This week TheDirectTransfer.com celebrated its first full month of service

The Surdna Foundation is developing a Sustainable Environments Storybank, the focus of which is to feature innovative ways to update infrastructure and foster healthy, sustainable and just communities. In this vein, Surdna has asked Reconnecting America and other Surdna grantees to contribute real-life stories about the green economy and sustainable infrastructure.

Visit the Are We There Yet? home The previous chapters on living, working and moving do not, of course, sum up all the things Americans need in order to thrive. We also need exercise and clean air, safe neighborhoods, good schools and quality childcare, healthy and affordable food, parks, shops, arts and culture — and a “built environment” in which all of this is available to people regardless of age or income or whether they can drive. but if indeed the “quality of human capital” is a key indicator of whether regions and the U.S. as a whole will be able to compete in the global economy — as discussed in the economist Intelligence Unit report at the beginning of the Working chapter — then we also need to invest in human development, an essential element of thriving. This point was persuasively made by the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a national community development finance institution that serves as…

In Are We There Yet?, Reconnecting America explains that one measure of Complete Communities is healthy outcomes that see reduced incidences of diabetes, less obesity and a more active populace.

A trio of reports have been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

The federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities has launched of the Sustainable Community Case Study database. This online resource provides access to research and reports on communities that are working with HUD, DOT, EPA, and other Federal agencies to invest in transportation, affordable housing, and environmental protection.

A 2007 study that estimates the impact that a healthy lifestyle that includes light rail transit ridership will have on health care costs has been added to the Resource Center's best practices database.

A May, 2012, report on promoting active transportion -- walking, biking -- commissioned by Kaiser Permanente Colorado has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.