The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Sustainable Communities has recently released the Smart Growth Self-Assessment for Rural Communities, a compilation of strategies, organized by 11 common “goal areas,” that towns and small cities can use to evaluate their existing policies to create healthy, environmentally resilient, and economically robust places.  This self-assessment helps communities identify gaps in their policies, plans, codes, and zoning regulations by asking a series of “Yes” or “No” questions.  This self-assessment tool is broad and interdisciplinary.  Each section focuses on a specific set of issues and will likely require input from multiple parts of the local government, as well as from community residents and other stakeholders.  Click here for more information and to download the tool.