In 2005, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) received a grant from EPA to create and support regional alliances of diverse stakeholders to promote smart growth development. The alliances are created in an effort to break the political stalemate that often results as communities examine how best to support economic development, accommodate growth, enhance quality of life, and protect the environment.

Under this grant, new smart growth alliances formed in: The following links exit the site Exit

• Denver, Colorado: Colorado Tomorrow Alliance
• Seattle, Washington: Quality Growth Alliance
• Southeast Florida: Smart Growth Partnership – a Southeast Florida Initiative
• ULI South Carolina
• Vision North Texas (Vision North Texas already exists; the EPA funding supported a new project)

The grant also helped support existing smart growth alliances, which provided models and mentoring assistance to the new alliances:

• Atlanta Livable Communities Coalition (now the Livable Communities Council)
• Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance (Philadelphia region)
• myregion.org (Orlando region)

In 2007, ULI created the Smart Growth Alliances Information Network (SGAIN) to support the work of the smart growth alliances and to give their leaders opportunities to learn from each other as they develop programs to promote and recognize smart growth in their regions.

In 2010, ULI released Moving the Needle: Regional Coalitions as Catalysts for Sustainable Development (PDF)(45 pp, 1.2 MB, About PDF). This report examines eight regional alliances and techniques they have used to work with diverse partners to promote more sustainable communities. It offers useful lessons for how these coalitions can make a difference in their regions and how effective coalitions operate.