Skip to main content
Black Female Speaking in Meeting
Toolkit

Guidelines for Equitable Community Involvement in Building & Development Projects and Policies

Black Female Speaking in Meeting

Justice and Equity in Development

The CESBS Initiative brings together organizations and individuals from the fields of environmental justice, architecture, energy, affordable housing, transportation, economic development, higher education, sustainability, and more to develop and implement a multi-faceted action plan that universalizes access to sustainable, healthy, regenerative building design for all of the places where we live, learn, work, and play.

Key emphases are on bridging the divide for Black and brown communities for whom, because of historic environmental racism, structures are more likely to be unhealthy, energy inefficient, and disaster vulnerable, as well as on ensuring that these communities play key roles in the sectors leading on advancing transformation. 

Guidelines for Equitable Community Involvement in Building & Development Projects and Policies

Developed by members of the Centering Equity in the Sustainable Building Sector (CESBS) Initiative, NAACP's Guidelines for Equitable Community Involvement in Building & Development Projects and Policies is a deep toolkit of explainers, principles, tips and tactics for everyone seeking to bring justice and equity to buildings and development.

Black Female Leading Presentation in Meeting

Community Engagement to Ownership

The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership, developed by Rosa Gonzalez of Facilitating Power, charts a pathway to strengthen and transform our local democracies. The NAACP CESBS Initiative calls for all projects to strive for community ownership on this spectrum of community participation.

View the guidelines