Overview

Download the final Pilot Project Overview Report 5.4MB PDF

The NSIP Process is a grassroots level, action-oriented project involving neighborhood residents, businesses and institutions interested in promoting and enhancing sustainability in a way that is meaningful to them and their neighborhood. It offers the community an opportunity to define sustainability, create a vision, and develop a sustainability framework with goals, objectives and actions to reach that vision. In addition, it encourages the community to identify and track neighborhood sustainability indicators to share and report progress towards reaching its goals and overall vision on a regular basis.

The District is interested in promoting this grassroots-driven sustainability effort to support and inform its overall Green DC Agenda and to make more effective sustainability policies. Cooperatively developed by the DC Office of Planning and DC Department of Environment, the Pilot Project applies the NSIP process to a portion of Ward 3 in Northwest DC that can serve as a model for other neighborhoods in the District to undertake their own sustainability efforts in a coordinated and effective way. Other important goals for the project are:

• Recruit citizens for a participatory process to define neighborhood sustainability and identify related goals.
• Create a list of neighborhood sustainability indicators that are understandable by a broad audience, relevant to local residents and issues, and practical for policymakers.
• Develop performance targets for each indicator and a monitoring system to capture indicator data
• Define specific actions the community can take to reach their goals
• Foster a broad understanding and commitment among residents about sustainability goals and energize residents and civic groups on achieving the goals.
• Document lessons learned from the project towards replicating the NSIP process and framework for other neighborhoods in the District.