local support systems to strengthen community-scale resilience.

People

Strengthening individual and community health and well-being.

Infrastructure

Developing bio-climatic and resilient infrastructure and local ecosystems that can effectively adapt over time.

Decarbonization

Investing in energy efficiency; renewable energy; and green buildings, transportation, and infrastructure.

About the Protocol The Commitments