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Take Action: In Your City
Healthy Babies Bright Futures’ Bright Cities program offers concrete solutions to help city staff actualize their ideas to reduce neurotoxic exposures.
By focusing on the youngest and most vulnerable residents, cities can improve health for all their residents.
Diverse cities of all sizes from 23 states participated in the Bright Cities' grant program and saw measurable results, both in the number of residents helped and in the positive reaction from the public.
Our resources will help you replicate and build on those successes in your own cities!
Bright Cities Projects
The 5 Types of Bright Cities Projects
Bright Cities build healthier public housing and spaces through…
- Toxic-free childcare training and nap mat exchanges
- Reducing lead exposures through public education campaigns and remediation projects
Bright Cities build a healthier climate by…
- Planting of trees or vegetative barriers to reduce pollutants
- Transitioning park management strategies to chemical-free methods
- Other green infrastructure projects
Bright Cities reduce residents’ exposures to lead through…
- Coupling lead abatement programs with other high-priority city initiatives like energy efficiency and mold remediation programs
- “Train the trainer” programs about how to implement lead reduction strategies directed towards childcare providers and other local institutions
- Strengthening existing communications channels for local institutions
Bright Cities ensure access to healthy food by…
- Using municipal land for organic produce cultivation
- Increasing availability of local and organic produce
- Working collaboratively with residents in low access food areas to develop solutions to lack of healthy food access.
Bright Cities build sustainable processes through…
- Enacting environmentally preferable purchasing policies that ensure products purchased are free of neurotoxic chemicals
- Incorporating neurotoxic reductions into existing resilience planning
We built replicable models of projects using a three-phase process:
Select and Recruit Bright Cities
When the Bright Cities program released an RFP, grants were awarded to proposals with the greatest potential for impact and measurable exposure reduction.
Hands-On Technical Assistance
With our support, cities managed significant community-driven, holistic, equity-based projects with the goal of a measurable reduction in neurotoxic exposures for children under the age of 2.
Engagement and Dissemination
At the end of a project, cities used their successful projects as a starting point to define further opportunities and action steps while leveraging the learning to create Bright Cities resources and case studies.
Bright Cities Webinar Series
How to Integrate Equitable Toxics Reduction Into Existing Planning
These three webinars are designed to offer strategies that make it easier for cities to embed equitable toxics reduction actions into their existing sustainability, resilience, and/or climate planning.
- Fostering Equitable, Sustainable Change Amidst A Devastating Pandemic
- The Two for One Opportunity
- The Nuts & Bolts of Using Resilience Planning to Ensure Healthier Futures
Bright Cities Webinar Series
Leveraging Federal Funds + Successful Models for Lead Remediation
These four conversations will help cities finance and replicate successful lead remediation strategies in a way that protects worker and resident health.
- How to Use Federal Funds for LSLR & Home Lead Remediation
- City Strategies to Turn Good Intentions into Miles of Lead-Free Water
- How to Couple Lead Remediation with Energy Efficiency Programs
- Everyoneʼs Health Matters: LSLR That Protects Workers and Residents
Bright Cities Partners
Mayors Innovation Project
The Mayors Innovation Project is a national learning network for mayors committed to shared prosperity, environmental sustainability, and efficient democratic government. For the past 3 years, Bright Cities partnered with the Mayors Innovation project to cofund city-lead projects that reduce neurotoxic exposures.
Institute for Youth, Education, and Families
The Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF) at the National League of cities is the go-to place for city leaders seeking to improve outcomes for children and families. Bright Cities regularly partners with YEF to host webinars to share examples of effective strategies cities launch to reduce neurotoxic exposures.
Children's Environmental Health Network
The Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) is a national multi-disciplinary organization whose mission is to protect the developing child from environmental health hazards and promote a healthier environment. Bright Cities and CEHN work together to include youth voices as part of the conversation about climate, health, and equity.
Environmental Justice working group
Bright Cities is an inaugural member of the Environmental Justice working group, a diverse coalition dedicated to addressing toxic exposures and climate change threats to create a healthy tomorrow for families. Through regular meetings, we advocate for national policy change and to support local projects that advance equity and address climate and toxic exposures.