Attendees:
Angela Uhl – Futurewise (WA)
Rachel DiResto – Center for Planning Excellence (LA)
John Maximuk – Liveable Communities Coalition (GA)
Kristin, Craig – 1000 Friends of Oregon
Jennifer Oligario – Transportation Choices Coalition (WA)
Jen Leonard – Center for Community Progress (DC)
Andre Leroux – Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance
Peter Fleischer – Empire State Future
Adam Synder – Conservation Alabama
Michele Warren – Local Government Commission
Zach Smith, Rayla Bellis, Elisa Ortiz, Katy Hartnett- SGA
Federal Update
Congress is in recess this week
Both the House and Senate have moved their transportation bills to the floor
House: brought a package of bills to the floor, but pulled the transportation bill from the floor when it is was clear they wouldn’t have enough votes to pass
Senate: Brought MAP 21 to the floor and are adding amendments to the bill
The President released his budget for FY 13, which includes:
$500 million for the TIGER program, which is level funding for the fiscal year
Funding to create an Office of Livable Communities
3% increase in funding for the total HUD budget
$100 million of funding split between regional planning and community challenge grants for Partnership for Sustainable Communities
Funding to create an Office of Livable Communities
Level funding for Community Development Block Grant program
Level funding for EPA at $10.7 million
New Member Benefit: WealthEngine
Wealth Engine is an online wealth research tool to determine an individual’s propensity to donate money to an organization
More information: Full WealthEngine Protocol with instructions on how to use SGA’s license; Description of WealthEngine data categories and what they mean; and a sample individual record downloaded off of WealthEngine.
Send questions about WealthEngine to Jeri Mintzer or Elisa Ortiz
Remember our annual coalition and lobby Day will be April 25th and 26th in Washington, DC
The next coalition call is scheduled for Thursday, March 29th at 4:00 p.m. EST