Call for Participation

Green Communities Initiative

On September 28, 2004, the Enterprise Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council launched the Green Communities Initiative, a five-year, $550 million commitment to build more than 8,500 environmentally friendly affordable homes across the U.S. The initiative will offer financing, grants and technical assistance to developers to build affordable housing that promotes health, conserves energy and natural resources, and provides easy access to jobs, schools and services. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to transform the way Americans think about, locate, design, and build affordable homes.

To assist them in identifying potential projects, building the capacity of local housing providers, and raising public awareness of the benefits of healthy housing in "green" communities, Enterprise and NRDC have turned to the American Planning Association, American Institute of Architects, Global Green USA, and the National Center for Healthy Housing.

Major funding for the initiative is being provided by corporate, financial, and philanthropic organizations, including Bank of America, Blue Moon Fund, BP America, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, The Home Depot Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, The Kresge Foundation, Merrill Lynch Community Development Company, M&T Bank, and Washington Mutual.

Click here to read more about the initiative

What can APA members do?

The Enterprise Foundation is seeking applicants for its first round of grants. APA members can:

• Click here to familiarize themselves with the initiative's criteria and application process
• Share this information with both nonprofit and for-profit developers of affordable housing that will meet the community's goals for healthy, sustainable neighborhoods.
• Encourage those developers to apply to the Green Communities Initiative.
• Work with recipients of GCI planning and design grants to produce healthy housing that is properly sited, relates well to its surroundings, and is supported by a functioning neighborhood.
• Raise awareness within the community of the benefits of green, affordable housing and advocate for local, state, and federal policies that will support it.
• Check back to this site for news of tools to use in all these efforts.
• Celebrate successes!

Priority projects

During the initial phase of this multi-year initiative — from November 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005 — the Enterprise Foundation is particularly interested in receiving applications for the following:

• Projects that are scheduled to close and begin construction in the next six months. This is a priority to help ensure the timely investment of project financing that has been committed to the program.

• Rental housing projects that have allocations under the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. (GCI grantees will agree to give Enterprise the opportunity to make the last bid on tax credit projects, to ensure that projects get the highest possible yield from investors.)

• Single family construction programs selling at least 10 homes a year, or single projects containing 10 homes or more.

For a step-by-step description of the inquiry and application process, as well as more detail on priorities, eligibility requirements for grants, loans, and equity, and helpful resources, see "Information for Practitioners" at: www.enterprisefoundation.org/resources/green/index.asp.