6 communities selected to receive free technical assistance

WASHINGTON, June 5 -- Forterra and the Building Sustainable Communities Consortium announced this week that the City of Issaquah is one of six Washington communities receiving free technical assistance this year from Forterra (formerly Cascade Land Conservancy) thanks to a grant from the US EPA Office of Sustainable Communities under its Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program.

The six communities—Issaquah, Federal Way, the Makah Tribe, Kirkland, the Quinault Indian Nation and Tukwila—were selected for their strong commitment to sustainability and smart growth and a readiness to implement positive change by making use of the assistance the Consortium is offering. They exhibited the strongest interest in and need for assistance in making their communities more sustainable and clearly demonstrated a commitment from local business, community and political leaders to implement solutions.

The technical assistance will be tailored to the needs identified by each community and will consist of consist of workshops, policy analysis, stakeholder engagement and policy recommendations.  It will help these communities attract growth, protect the environment, improve public health, facilitate job creation and economic opportunity and improve overall quality of life.

“Forterra is excited to work with a Consortium of partners to lend our expertise to communities,” said Alison Van Gorp, Forterra Communities Policy Director. “This opportunity advances Forterra’s goal to help communities here in Washington enhance their livability, quality of life, economic vibrancy and affordability.”

Forterra’s work is guided by The Cascade and Olympic Agendas, long-range action plans for the health and sustainability of the economies, communities and lands in the Central Cascades region and Olympic Peninsula. The Agendas hinge on the understanding that when we have great communities in which people chose to live, work and raise their families, we can help conserve our great wild and working lands from sprawl.

The Building Sustainable Communities Consortium includes Forterra (formerly Cascade Land Conservancy), Greenbelt Alliance, Envision Minnesota and the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance. US EPA’s Building Blocks program funds quick, targeted assistance to communities that face common development problems. Three other nonprofit organizations—Smart Growth America, Global Green USA and Project for Public Spaces—also received competitively awarded grants under this program this year to help communities get the kinds of development they want.