Thriving Communities in Action

In its inaugural year, USDOT funded four National Capacity Builder Teams to support 64 communities across the United States through the FY 2022 Thriving Communities Program (TCP). A wide variety of technical assistance, planning, and capacity building work is being supported that reflects the diversity of these places. Communities are already seeing the impacts of this support. 

See the snapshots below for examples of the progress being made in communities to date, including work in:

• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
• Upper Kanawha Valley, WV
• Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, WA
• Detroit, MI
• West Baltimore, MD
• City of York, AL
• San Antonio, TX

In late November 2023, DOT hosted the first Thriving Communities Program Convening, which gathered nearly 350 people representing 62 of the FY 2022 communities in addition to federal staff and FY 2022 Capacity Builders at DOT Headquarters in Washington D.C. The Convening included plenary sessions on the interagency Thriving Communities Network, meaningful public involvement, community wealth building and workforce development, and housing. Capacity Builders also facilitated focused break-out sessions with their communities. Read more about the Convening and find more information about the FY 2022 Thriving Communities Capacity Builders and communities. 

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe spans the northern Great Plains. The people of Standing Rock, often called Sioux, are members of the Dakota and Lakota nations. “Dakota” and “Lakota” mean “friends” or “allies.” The Tribe is one of the poorest across the country and has faced staggering social challenges.

In March 2024, six federal agencies, numerous State partner agencies, tribal council members, community residents, Tribal leaders and elders came together to kick off the work supported by the Thriving Communities Program. During the site visit, community residents and tribal elders shared openly about the complex challenges they face, from lack of mental health services and housing shortages to overall safety, health, and quality of life concerns.

Dangerous road conditions on state highways and local roads, many of which are managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, contribute to disproportionately high traffic fatalities and accidents in the community. Public transportation options are very limited. Tribal leaders are working to address these needs. Providing safer options for tribal members to bike, walk and commute safely within and between communities is a key priority.

The Main Streets America (MSA) capacity builder team is providing Standing Rock technical assistance support as part of the Thriving Communities Program (TCP), including grant consultation support, project identification and prioritization, and strategic planning. As part of this work, MSA has helped the Tribe advance key transportation infrastructure projects, supported an SS4A Grant application, and creation of a future project database. Additionally, TCP is supporting the tribe on implementation of projects awarded as part of RAISE discretionary grants in 2022 and 2023, which will fund reconstruction and resurfacing of BIA 6 and BIA Route 3. TCP is also closely coordinating with the FHWA North Dakota Division to explore funding for a New Oahe/Missouri River Crossing bridge concept, which can help expand commerce, jobs, and economic opportunity in the tourism and marina industries. 

The Thriving Communities Network (TCN) has also helped deepen state and federal partnerships across the community. In addition to leveraging support across DOT operating administrations, TCN federal partners HUD, USDA, and HHS were present to engage on issues such as housing, health, and infrastructure challenges. Recently, HUD had a follow up visit with the Tribal Housing Authority regarding opportunities to address critical housing repairs and improvements. Additionally, the Tribe has engaged USDA in exploratory conversations on potential bioeconomy opportunities. 

Upper Kanawha Valley, WV

The Upper Kanawha Valley Strategic Initiative Council in West Virginia is collaborating with the cities of Montgomery and Smithers, along with other public and non-profit organizations partners, to strategically plan for infrastructure improvements that address regional needs and create good paying jobs for local residents. 

The “River Cities” of Smithers and Montgomery are in the Upper Kanawha Valley region of West Virginia, approximately 30 miles southeast of the state capital, and positioned on opposite banks of the Kanawha River. These historic cities developed around the coal industry, providing jobs, along with a sense of identity and community cohesion. As the coal industry contracted, these cities and surrounding region experienced significant job losses, economic downturns, and population decline. 

The population in Montgomery is younger with over 80% under the age of 65. In Smithers, 46.7% of the population is over the age of 65. Here, the community struggles to find people to fill jobs that are needed to support the aging population. In both communities the majority of the population is white and over 23% are living below the poverty line. Economic development and business attraction, specifically in technological fields to attract young people is being sought. Both cities are also interested in improving recreational opportunities along the riverfront, including bicycle and pedestrian trails, to improve the regional economy and local tourism. 

Past promises of economic revival or diversification have gone unfulfilled, leading to skepticism about future commitments and a general mistrust that things may change, making it difficult to mobilize residents around economic development planning and decision-making processes. Public trust has been further undermined by the perceived lack of transparency and communication about government decisions made without community input. Thriving Communities support has led to strategic coordination with local stakeholders and partners, including West Virginia State University, in identifying grant opportunities and leveraging institutional resources.

Through the Thriving Communities Program (TCP), The Ray’s capacity builder team is providing technical assistance to Smithers and Montgomery focused on expanding existing staff capacity and improving competitiveness to federal grant opportunities. As part of this work, The Ray is working to identify strategic grant funding resources to revitalize dilapidated and vacant buildings, modernize infrastructure, and improve public transportation options to reach essential destinations, including school, medical and health care services.

Montgomery and Smithers are also exploring opportunities to improve railroad safety, including FRA’s Railroad Crossing Elimination grant program. A primary goal is to prevent collisions, injuries, and fatalities on and around railroad tracks, particularly to improve student access to school. Through TCP support, Smithers has started coordinated with the Federal Railroad Administration and local stakeholders to establish safer rail crossing access on land slated for potential economic development.

Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe of Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation, Washington

The Shoalwater Bay Tribe, located along the Pacific Coast in Washington, faces serious issues related to flooding and erosion, access to and from the reservation, and a severe housing shortage. In recent years, extreme weather and flooding events have repeatedly cut off access to and from the Shoalwater Bay via Washington State Highway 105, creating serious safety and welfare concerns. Sizable portions of Tribal lands have been washed into the ocean. Additionally, due to the housing shortage, many members of the Tribe are unable to live on the reservation. 

For more than two decades, the Shoalwater Bay Tribe has been working to implement a relocation plan. Land available for development is limited, but Tribal lands have been secured further inland on mountainous terrain and significant infrastructure development is needed to support relocation. In 2023, Shoalwater Bay was awarded a $6 million Indian Block Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to build the first set of homes, and USDOT awarded the tribe a $24 million RAISE grant for the construction of the road upland. A new tsunami vertical evacuation tower in Tokeland, built by the Shoalwater Tribe, was constructed in 2022. The Tribe has also partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work to restore and protect cultural lands, ecologically significant wetlands, and endangered species. 

A significant part of the support provided by Thriving Communities Program (TCP) Capacity Builder Team, led by National Main Street America, will be focused on development of a Master Plan to align the various grants and technical assistance that the Tribe has already received. TCP will play a key role in bringing together federal agency partners to continue interagency coordination efforts and to leverage additional support and resources for Shoalwater Bay. A site visit in February 2024 brought together six federal agencies, several state and local agencies, and Tribal leaders committed to the relocation upland project.

Detroit, Michigan

Southwest Detroit, a majority Latino community, is the area of focus for Thriving Communities Program support. The Livernois Intermodal Freight Terminal (shared by CSX, NS, and Conrail railroads), the Port of Detroit, and the Detroit Truck Ferry are all located here. The freight infrastructure of Southwest Detroit is woven together through its freeway, arterial, and neighborhood street network, all frequented by round-the-clock heavy truck traffic, including on residential streets. Frequent truck traffic causes negative health and safety impacts ranging from increased exposure to accidents, higher air pollution, noise, foundation-damaging vibration, and deteriorated right-of-way infrastructure not designed for heavy vehicles.

The Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal (DIFT) Project is an initiative focused on constructing and expanding an intermodal freight facility in Southwest Detroit, facilitating the seamless transfer of freight between trucks and trains. The DIFT Project will support the economic competitiveness of southeastern Michigan and the state by improving freight transportation opportunities and efficiencies for business and industry. The city has prioritized mitigating impacts of truck traffic on neighborhoods located in the southwest area with an aim to provide long-term solutions. Detroit is also striving to secure funding for transportation infrastructure and rail crossing projects.

The Thriving Communities Program is providing technical support, led by MZC Foundation, Inc., for transportation planning to improve efficiency and mitigate community impact of rail and freight movement in Southwest Detroit by assisting the city in developing a vision and comprehensive plan for the DIFT 2.0 plan including potential community impacts associated with the Gordie Howe International Bridge Project and other notable freight projects. The TCP technical support will also facilitate collaboration between stakeholders, including the community-based organizations, local authorities, and relevant state agencies to ensure a cohesive and coordinated approach to infrastructure development.  

In October 2023, the non-governmental organization Communities First Fund held a regional convening in Detroit, bringing together federal, state, and local agencies and philanthropic leaders to discuss federal funding opportunities and support for communities. In January 2024 USDOT and the Kresge Foundation entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate and share information about their respective technical assistance programs to leverage assistance in Southwest Detroit. In May 2024, DOT and the Kresge Foundation hosted a Roundtable on Centering Community in Infrastructure Implementation. The two-day convening in Detroit brought together federal, state, and local agency staff and community leaders for a site visit and in-depth discussion and collaboration. It serves as an example of the power of partnerships. The full read-out is here. 

West Baltimore, Maryland

The housing stock in West Baltimore neighborhoods is deteriorating and pedestrian safety is a serious concern for residents, especially on routes children take to reach neighborhood schools and

access the West Baltimore MARC Transit Hub, which includes the West Baltimore MARC Commuter Rail Station. Residents must cross six lanes of traffic on Interstate 40 to access the regional train station. More than 43 percent of households have no vehicle and 21 percent of workers rely on transit to commute to work and access destinations but face hostile walking and biking environments. Poor transit frequency leads to long commute times for many, with the average commute to work taking about 40 minutes. 

Thriving Communities Program support, provided by the WSP USA-led capacity builder team, is focused on assisting the City of Baltimore in engaging neighborhood leaders and organizations in Fayette Street Outreach, Franklin Square, Midtown-Edmondson, and Boyd Booth to enhance safe multimodal access, improve connectivity to transit, and foster transit-oriented development (TOD). Support includes improving coordination with Baltimore agencies to stimulate economic growth and TOD without displacing residents and developing training materials and engagement activities for community leaders focused on activating youth in community revitalization. TCP support is also focused on implementing the existing West Baltimore MARC Station Area Plan and modernizing it to reflect current priorities, needs, and planned projects. Capacity Builders are creating a living matrix of potential funding opportunities the City of Baltimore and community partners can pursue to develop future grant applications for affordable housing and commercial projects.

Planned technical assistance support includes convening community partners to identify specific opportunities to coordinate and engage in broader workforce development efforts associated with major transportation investments being funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including Amtrak’s Frederick Douglass rail tunnel project, which includes the rebuilding of the West Baltimore MARC station; the West Baltimore United Reconnecting Communities planning effort; the East-West Priority Corridor Project RAISE grant project; and the revival of MDOT MTA’s proposed Red Line light rail route to connect West & East Baltimore through the downtown.

City of York, Alabama

The City of York is a majority African American community in west central Alabama with approximately 2,500 residents, situated within Sumter County and within the traditional homeland of the Choctaw Nation and the Black Belt of Alabama. York faces challenges with frequent train crossings causing significant traffic delays, creating safety issues and delaying emergency service response times. Broad Street, which runs through the downtown, sees about 1,700 vehicles daily including lumber, timber, and large industry trucks oftentimes causing damage to the street signage, lighting, and street surfaces. York has also been experiencing job loss, disinvestment, and population decline. The City’s goal is to create an attractive, welcoming pedestrian environment on Broad Street, including new lighting and landscaping, and to reduce railroad crossing barriers and improve safety for all road users.

The Thriving Communities Program Capacity Builder team supporting York, led by Main Street America, is facilitating a community-driven strategy for downtown redevelopment that incorporates current projects and future initiatives to align these efforts with mobility and safety improvements. With the help of Thriving Communities, the Federal Railroad Administration has provided railroad planning technical assistance to help York prepare for upcoming discretionary grant opportunities. 

A February 2024 Thriving Communities site visit convened more than 20 local and regional stakeholders, including local business owners, the housing authority, residents, local non-profits, medical entities, and school representatives. During the site visit, community residents and business owners shared openly about the many issues they face from water quality, broadband connectivity, safety, and overall health and quality of life. The Capacity Builder team will continue work with the city to effectively engage with the community to help inform projects seeking DOT funding and to plan for longer term projects.

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio's future Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) Eastside and Westside Corridor Project is comprised of an approximately 7-mile-long section of roadway that will deliver rapid transit services to San Antonio's Eastside, downtown and Westside, areas that rely heavily on transit as the primary mode of transportation. This transformative project, delivered by VIA Metropolitan Transit (VIA), will also have a broader impact on the communities around the corridor. San Antonio is consistently ranked as one of the most economically segregated major cities in the United States. Communities located along the corridor are concerned about the risk of displacement with the arrival of improved transit infrastructure, making it critical that VIA work with city, regional, and local development partners to ensure there are land use and housing protections and plans in place.

The ART East/West Corridor Project is a recipient of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program. San Antonio’s 2022-2027 Bond Program provided authorization for the City to issue $150 million in bonds to create and preserve affordable housing in multiple categories, with $17 million allocated specifically to San Antonio's Eastside and Westside communities. The entry of VIA's rapid transit project into the FTA CIG program, coupled with the passage of the City's 2022-2027 Bond Program, represents an unprecedented opportunity to leverage both federal and local funds for the betterment of San Antonio's Eastside and Westside communities.

With Thriving Communities Program support, VIA will develop a strategic plan informed by best practices related to urban and infrastructure design, placemaking, transit-oriented development implementation, and anti-displacement strategies. The TCP Capacity Builder team, led by WSP USA, will also support the development of an Engagement Plan that includes a clear framework for meaningfully engaging neighborhood residents, business owners, elected officials and other decision makers within the corridor and across the City. The Engagement Plan will be developed in coordination with the City of San Antonio Neighborhood & Housing Services public information campaign, the Area Foundation’s Reframing Housing Initiative, and the City of San Antonio Department of Human Services communication strategies. Capacity Builders will assist in the development and implementation of an action plan that will identify existing corridor plans for mitigating displacement and identify policies strategies that may require updates, including coordinating with agencies responsible for implementation of those strategies and policies.