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 NPU INITIATIVE REPORT:

An Effort to Strengthen Atlanta’s Historic NPU System

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READ OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

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ABOUT

The Neighborhood Planning system is the City of Atlanta's formal system for community engagement and resident input on citywide plans and decisions. After conducting the first review of the NPU system since 1978, the Center for Civic Innovation – an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization with the mission to address our city's widening inequality– worked with key stakeholders and residents to co-design 10 recommendations to strengthen this system rooted in effectiveness, equity, accountability, and restoration.

WATCH THE PRESENTATION

On September 16th, we shared our key findings and recommendations for how the NPU system can be more effective, equitable, accountable, and restorative.
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RECOMMENDATIONS

Strengthening the NPU System’s Purpose

  1. The Mayor of Atlanta, City Council, and the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board must formally align on and reestablish the purposes, responsibilities, and goals of the NPU system.

  2. The Department of City Planning must support all NPUs in developing small area and neighborhood plans,  including their individual needs in relevant citywide planning and budgeting processes, including, but not limited to, the Comprehensive Development Plan.

  3. NPU leadership, applicants, and/or City departments—in or outside of an NPU meeting—must ensure that information provided to NPUs is timely, easily understandable, and tailored for residents to engage with ahead of any key decisions made that impact their communities.

  4. The Department of City Planning and the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board must lead on a campaign and ongoing effort to increase public awareness about the NPUs and eliminate barriers for anyone and everyone to participate in them.

Strengthening the NPU’s Leadership and Capacity

  1. The Atlanta Planning Advisory Board (APAB) must facilitate and coordinate citywide matters among the individual NPUs and form a collective voice for all NPUs in their advocacy to the City of Atlanta.

  2. The City of Atlanta must provide support and money equitably to NPU volunteers, prioritizing already neglected communities and leaders who lack the privilege of time and/or financial resources.

  3. The Mayor of Atlanta and City Council must prioritize and increase funding for personnel, technical assistance, and support services for the NPU system in our City’s fiscal year budget.

Strengthening the NPU’s Transparency, Evaluation, and Accountability

  1. The City of Atlanta must document, transparently coordinate on, and clearly communicate about the legal expectations and standard operating procedures of the NPUs internally between City departments and to all external NPU stakeholders.

  2. The Department of City Planning, City Council, and BACEs must provide transparent and proper notice and feedback to the NPUs after decisions made on legislation, applications, and policies that directly or indirectly impact an NPU.

  3. The Mayor of Atlanta, City Council, and the Atlanta Planning Advisory Board must co-design a process to regularly evaluate the NPU system through a clear set of effectiveness and equity metrics.

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