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Great Communities Collaborative

In the next 25 years, California's San Francisco Bay Area will become home to 1.7 million additional people. Unless the region's current growth patterns change, new development will pave our farmland and hillsides, families will continue to be pushed to the region's outskirts in search of affordable homes, and traffic and air quality will be worsened by lengthy commutes. This outdated pattern of growth threatens the high quality of life that we in the Bay Area take for granted.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Today, we have an opportunity to fundamentally shift the way the region is growing. We can direct new development away from natural areas and working farms, and instead reinvest in existing cities, many of which have been ignored for too long. We can build great communities, with a variety of homes that all residents can afford, close to parks, transportation, shopping and other necessities. We can build vibrant places and protect open spaces.

Regional Strategy

To shift growth patterns across the Bay Area, we need a regional strategy. That is why Greenbelt Alliance has teamed up with other leading organizations as part of the Great Communities Collaborative.

The goal of the Great Communities Collaborative is to usher half of the Bay Area’s new homes into walkable neighborhoods near transit by 2030. These new neighborhoods will be centered around train stations, ferry stations, and bus stops. They will have a mix of jobs, shops, community services, and homes we can all afford. An important part of the goal is to get residents engaged in the planning for these new communities.

The Collaborative members work together to:

• Shape plans for specific neighborhoods in Bay Area communities and encourage residents' participation in planning for those developments.
• Create tools that will help community leaders make better decisions about development across the Bay Area and help citizens better understand, participate in, and influence plans for development.
• Increase funding to help create sustainable and equitable development in the Bay Area.


Partners

The Great Communities Collaborative is a unique cooperative relationship between four Bay Area nonprofit organizations— Greenbelt Alliance, the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California, TransForm, and Urban Habitat—and the national nonprofit Reconnecting America. The East Bay Community Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation are also part of the Collaborative.

To read more about the sites where Collaborative partners are active, go here.

Our Work

The best way to stay up-to-date on the work of the Great Communities Collaborative is by visiting the website frequently. The website offers various tools and resources for anyone who is interested in becoming an advocate for good development around the Bay Area, an overview of the strategies and actions the Collaborative is involved in, and more.

Get Involved

Are you interested in helping create great communities around the Bay Area? Download the Great Communities Toolkit, a comprehensive toolkit designed just for concerned residents who are interested in becoming advocates for good development.

To reach out to the Collaborative about opportunities to get involved across the region, contact Sandra Padilla, Land Use Program Director at TransForm at(510)740-3150 ext. 304
or by e-mail.