Main Street America (MSA) has published a new toolkit of transportation-related resources. MSA and other partners developed the materials through the technical assistance projects supported in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Thriving Communities Program. The National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Research Foundation worked with the MSA team to support 16 rural and small town communities.
Toolkit Contents
The Thriving Communities Toolkit resources are organized around five core activities: Discover opportunities; Build a team; Develop a project; Get it financed; and Activate & manage infrastructure. Each section contains clickable links with more information and direct access to tools that support transportation and placemaking. In addition, “pro tip” sections offer practical advice. The toolkit also contains “Thriving Communities Moments” that describe how communities in the program moved a transportation effort forward.
NADO developed several resources to support transportation planning and community and economic development efforts through this program. These tools include a project intake form that community leaders can use to share project details with their regional planning commission. NADO also created a partner mapping template to identify and track entities with a stake in a new transportation effort. A gap-to-resource tracking template assists communities and regions with linking their needs to potential funding or technical assistance opportunities. A benefit-cost analysis tool simplifies the process to calculate this commonly required grant application element.
