Testimonials
Select testimonials from speakers, sponsors, cosponsors and previous New Partners for Smart Growth Conference attendees
The people who have attended the New Partners for Smart Growth conferences have accomplished a great deal. I am proud of them, and proud of heading the organization that brings them together year after year and helps them stay at the cutting edge of their disciplines.
– Judy Corbett, Executive Director
Local Government Commission
This conference is important because it can help us turn the corner collectively by providing the space and resources necessary for a meaningful dialogue about how to create livable cities and communities for everyone. These complex disparities require the engagement of urban, rural, and waterfront communities of all belief systems, races, ages and ethnicities to make it work.
– Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director
UPROSE
The New Partners conference has been integral as a place where smart growth itself grows and evolves, responding to the changing environment, and reflecting the knowledge gained from years of practice. It has become a “must-attend” conference for great networking, learning about best practices, recruiting smart growth talent, and publicizing our work.
– Geoffrey Anderson, President/CEO
Smart Growth America
Because the event is independent of any specific profession, there has been an extraordinary amount of cross-discipline synergy and creativity.
– Jim Charlier, President
Charlier Associaties, Inc.
For ten years, the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference has been bringing together a broad cross section of professionals, elected officials and community activists to share ideas, to learn from each other and inspire action for quality growth and investment in communities across the nation. It has become a treasured resource.
– Sue Schwartz, FAICP, Former President
American Institute of Certified Planners (APA)
Director of Planning and Community Development
City of Greensboro, SC
The impact of this event continues to be felt through the creation of more livable, sustainable and vibrant communities across the country.
– Paul F. Morris, FASLA, Former President
American Society of Landscape Architects
Deputy Secretary for Transit
North Carolina Department of Transportation
It is a challenge to hold back the superlatives for the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference. During the course of the past decade I have had the opportunity to attend many national and international conferences, including many health, town making, development and governance professional annual training sessions. The New Partners conference stands above the rest, and by far.
– Dan Burden, Executive Director
Walkable and Livable Communities Institute
New Partners for Smart Growth is ground zero for forging the alternative for America’s future. It’s where new ideas were hatched that have inspired metropolitan regions, city neighborhoods and rural and suburban towns. It’s where fresh dialogue has enriched our common understanding of what’s right for communities and what’s healthy for people. It’s where ground-breaking new alliances have emerged.
– Rick Cole, City Manager
Ventura, CA
Through the work of those who go to this conference, smart growth has evolved from novelty to mainstream; from collaboration to implementation; from an idea to a movement.
– John Frece, Director
Office of Sustainable Communities, U.S. EPA
Attending the New Partners for Smart Growth conference is an important step toward becoming a leader in the emerging smart growth movement. The conference provides the peer learning opportunities and networking the movement needs. I highly recommend the conference for those interested in connecting with the best thinkers and do-ers in the smart growth field.
– Ben Starrett, Executive Director, Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities
As someone who speaks frequently at conferences, this is one I attend to hear new ideas, cutting-edge research, innovative policy, and implementation tips. The folks who attend New Partners for Smart Growth conference- from both public and private sector- are refreshed, energized, and armed with practical strategies to change how their communities are growing and developing.
– Harrison Rue, Principal
ICF International
Whether you are a community leader, design professional, policy wonk or developer, New Partners for Smart Growth can help you figure out how to bring the “big ideas” into your everyday work. Provocative and practical conversations can be expected not only in the hallways of the conference venue, but in the conference sessions themselves, which are of consistently high quality.
– Ellen Greenberg, Associate Principal, Arup
Two years after beginning my service as Greening Chair of the PPNA Greening Committee, I can look back and say that I did what I set out to do. And the reason that I can say this is because of all that I learned at the 2010 smart Growth Conference! That is the truth. That conference changed my life. It made me much more informed, knowledgeable leader, and it sent me home ready to lead my neighborhood to achieve a greener, more sustainable future.
– Robbyn Lewis, Chairperson for the
PPNA Greening Committee
Since attending the conference, I have become acquainted with a number of techniques, resources and practices that I was able to use immediately with the communities I serve. The powerful collaboration of Housing-Transportation-EPA is a great model to follow and the Conference provides insights on how that collaboration can happen at the local level.
– Catalina Landivar-Simon
Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission
I gained a professional and creative "boost" from participating in the 2011 conference. I had heard this was a common "effect" for attendees, but I didn’t realize how much.
– Camille, 2011 Conference Attendee
When I go to a conference, a big part of why I go is to be inspired. I want to leave saying, "Yes!" That’s why I’m in this field! Now I feel re-motivated and ready to change the world again!
– 2011 Conference Attendee
I think this conference is wonderful and really opened my eyes to the necessary connectivity that needs to occur between all aspects of local government to ensure long-term sustainable growth.
– 2011 Conference Attendee
All of the speakers presented inspiring, innovative, useful and applicable tools that can be adapted in many places.
– 2011 Conference Attendee
This is the type of event I would like to expose my entire team to over the coming years.
– 2011 Conference Attendee
Seeing others implementing and enthusiastic about smart growth really renewed my enthusiasm and passion for making our communities better for the future!
– 2011 Conference Attendee
I think this was by far the best conference I’ve been to in almost 20 years of working for a local government.
– 2011 Conference Attendee
This was my first Smart Growth Conference and I brought so much good information back home to my community that we will use to Build a Healthier Community.
– 2011 Conference Attendee
I was impressed at the extent to which topics and sessions at the conference felt current and new. I’ve been involved with smart growth for a long time but found that there were some interesting sessions dealing with topics I hadn’t heard of or thought much about.
– 2011 Conference Attendee
I was very impressed with the diversity of folks attending, and at the wide variety of topics related to smart growth.
– 2011 Conference Attendee
It’s great to come together with like-minded folks from across the country who care deeply about the future of our communities, and the need to strike a harmonious balance between growth, environmental protection and community livability.
– Vernice Miller-Travis, Senior Associate, Skeo Solutions;
Chair, Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities
