East Providence, RI: Why Your Town Feels Broke
Strong Towns and the Finance Decoder
Neighbors Welcome RI, in partnership with national experts, is offering a series of trainings that will dig into how housing impacts local communities. These trainings are open to all, but will be most valuable to Rhode Island public servants serving as elected or appointed leaders at the local level.
Part 2: Why Your Town Feels Broke: Strong Towns and the Finance Decoder
In Partnership with Strong Towns
*If this event is cost-prohibitive, please reach out to [email protected] for scholarship information.
*AICP members can earn 3 Certification Maintenance (CM) credits for this activity. More information about AICP’s CM program can be found at planning.org/cm.
Your community may be growing. New development is going up, tax revenue is coming in, and public investment is happening. So why does it still feel like there’s never enough money to maintain the streets, pipes, parks, and other basic services your town already has?
In “Why Your Town Feels Broke,” Strong Towns’ John Reuter will unpack the often-confusing math behind local government finance and show how the way we build our communities shapes their financial future. He’ll explore why growth can make a city look prosperous in the short term while creating long-term obligations that become increasingly difficult to afford.
Along the way, you’ll get an introduction to some of the core ideas behind the Strong Towns approach: understanding the relationship between development and public infrastructure, recognizing the difference between growth and lasting prosperity, and asking better questions about the investments communities make.
Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all prescription, this presentation will give you a practical way to understand your town’s finances, recognize the tradeoffs behind local decisions, and identify small, achievable steps that can help your community become stronger over time.
Neighbors Welcome! RI is A Grassroots Network of Neighbors Advocating for More Homes. We imagine a future in which all of our friends, family, and neighbors can find the housing they need in the Ocean State.
Strong Towns seeks to replace America’s postwar pattern of development, the Suburban Experiment, with a pattern of development that is financially strong and resilient. They advocate for cities of all sizes to be safe, livable and inviting, and work to elevate local government to be the highest level of collaboration for people working together in a place, not merely the lowest level in a hierarchy of governments.
Local Return builds community wealth in Rhode Island through ownership and investment, particularly in neighborhoods that have experienced historical disinvestment.
