As cities and towns adapt to the new era of federal funding, municipal grantmaking, planning and economic development teams are adjusting internal processes and stakeholder engagement to meet the moment while continuing to build a better future for their residents. A key tool that mayors, city and town planners, and grant coordination teams can use to guide investment while navigating evolving federal funding priorities is long range planning. Comprehensive plans, strategic plans and neighborhood master plans — collectively referred to as “long range plans” — can be empowering tools to define a shared vision and support local stewardship. Long range plans typically have a 10-plus-year time horizon and a broad scope, often encompassing a neighborhood, municipality or region. The result is a document with a clear community vision and goals that serve as guidance for long-term investment decisions and local policymaking. These long range plans set the stage for pursuit of future formula funding and competitive grants. By establishing long-term infrastructure goals that grantmakers can use to scope out and secure grant opportunities, long range planning allows cities to be agile when aligned grant opportunities are announced, sometimes with short application windows. Join Accelerator for America’s Mary Ellen Wiederwohl to […]