When I was first elected to the Richmond City Council, former Mayor Rosemary Corbin advised me to become active in the Local Government Commission (LGC), a statewide nonprofit supporting local elected officials – city council members and county supervisors. It was the best advice I ever received.

The LGC grew out of the Office of Appropriate Technology in the first Jerry Brown Administration. It was disbanded by Brown’s successor, George Deukmejian, but instead of scattering, the staff formed a nonprofit led by Judy Corbett and called it the Local Government Commission. The governing board consisted of local elected officials, and the organization became a champion of what later became known as smart growth and new urbanism. In 1991, the board of the Local Government Commission adopted The Ahwahnee Principals, which paved the way for the Smart Growth movement and New Urbanism. These principles provided a blueprint for elected officials to create compact, mixed-use, walkable, transit-oriented developments in their local communities. Cities and counties across the nation have adopted them to break the cycle of sprawl.

Since then, the Ahwahnee Principles for Economic Development in 1997, the Ahwahnee Water Principles in 2005, and the Ahwahnee Principles for Climate Change in 2008 have been developed to complement this pioneering vision. Download the Ahwahnee Principles for Resource-Efficient Communities Fact Sheet PDF.

After attending several years of annual conferences sponsored by the LGC, I was asked to join the board of directors, on which I still serve, including two years as chair.

The City of Richmond has partnered with LGC for many grants involving projects and programs over the years, including the Richmond Pedestrian Plan and First Mile/Last Mile Transportation Strategic Plan. Richmond became the first expansion city outside Marin County for MCE Clean Energy as a result of a presentation I attended at an LGC conference in 2012.

This week, we held our first in-person board meeting and retreat since COVID-19 arrived in early 2020. The Local Government Commission is on the cusp of commemorating four decades of inspiring, connecting, and cultivating local elected officials in the field of smart growth, and despite an ongoing global pandemic, LGC has expanded our programs to support leaders for livable communities. In 2021 we, like so many businesses and families, adapted to the economic and public health changes to support local leaders and position communities to be more resilient coming out of the crisis. LGC produced 7 fact sheets to guide local governments towards a more resilient recovery, supported 15 cities with community design solutions, connected more than 10,000 leaders, provided over 400 hours of implementation support for the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and contributed 187,602 hours in capacity building support for communities through our CivicSpark AmeriCorps program.

Equity has been a core focus for LGC this year— we are implementing an “Embedding Equity in Adaptation Initiative” through the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation creating a space for practitioners to discuss challenges and share promising practices for centering adaptation efforts in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We are training a cohort of 21 community leaders to build foundational skills for advancing climate equity initiatives through the Partners Advancing Climate Equity pilot program, and we used a Racial Equity Planning Grant to assess and improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in our CivicSpark program.

We have also spent the year advocating for and supporting a resilient recovery through projects that:

• Prioritize equity and environmental justice.
• Support climate protection, public health, and wellness by investing in equitable infill housing; transit, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure; and urban greening.
• Invest in resilient, modern communications and energy infrastructure.
• Advance green economic development initiatives. Support natural and working lands.
• Stop investment in maladaptive projects and programs.

Additionally, LGC is looking at the next chapter and assessing how we can best support our members. Recognizing the unique role LGC can play in advancing ambitious policies that support transformative leadership across housing, transportation, climate change, resource conservation, and equity— we’ve hired a policy director to give a stronger voice to our members and keep our network better informed of legislative changes. We’ve also added a Director of Development and Communications and we hired a marketing firm to update our branding and help us connect with and serve more communities. Finally, we are working with a diversity equity and inclusion firm to help us improve our internal processes and external programs. These investments will strengthen the foundation of LGC and improve how we inspire, cultivate, and create meaningful change for livable communities.

You might want to peruse the Board Packet Oct 2021.pdf.

Figure 1 - LCG board members and staff

Figure 2 - LGC Retreat

Figure 3 - LGC retreat

Figure 4 - LGC Mid-Year Report 2021

Figure 5 - LGC Impact