Smart Growth California

Events

Equitably Reconnecting Communities: Lessons from a Multi-Year Investment in People and Place

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Dates/Time
September 9, 2026
10:00 am


Equitably Reconnecting Communities: Lessons from a Multi-Year Investment in People and Place

Register Here

What does it take to put community at the center of multi-year efforts to rethink our transportation infrastructure and redress its harms? And how can lessons from one place inform and strengthen work happening in communities across the country?

Join us for a conversation about a three-year, $10M investment by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 15 small and mid-size cities working to forge a new path to equitably reconnecting communities.

We’ll be joined by the foundation investor, the initiative’s learning and strategy partner, and community leaders who have been deeply involved in this work. We will hear stories about lessons learned from cities like Durham, NC, National City, CA and Trenton, NJ.

Together, we’ll explore what these experiences reveal about building equitable partnerships around large, systems-level projects, including:

  • Honoring community self-determination
  • Building lasting trust between funders and communities 
  • Respecting community timelines
  • Creating space for communities to shape the future of their neighborhood

This conversation will be especially relevant for funders working across health equity, environmental and economic justice, and place-based funders.

Join us to learn from this multi-year investment and explore concrete lessons for funders looking to support community-led change, strengthen cross-community learning and invest in more equitable approaches to transforming places and systems.

Featured Speakers

  • James Hardy, Senior Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 
  • Dr. Adonia Lugo, Sr. Advisor, Equivolve
  • Naomi Doerner, Sr. Advisor, Equivolve

This webinar is co-sponsored by The Funders Network and Health and Environmental Funders Network. 

Accessibility & Accommodations 

TFN is committed to making our events accessible to all participants. Please let us know what accommodations you require.

If you have any questions about accessibility accommodations, please reach out to Hazel Paguaga  at hazel@fundersnetwork.org or 786-309-9029.