Communities strengthen their team, sharpen their ideas, and become fluent in the Working Cities Challenge model

Teams awarded planning grants enter a six-month phase during which they strengthen their internal structures and develop comprehensive, refined proposals that follow the Working Cities Challenge model. Teams should emerge from this phase with clearly laid out pathways for putting their initiatives into action in ways that benefit low-income communities.

The Working Cities Challenge model focuses on:

• Shared long term goal held by all collaborative partners
• Collaborative leadership
• Community Engagement
• Learning Orientation and Use of Data
• Systems Change

A focus on race and equity is built into all of the core elements listed above.