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As cities across the nation and the world move to green their practices, an urgent need has emerged for a centralized repository of information including best practices, research findings, and legislation examples. That’s why Full Circle Fund selected Green Cities California (GCC), a collaborative of 11 of the most environmentally progressive jurisdictions in the state, as an Environment/Energy Circle grant partner in 2008. Their goal was to create an interactive, easily accessible, free online repository of best practices in sustainability policy that cities and counties can download and adapt for their communities. We are excited to announce that www.greencitiescalifornia.org launches today!

When Full Circle Fund’s Project Team, including Jack Oswald, Josh Becker, Victoria Lavi and Marc Thibault began working with GCC, it was poised to create a website to provide easy accessibility to the highest bar of sustainability policies and programs in the country, but needed financial and other support to make this vision a reality.

Together, Full Circle Fund’s team and GCC have created a web-based “Sustainable City Toolkit” which provides easy accessibility to the policy documents, performance measures, media outreach tools, etc., that any jurisdiction might need to accelerate their journey to sustainability. The website is filling a critical need since the adoption of local environmental policies has a profound impact on environmental protection, and a well-crafted local ordinance can help shape state policy; however the development of such legislation is exceedingly time-consuming. Large cities, which often operate independently, may unknowingly duplicate the efforts of others. Many small cities don’t have the staff to support the research and development involved in creating environmental policies. Now, they can access this new resource.

The site’s content was created and is maintained by GCC member cities. Its Best Practices are organized around the seven categories of the Urban Environmental Accords: Energy, Waste Reduction, Urban Design, Urban Nature, Transportation, Environmental Health and Water.

Full Circle Fund’s team has provided GCC not just funding but significant strategic support, marketing, consulting development, networking and technical assistance to help GCC with the development of the website. What sets the website apart is the ability to upload legislation, and other key resources staff and policymakers need to justify and directly implement new policy, including the document itself (ordinance, resolution or executive order), staff reports, background research, legal analysis, and outreach and educational materials. The goal is to ensure the rapid spread of those best practices and speed up the implementation of sound environmental policies in cities and counties around the state, and ultimately drive state and federal programs.

Posted in Victoria Lavi, Marc Thibault, Green Cities, Jack Oswald, Josh Becker, environment, grantees