Southern Nevada Strong provides a vision and action plan for sustainable growth and reinvestment in existing communities while our region’s population continues to grow. Many local agencies, non-profits, and community partners work together to complete projects as a part of this goal. Here are some of the projects the Southern Nevada Strong team has been working on:
- Opportunity Site Progress Reports: In efforts to improve our region’s economic competitiveness and education, Southern Nevada Strong identifies specific locations – known as opportunity sites – that support further development and reinvestment in existing neighborhoods. Working in collaboration with local agencies, SNS staff prepared 5-year progress reports for Boulder Highway at Gibson Road and Broadbent Boulevard, Downtown North Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Medical District, which identified actions for continued redevelopment.
- Extreme Heat Planning: Making our region more sustainable is a priority. The SNS regional plan identifies actions to address a warming climate, which is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events in the coming decades. Through the development of a heat vulnerability index and map, SNS staff identified areas in the region where populations are at high risk to extreme heat. The map has been used to help increase grant funding and identify locations for shade structures, trees, and complete street improvements that mitigate the impacts of extreme heat on our most vulnerable populations.
- Healthy Food and Social Service Pop-Ups: For people without cars or the ability to drive, transportation is a top barrier to accessing healthy foods and community services. To address this challenge, SNS and the Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan identifies an action to co-locate community services with transit. In collaboration with the Nevada Homeless Alliance, Southern Nevada Health District, Opportunity Village, and many other community partners, SNS staff organize produce markets and resource fair pop-ups at the Bonneville Transit Center regularly.
- Community Engagement: To learn more about environmental impacts on community members, SNS staff teamed with the Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition to host a series of listening sessions. Listening sessions and related surveys have resulted in input from many community members across the region. Information gathered will inform the Southern Nevada Strong regional plan update, which is expected to kick-off by mid-2024.
To learn more about Southern Nevada Strong or get involved, please contact us at southernnevadastrong.org. Also, stay tuned for the next SNS blog, to learn about what’s next for our team!
