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 Each month, we profile a national organization with which ARS has partnered to reach a broader constituency. In profile this month is PolicyLink, a national nonprofit research, communications, capacity-building, and advocacy organization working to advance a new generation of policies to achieve economic and social equity. PolicyLinks work emphasizes strategies to ensure that everyone including low-income communities of color can contribute to and benefit from local and regional growth and development.
There are four major dimensions to PolicyLinks work: (1) equitable development, (2) fair distribution of affordable housing; (3) equitable public investment; and (4) community-based strategies for improving public health and personal wellness.
To promote equitable development and extend affordable housing opportunities, PolicyLink has recently released a toolkit to help community builders achieve diverse, mixed-income neighborhoods that provide access to opportunities for employment, education and safe, affordable housing. The tools are intended to help reduce social and economic disparities among individuals, social groups, neighborhoods, and local jurisdictions across metropolitan regions.
PolicyLink takes the position that major public investments frequently distribute the benefits and externalities of economic development unevenly. To encourage more equitable public investment, PolicyLink works with community-based organizations and advocacy groups in the areas of land-use reform, civil rights, transportation policy, environmental protection, organized labor, regional planning, and grassroots organizing.
The organization also proposes principles, strategies and policies to improve the impacts that neighborhoods and communities have on their residents health status. PolicyLink has been particularly active in (1) understanding and correcting the asthma epidemic in low-income communities, (2) raising awareness of the relationship between socio-economic class and personal health status, and (3) promoting community-design strategies for increasing physical activity and enhancing wellness.
In addition to the Equitable Development Toolkit, PolicyLink offers a variety of online tools to assist individuals and groups on issues ranging from redevelopment of brownfields and minority contracting to community mapping, infill incentives and community land trusts. Other tools offer insights into municipal living wage provisions, inclusionary zoning and rent controls, to name a few.
Additionally, a number of publications may be ordered from PolicyLink. The organization has just released Organized for Change: The Activists Guide to Police Reform, which describes the fundamentals of moving police departments toward community-oriented policing through advocacy, utilization of media and direct petitioning of administrative agencies. Other publications discuss inclusionary zoning, advocacy for policy change, regional equity, and promoting community health, among many other topics.
Angela Glover Blackwell is president of PolicyLink; for more information, visit the website www.policylink.org.
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