1,000+ Opportunities
Find the right grant
Search federal, foundation, and corporate grants with AI — or browse by agency, topic, and state.
This grant may no longer be accepting applications.
The description indicates applications may be closed. Check the funder's website to confirm availability before applying.
Visit funder's website →Community Connectors Grant Program is sponsored by Smart Growth America (with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Equitable Cities, New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) and America Walks). This program supports leaders in small and mid-sized communities to repair the damage of divisive infrastructure, particularly transportation infrastructure like highways and dangerous arterial roads that separate and harm communities.
Get a weekly digest of new grants like this
A free weekly digest of new foundation and federal funding opportunities as they're added to Granted. Unsubscribe anytime.
Or search similar grants →Extracted from the official opportunity page/RFP to help you evaluate fit faster.
Community Connectors Program - Smart Growth America Find out how you can join the movement. Get Involved Memberships & partnerships Sponsorship Advocacy Careers Apply to Community Connectors 2026 Smart growth is an approach to community design that connects housing, transportation, and land use to create healthy, prosperous, and resilient neighborhoods.
Key principles Smart growth in action Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all. Welcome to Smart Growth America How we work Mission, vision, and values Our history Our team Our Board Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.
Advocacy Direct community support Current projects Our impact Apply to Community Connectors 2026 Zoning Awards Nominations Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all. Throughout the year, we host a number of in-person and virtual events covering topics related to public health, social equity, and climate resilience.
All SGA@25 Celebration Equity Summit We offer a library of case studies, videos, and reports to support policymakers, practitioners, and advocates interested in advancing smart growth. We support leaders in small and mid-sized communities through direct community support.
Community Connectors The Champions Institute Outside In ZEST Community Connectors The Champions Institute Outside In ZEST Supporting leaders in small and mid-sized communities—in and out of government—to repair the damage of divisive infrastructure.
With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Smart Growth America’s Community Connectors program will support three city teams in repairing divisive infrastructure, improving safety on local arterial roads, and sparking the long-term partnerships and support necessary for making permanent reconnections.
The 2025-2026 cohort includes Akron, Ohio with the Summit Lake Community Development Corporation Baltimore County, Maryland with the Northeast Towson Improvement Association of Historic East Towson, Little Rock, Arkansas with studioMAIN. The Complete Streets Leadership Academy This iteration of the Community Connectors program will be utilizing a proven training curriculum called the Complete Streets Leadership Academy (CSLA).
This model combines a series of virtual sessions and in-person workshops to develop and deploy community-led quick-build projects on a road or street.
Over the course of the workshop series each participating local team will collectively plan and implement a “quick-build” demonstration project, using proven safety countermeasures, tactical urbanism, and creative placemaking to temporarily transform a street or intersection into a safer route that is also less divisive.
SGA will work with each community to help them refine the specific location for their project, but communities do need to have a tentative corridor or intersection(s) identified in their application for a demonstration project. The ~30-40 hours of sessions and workshops will cover the basics of quick-build projects including site selection, design, community engagement, and data collection.
The teams will engage in peer-to-peer learning and work to identify and overcome barriers in policies and practices to implement a Complete Streets approach that can repair the damage of a divisive road. Learn more about quick builds and CSLA Learn about the damage done by divisive infrastructure Beginning in the 1950s, highways devastated communities of color and changed our cities forever.
But the consequences continue, even as we begin to acknowledge our past mistakes. Why? Our report, Divided by Design , examines the racist roots of our current transportation system, revealing that flawed thinking continues to haunt our policies and practices.
Without a fundamental change to the overall approach to transportation, today’s leaders and transportation professionals, no matter their intent, will perpetuate and exacerbate the damage. To create a better system, we can’t settle for small changes. We need a total shift in approach.
Repairing the damage of divisive infrastructure Smart Growth America’s ongoing Community Connectors program seeks to equip small and mid-sized communities to identify, remove, or repair the damage of divisive infrastructure. Because Congress has moved to essentially kill the popular Reconnecting Communities program by rescinding and taking back more than $2.
4 billion for these projects—much of that already awarded to local communities—one of the best available sources of dedicated funding for these types of projects has disappeared overnight. But that does not mean these types of projects cannot move forward.
Although costly projects to remove or cap an entire highway or repair the damage of an enormous legacy interstate project will be far more difficult without this program, there are countless ways to use existing federal, state, or local money to quickly make unsafe and divisive roadways safer and more accessible.
And implementing a quick-build demonstration project on roads like these can be an important first step toward a more ambitious permanent project. This iteration of the Community Connectors program is narrowly focused on divisive arterial highways and other dangerous roads that have divided or damaged communities. The objectives of this program are to: Make dangerous streets and roads safer; start repairing damage and division.
Learn how demonstration projects are a proven strategy to make dangerous streets safer today, while also making the case for permanent changes tomorrow. Develop new skills that can be used on future projects. Create the kind of experience and capacity that can be used on other projects in the future, so that the community can design and implement other safety pilot projects on their own.
Learn more about Complete Streets. Learn together and from one another about the role that a Complete Streets approach plays in addressing traffic violence and building great places. Build trust and lasting partnerships.
Help these teams build the trust required to tackle more of these sorts of projects, repair past damage, and address what is often a legacy of harm. Bring teams together that include community-based organizations and local governments, but also potentially transit agencies, health advocates, housing non-profits, land trusts, major employers, lenders & others. Share lessons with others.
Produce a report with case studies, lessons learned and recommendations to support this work more broadly both in experimental quick-builds and more permanent Complete Streets support. Community Connectors: Free tools for advocates While only three teams/cities will be selected for this program, anyone advancing similar projects can tap Transportation for America’s Community Connectors portal of resources .
(Transportation for America is a program of Smart Growth America.)
Whether trying to stop a divisive, destructive, and unaffordable freeway expansion, steer more resources to transit, or advance a Reconnecting Communities project to remove an old highway or make wide, dangerous arterial roads a little safer for people to cross, the Community Connectors portal decodes the processes, explains common terms, clarifies the important actors, and inspires with helpful real-world stories Celebrating progress: A closer look at our Community Connectors program Our Community Connectors program is a capacity-building program that supports 15 teams from small to mid-sized cities to with reconnecting communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure.
Whether it's preventing displacement or creating more equitable opportunities for growth and prosperity, hear more from some of the passionate planners, advocates, and city leaders in our cohort who share about their work advancing locally driven projects aimed at reconnecting communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure.
Community Connectors kickoff: Six key takeaways from our convening in Atlanta Last month, more than 100 participants from the 15 communities selected to participate in the Community Connectors program convened in Atlanta to start building trust and relationships, plan out the scopes for the capacity-building grants they're receiving from this 18-month program, and lay the groundwork for their ambitious projects to reconnect their communities.
The Community Connectors is a program to support leaders in small and mid-sized communities—in and... By Eric Cova • December 12, 2023 Announcing the inaugural Community Connectors program participants! The Community Connectors program offers technical support and funding for communities working to repair the damage of divisive infrastructure in an effort to reconnect communities.
The new Community Connectors program is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted in partnership with Equitable Cities, the New Urban Mobility Alliance, and America Walks. Smart Growth America has selected 15 community-focused projects to participate in the new Community Connectors program which...
By Eric Cova • September 15, 2023 Community Connectors grant program | Applications Closed Our new Community Connectors grant program will help advance locally driven projects that will reconnect communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure and tap available federal and state funds to support them.
Removing divisive infrastructure is largely uncharted territory in the United States, but the need to fix the damage it has caused is imperative. Transportation infrastructure like divisive highways and dangerous arterial roads often separates and harms the...
By Eric Cova • May 23, 2023 Community Connectors spotlight: Reimagining Little Rock's historic Black business corridor Community Connectors brings city staff and community organizations together to repair divisive infrastructure through quick-build demonstration projects.
These case studies share the experiences of participants in the 2025-2026 program, highlighting the historical background, local challenges, and community partnerships that shaped their project development and implementation. Read about the project on West Ninth Street in Little Rock, AR, with studioMAIN. West Ninth Street was once the heart of Black life in...
By Raveena John • July 13, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Reclaiming East Towson's story and street safety Community Connectors brings city staff and community organizations together to repair divisive infrastructure through quick-build demonstration projects.
These case studies share the experiences of participants in the 2025-2026 program, highlighting the historical background, local challenges, and community partnerships that shaped their project development and implementation. Read about the project along Towsontown Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue in Baltimore County, MD, with the Northeast Towson Improvement Association of Historic East Towson. Historic...
By Raveena John • July 13, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Reconnecting Akron neighborhoods to their waterfront Community Connectors brings city staff and community organizations together to repair divisive infrastructure through quick-build demonstration projects.
These case studies share the experiences of participants in the 2025-2026 program, highlighting the historical background, local challenges, and community partnerships that shaped their project development and implementation. Read about the project along Lakeshore Boulevard in Akron, OH, with the Summit Lake Community Development Corporation. Where waterfronts once attracted heavy industry and waste...
By Raveena John • July 13, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Dylan Garritano, city planner in Akron, OH SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports teams in three small and mid-sized communities as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety outcomes, and advance lasting community reconnections.
The program centers collaboration by bringing together community-based organizations with local government partners in learning sessions and hands-on workshops for quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading...
By Raveena John • April 22, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Maneesh Krishnan, Director of Public Works in Little Rock, AR SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports teams in three small and mid-sized communities as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety outcomes, and advance lasting community reconnections.
The program centers collaboration by bringing together community-based organizations with local government partners in learning sessions and hands-on workshops for quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. This blog series highlights participants leading the work,...
By Raveena John • April 8, 2026 Quick builds in action: Testing safer streets with Community Connectors in Little Rock, AR We love supporting quick-build demonstration projects, but it’s not every day we get to install one ourselves!
With the guidance of Better Block, the SGA team and this year’s Community Connectors participants got to try our hands at rolling out the tape, pouring the paint, and getting our hands dirty while reimagining a street in Little Rock, AR. This iteration of Community Connectors is supporting three teams to repair dangerous...
By Raveena John • February 13, 2026 Community Connectors participant spotlight: Joe Tucker SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports three teams as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety, and advance lasting community reconnections.
By pairing community-based organizations with local government partners, the program centers collaboration through learning sessions, hands-on workshops, and quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading this work, offering a glimpse into how their...
By Raveena John • January 15, 2026 Community Connectors participant spotlight: Ernest Banks SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports three teams as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety, and advance lasting community reconnections.
By pairing community-based organizations with local government partners, the program centers collaboration through learning sessions, hands-on workshops, and quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading this work, offering a glimpse into how their...
By Raveena John • January 15, 2026 Community Connectors participant spotlight: Nancy Goldring SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports three teams as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety, and advance lasting community reconnections.
By pairing community-based organizations with local government partners, the program centers collaboration through learning sessions, hands-on workshops, and quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading this work, offering a glimpse into how their...
By Raveena John • January 15, 2026 Celebrating progress: A closer look at our Community Connectors program Our Community Connectors program is a capacity-building program that supports 15 teams from small to mid-sized cities to with reconnecting communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure.
In our new video, some of the passionate planners, advocates, and city leaders in our cohort share about their work advancing locally driven projects aimed at reconnecting communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure. Whether it's preventing displacement or creating more equitable opportunities...
By Rachel Ellis • December 17, 2025 Informational webinar: Community Connectors 2 Divisive roadways have left lasting scars in communities across the country—separating neighborhoods, limiting access, and deepening inequities. Our Community Connectors program helps small and mid-sized communities take meaningful first steps to heal those divisions.
In this informational webinar, learn more about the program, its goals, and how your community can apply. We cover: Why we focus on divisive roadways and how our approach differs from large-scale highway teardowns The role...
By Rachel Ellis • December 17, 2025 Three communities selected to learn about and design quick-build demonstration projects With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Smart Growth America’s Community Connectors program will support three city teams in repairing divisive infrastructure, improving safety on local arterial roads, and sparking the long-term partnerships and support necessary for making permanent reconnections.
We're excited to announce the three communities who were chosen to participate in Community Connectors, our year-long program that will support city leaders and community-based organizations with implementing quick-build...
By Raveena John • September 30, 2025 Reconnecting Harrisonburg, VA Harrisonburg, Virginia was selected for a previous round of the Community Connectors program where 15 communities received capacity building subgrants and wraparound technical assistance to develop and advance ambitious projects to restore the damage of past infrastructure decisions.
One of Harrisonburg’s final projects (a temporary demonstration project) helped inspire this year’s specific focus on divisive or dangerous roadways. The city-led Harrisonburg team came in with a project proposal to reimagine...
By Steve Davis • July 24, 2025 Call for applications for the Community Connectors program Smart Growth America is now accepting applications for the second round of our Community Connectors program, a national initiative helping small and mid-sized cities repair the damage caused by divisive and dangerous roads.
With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this program supports locally led efforts to reconnect communities and improve street safety—particularly in neighborhoods harmed by past infrastructure decisions. Across the country, neighborhoods have been split apart by...
By Rachel Ellis • July 25, 2025 Celebrating progress: A closer look at our Community Connectors program Over the past year, our Community Connectors program has helped 15 teams from small and mid-sized cities advance locally driven projects to reconnect their communities that have been divided or harmed by transportation infrastructure.
Our new video features some of the passionate planners, advocates, and city leaders leading these efforts. Hear from members of our cohort who are building campaigns to remove the infrastructure that has damaged their communities and...
By Rachel Ellis • January 7, 2025 How to avoid displacement and four other lessons from our 15 Community Connectors Community Connectors is SGA’s program to help equip leaders in 15 small and mid-sized communities to repair the damage of divisive infrastructure.
A few weeks ago, members from all 15 teams gathered in Washington DC to receive some extra technical assistance on two challenges that had emerged over the last 18 months of the program: 1) How to encourage investment while preventing displacement, and 2) how to engage their communities...
By Rachel Ellis • November 4, 2024 Forging a reconnected future: A National City/Southeast San Diego story Through the Community Connectors Program, advocates from National City/Southeast San Diego (SESD) took the lead in convening a robust community conversation to advance reconnecting their community.
Caltrans, Mundo Gardens, Urban Collaborative Project, and Smart Growth America staff stand together at the site of a Community Connectors project. Across the US in the past few years, there has been growing conversation about the impacts and implications of highways that were /...
By Benito Pérez • November 5, 2024 Request for proposals: Event photographer and videographer Smart Growth America (SGA) is seeking an experienced professional or team of professionals to use photography and videography to capture an upcoming event on October 17-18 in Washington, DC and produce a short narrative video afterward. Please submit proposals to Elisa Ramirez ( [email protected] ) by September 20.
About Smart Growth America Smart Growth America (SGA) is a national non-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing equitable, sustainable land use, development, and...
By Rachel Ellis • September 11, 2024 Request for proposals: Event photographer and videographer Smart Growth America (SGA) is seeking an experienced professional or team of professionals to use photography and videography to capture an upcoming event on October 17-18 in Washington, DC and produce a short narrative video afterward. Please submit proposals to Elisa Ramirez ( [email protected] ) by September 20.
About Smart Growth America Smart Growth America (SGA) is a national non-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing equitable, sustainable land use, development, and...
By Rachel Ellis • September 11, 2024 Rays of hope: National City & Southeast San Diego's Community Connectors story After many decades of being divided by highways, community members in National City, CA are building capacity to reconnect their community in a project that will also acknowledge their community’s heritage and future.
Community members in National City, CA doing a land acknowledgement ceremony on land they are reclaiming from a highway to a community park. (Mundo Gardens) The National City Southeast Greenspace Corridor Project is receiving support from...
By Benito Pérez • May 22, 2024 Connecting community infrastructure projects through technical assistance and capacity building This post was authored by Madlyn McAuliffe, communications manager for NUMO, with support from Justyn Huckleberry (NUMO) and Harriet Tregoning (NUMO). NUMO is a partner on Smart Growth America's Community Connectors grant program.
When you hear “infrastructure,” most people naturally think of the physical built environment — roads, bridges, buildings. There’s a lot less emphasis on other kinds of infrastructure that are equally as important, like civic infrastructure. Civic infrastructure...
By Guest Contributor • March 28, 2024 Community Connectors kickoff: Six key takeaways from our convening in Atlanta Last month, more than 100 participants from the 15 communities selected to participate in the Community Connectors program convened in Atlanta to start building trust and relationships, plan out the scopes for the capacity-building grants they're receiving from this 18-month program, and lay the groundwork for their ambitious projects to reconnect their communities.
The Community Connectors is a program to support leaders in small and mid-sized communities—in and... By Eric Cova • December 12, 2023 Announcing the inaugural Community Connectors program participants! The Community Connectors program offers technical support and funding for communities working to repair the damage of divisive infrastructure in an effort to reconnect communities.
The new Community Connectors program is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted in partnership with Equitable Cities, the New Urban Mobility Alliance, and America Walks. Smart Growth America has selected 15 community-focused projects to participate in the new Community Connectors program which...
By Eric Cova • September 15, 2023 Community Connectors grant program | Applications Closed Our new Community Connectors grant program will help advance locally driven projects that will reconnect communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure and tap available federal and state funds to support them.
Removing divisive infrastructure is largely uncharted territory in the United States, but the need to fix the damage it has caused is imperative. Transportation infrastructure like divisive highways and dangerous arterial roads often separates and harms the...
By Eric Cova • May 23, 2023 Community Connectors spotlight: Reimagining Little Rock's historic Black business corridor Community Connectors brings city staff and community organizations together to repair divisive infrastructure through quick-build demonstration projects.
These case studies share the experiences of participants in the 2025-2026 program, highlighting the historical background, local challenges, and community partnerships that shaped their project development and implementation. Read about the project on West Ninth Street in Little Rock, AR, with studioMAIN. West Ninth Street was once the heart of Black life in...
By Raveena John • July 13, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Reclaiming East Towson's story and street safety Community Connectors brings city staff and community organizations together to repair divisive infrastructure through quick-build demonstration projects.
These case studies share the experiences of participants in the 2025-2026 program, highlighting the historical background, local challenges, and community partnerships that shaped their project development and implementation. Read about the project along Towsontown Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue in Baltimore County, MD, with the Northeast Towson Improvement Association of Historic East Towson. Historic...
By Raveena John • July 13, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Reconnecting Akron neighborhoods to their waterfront Community Connectors brings city staff and community organizations together to repair divisive infrastructure through quick-build demonstration projects.
These case studies share the experiences of participants in the 2025-2026 program, highlighting the historical background, local challenges, and community partnerships that shaped their project development and implementation. Read about the project along Lakeshore Boulevard in Akron, OH, with the Summit Lake Community Development Corporation. Where waterfronts once attracted heavy industry and waste...
By Raveena John • July 13, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Dylan Garritano, city planner in Akron, OH SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports teams in three small and mid-sized communities as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety outcomes, and advance lasting community reconnections.
The program centers collaboration by bringing together community-based organizations with local government partners in learning sessions and hands-on workshops for quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading...
By Raveena John • April 22, 2026 Community Connectors spotlight: Maneesh Krishnan, Director of Public Works in Little Rock, AR SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports teams in three small and mid-sized communities as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety outcomes, and advance lasting community reconnections.
The program centers collaboration by bringing together community-based organizations with local government partners in learning sessions and hands-on workshops for quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. This blog series highlights participants leading the work,...
By Raveena John • April 8, 2026 Quick builds in action: Testing safer streets with Community Connectors in Little Rock, AR We love supporting quick-build demonstration projects, but it’s not every day we get to install one ourselves!
With the guidance of Better Block, the SGA team and this year’s Community Connectors participants got to try our hands at rolling out the tape, pouring the paint, and getting our hands dirty while reimagining a street in Little Rock, AR. This iteration of Community Connectors is supporting three teams to repair dangerous...
By Raveena John • February 13, 2026 Community Connectors participant spotlight: Joe Tucker SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports three teams as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety, and advance lasting community reconnections.
By pairing community-based organizations with local government partners, the program centers collaboration through learning sessions, hands-on workshops, and quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading this work, offering a glimpse into how their...
By Raveena John • January 15, 2026 Community Connectors participant spotlight: Ernest Banks SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports three teams as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety, and advance lasting community reconnections.
By pairing community-based organizations with local government partners, the program centers collaboration through learning sessions, hands-on workshops, and quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading this work, offering a glimpse into how their...
By Raveena John • January 15, 2026 Community Connectors participant spotlight: Nancy Goldring SGA’s Community Connectors is a year-long program that supports three teams as they work to repair divisive infrastructure, improve safety, and advance lasting community reconnections.
By pairing community-based organizations with local government partners, the program centers collaboration through learning sessions, hands-on workshops, and quick-build demonstration projects. At its core, Community Connectors is about people. Our new blog series highlights the participants leading this work, offering a glimpse into how their...
By Raveena John • January 15, 2026 Celebrating progress: A closer look at our Community Connectors program Our Community Connectors program is a capacity-building program that supports 15 teams from small to mid-sized cities to with reconnecting communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure.
In our new video, some of the passionate planners, advocates, and city leaders in our cohort share about their work advancing locally driven projects aimed at reconnecting communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure. Whether it's preventing displacement or creating more equitable opportunities...
By Rachel Ellis • December 17, 2025 Informational webinar: Community Connectors 2 Divisive roadways have left lasting scars in communities across the country—separating neighborhoods, limiting access, and deepening inequities. Our Community Connectors program helps small and mid-sized communities take meaningful first steps to heal those divisions.
In this informational webinar, learn more about the program, its goals, and how your community can apply. We cover: Why we focus on divisive roadways and how our approach differs from large-scale highway teardowns The role...
By Rachel Ellis • December 17, 2025 Three communities selected to learn about and design quick-build demonstration projects With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Smart Growth America’s Community Connectors program will support three city teams in repairing divisive infrastructure, improving safety on local arterial roads, and sparking the long-term partnerships and support necessary for making permanent reconnections.
We're excited to announce the three communities who were chosen to participate in Community Connectors, our year-long program that will support city leaders and community-based organizations with implementing quick-build...
By Raveena John • September 30, 2025 Reconnecting Harrisonburg, VA Harrisonburg, Virginia was selected for a previous round of the Community Connectors program where 15 communities received capacity building subgrants and wraparound technical assistance to develop and advance ambitious projects to restore the damage of past infrastructure decisions.
One of Harrisonburg’s final projects (a temporary demonstration project) helped inspire this year’s specific focus on divisive or dangerous roadways. The city-led Harrisonburg team came in with a project proposal to reimagine...
By Steve Davis • July 24, 2025 Call for applications for the Community Connectors program Smart Growth America is now accepting applications for the second round of our Community Connectors program, a national initiative helping small and mid-sized cities repair the damage caused by divisive and dangerous roads.
With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this program supports locally led efforts to reconnect communities and improve street safety—particularly in neighborhoods harmed by past infrastructure decisions. Across the country, neighborhoods have been split apart by...
By Rachel Ellis • July 25, 2025 Celebrating progress: A closer look at our Community Connectors program Over the past year, our Community Connectors program has helped 15 teams from small and mid-sized cities advance locally driven projects to reconnect their communities that have been divided or harmed by transportation infrastructure.
Our new video features some of the passionate planners, advocates, and city leaders leading these efforts. Hear from members of our cohort who are building campaigns to remove the infrastructure that has damaged their communities and...
By Rachel Ellis • January 7, 2025 How to avoid displacement and four other lessons from our 15 Community Connectors Community Connectors is SGA’s program to help equip leaders in 15 small and mid-sized communities to repair the damage of divisive infrastructure.
A few weeks ago, members from all 15 teams gathered in Washington DC to receive some extra technical assistance on two challenges that had emerged over the last 18 months of the program: 1) How to encourage investment while preventing displacement, and 2) how to engage their communities...
By Rachel Ellis • November 4, 2024 Forging a reconnected future: A National City/Southeast San Diego story Through the Community Connectors Program, advocates from National City/Southeast San Diego (SESD) took the lead in convening a robust community conversation to advance reconnecting their community.
Caltrans, Mundo Gardens, Urban Collaborative Project, and Smart Growth America staff stand together at the site of a Community Connectors project. Across the US in the past few years, there has been growing conversation about the impacts and implications of highways that were /...
By Benito Pérez • November 5, 2024 Request for proposals: Event photographer and videographer Smart Growth America (SGA) is seeking an experienced professional or team of professionals to use photography and videography to capture an upcoming event on October 17-18 in Washington, DC and produce a
According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Teams from cities and towns across America, including local leaders in and out of government, focused on projects that reconnect communities separated or harmed by transportation infrastructure. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows up to $130,000. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Community Connectors Grant Program is funded by Smart Growth America (with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Equitable Cities, New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) and America Walks). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
Beyond the headline housing and science cuts, the FY2027 budget would eliminate DOJ state/local law enforcement grants, EPA clean water revolving funds, FEMA disaster preparedness, EDA economic development, NTIA digital equity, and more. The complete analysis for local government grant seekers.
Read articleCandid launched a DAF-versus-foundation grantmaking dashboard on September 21, DAFgiving360 crossed $10 billion in a single fiscal year, and the 2026 DAF Fundraising Report found median DAF revenue up 75 percent against 12 percent for everything else. For a grants-driven nonprofit, that growth is arriving through a channel a proposal cannot reach.
Read articleThe Gates Foundation committed at least $1 billion over two years to equitable AI alongside its 10th Goalkeepers Report — 40% education, 40% health, 10% agriculture, 10% digital infrastructure. Five days later, 60 organizations signed a five-year goal to reach 3.4 billion speakers of underrepresented languages. Here is how implementing nonprofits should read both.
Read article