Great Communities Collaborative (GCC) envisions a socially equitable, economically prosperous, and environmentally sustainable Bay Area where communities are engaged in shaping their own future. GCC believes that multi-sector collaboration is required in order to address the challenges of climate change and equity and that by working together across sectors we can build a region that is made up of healthy, thriving neighborhoods that are affordable to all and well connected to regional opportunities.
The high cost of living has forced many low-income people, as well as jobs, to move out to the edges of the region where housing and commercial space are cheaper, but transit is limited. What must we do to create a future where all Bay Area residents can thrive? What will it take to create Great Communities across the Bay Area?
A Great Community is one where people can live, work, shop, and go to school by walking, biking, or within easy reach of public transit. Where residents can spend more time with their families and less time in traffic. In a Great Community, the quality of life factors that matter to all of us – from affordable homes to clean air to neighborhood grocery stores – belong to all of us.
Getting sustainable and equitable policies off the ground involves complex coordination and financing. Working on local, regional, and financing projects, we harness the commitment of leaders and expertise across multiple sectors to one shared agenda – building Great Communities backed by the financial and human capital needed to see projects through the finish line.
Learn more through the GCC Strategic Plan completed in 2015.
The goal of Great Communities Collaborative is to ensure that the San Francisco Bay Area is made up of healthy, thriving neighborhoods that are affordable to all and linked to regional employment opportunities by a premier transit network. In order to realize this goal, GCC engages at the regional level through policy and planning to direct growth towards our cities and along our regional transit systems.
At the local level, GCC helps shape policy and plans by working with local leaders and community members to ensure that affordable housing, community-serving retail, and services like child care centers, grocery stores, and health clinics—the “must haves” for development that puts people first—locate and thrive near transit.
Once good, community-supported plans are in place, getting sustainable and equitable development projects off the ground involves complex planning and large-scale coordination and financing. GCC catalyzes financial solutions to see projects through to the finish line.
Equitable and Sustainable Outcomes are known by
- Reduced GHG Emissions,
- Equitable, Community Driven Development,
- Low Income Communities and Communities of Color Stay and Thrive in Place
