About

The Vermont Department of Health (VDH) is partnering with the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to implement a Health Equity and Community Design Technical Assistance (TA) Pilot. The TA Pilot will provide extra capacity and resources to communities to develop healthy community design and placemaking plans, ideas, and projects that center on equity. The TA will be available to all eligible communities to help advance healthy community design and health equity projects. The TA Pilot will also help prepare communities that are interested in, but not yet ready to apply for, DHCDs Better Places placemaking grants.

The TA Pilot consultant team is comprised of Vermont and national experts led by Equitable Cities and Health Forward, LLC. The team has a range of backgrounds and expertise who are available to provide up to 80 hours of specialized, on-demand support to Vermont communities to help develop and advance healthy community design and placemaking plans, ideas, and projects, that center on equity.

For the purposes of this project, communities are defined broadly. Municipalities, nonprofits, volunteer groups can be considered for TA. The communities must have a focus on historically marginalized and underrepresented groups including racial and ethnic minority populations and rural communities. These groups include, but are not limited to people of color, indigenous peoples, refugees and English language learners, LGBTQ+, people experiencing homelessness, Vermonters who are justice-involved, people living with disabilities and people living in rural communities.