Blasted as the “City of the Damned” in Boston Magazine in March, Lawrence, Massachusetts gets a very different treatment in an April piece on the Smart Growth America Blog – one that features, hope, connection, and an unmistakable drive to create a new future together. With its focus on poverty, crime, and political corruption, the Boston Magazine article missed what the Smart Growth America piece hails as Lawrence’s “dynamic civil community of nonprofit groups, residents, local property owners and small businesspeople who are charting a new course…[and] spearheading a movement to pump life back into the economy.” 

It was this combination of spirit, ideas, and shared commitment to bringing change that made Lawrence a lead contender for the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance’s Great Neighborhoods Initiative – which is supported by Barr and the Ford Foundation. 

“What makes this project unique is that we are addressing sustainability from the economic, environmental and social sides,” says Brad Buschur, landscape architect and planner with Groundwork Lawrence  – one of the partners in the effort. “I think it is rare that you see a community coalition tackling all three. It is something we take pride in.”

To read the Smart Growth America piece, click here.

- Posted by Stefan Lanfer, Knowledge Officer -