Our Team

The RenewLV effort is made up of committed residents of the Lehigh Valley. If you are interested in becoming a part of a network of advocates working toward regional collaboration and urban revitalization, please sign up for our e-mail list. You will receive occasional e-mails about RenewLV events, updates, and more.

Committees

Much of the work of RenewLV is accomplished through the work of dedicated volunteers at the committee level.  We have demonstrated a track record of success in hosting public engagement events for dialogue on important regional issues.

Collaborations

Since its inception, RenewLV has been convening leaders and stakeholders from around the region to tackle tough regional issues. These have included regional police, consolidated water/waste water services, regional public health. In 2012-14 RenewLV conducted public outreach and engagement for the EnvisionLV effort with a consortium of fourteen partners in the development of a regional sustainability plan funded by a $3.4 million HUD Sustainable Communities Planning Grant. At the end of 2014 with the conclusion of the EnvisionLV process and the completion of the summary report, 1LV, by consortium partner, LVPC, the RenewLV board of directors reset RenewLV’s initiatives:

1. Farmland Preservation
2. Sustainable Food Systems
3. Smart Transportation

Presently, RenewLV has active committees working on initiatives.

One of the more exciting collaborations is the founders team of the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council (LVFPC) which includes seventeen partners utilizing a Collective Impact model of collaboration. It was formed to “move from ideas to actions” on the ideas in the Assessment Report: Lehigh Valley Food Economy, a study of the regional food system developed by Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley as a part of the EnvisionLV process. Partners for the LVFPC include: United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Second Harvest Food Bank of Lehigh Valley and Northeast Pennsylvania, Rodale Institute, Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Sodexo, CACLV, the Counties of Northampton and Lehigh, The Nurture Nature Center, Lafayette College, Jordan Heights Neighborhood Revitalization, St Luke’s University Health Network, Seven Generations Charter School, the Lehigh Valley Health Network, New Bethany Ministries, Penn State Extension and RenewLV.

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Contact Us!

Restarting the Sustainability Book Club

Come talk about cool books with us on Saturday, March 12 at the Coffee House Without Limits in Allentown!

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Make friends, discuss civic activism, new urbanism, smart growth, making a difference, and anything on your mind about your neighborhood or regional growth. We will be discussing What To Do When It's Your Turn (and It's Always Your Turn)  by Seth Godin (we have copies, so come even if you don't have this book).

The chat will start at 2:00 pm at The Coffee House Without Limits in Allentown!

In future weeks, we will read Becoming Jane Jacobs  by Peter Laurence, which you can order for $34.95 by calling Allentown's Moravian Book Store.

Hope to see you there!

Moving Ideas to Action

3rd Annual Summit for Smart Growth and Sustainable Communities "Our Towns, Our Farms, Our Future"

On 12/4/15, almost 200 community leaders and concerned citizens gathered at the Renaissance Hotel in Allentown for RenewLV's third annual Summit for Smart Growth and Sustainable Communities to discuss strategies for land preservation, community revitalization and municipal cooperation.

At the Summit, we asked the questions:

•How can we preserve open space while supporting job creation and economic development?

•How does a municipality strike a balance between paying its bills, preserving its individual appeal and supporting the local economy?

•Given the increasing market demand for locally grown and organic food, how can the region better grow a vibrant local food economy?

•How do we capitalize on our central location through an interconnected mass transit system rather than continuing to focus on widening our highways?

A big thank-you to all of the Summit for Smart Growth sponsors who contributed! You made this event possible.

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Report Highlights Fiscal Benefits of Smart Growth Renew Lehigh Valley has often noted the benefits of smart growth development for municipalities, including cost savings. A new report by Smart Growth America details the benefits for municipalities realized through smart growth development. Read the full report here.

Watch the Envision Lehigh Valley Virtual Meeting

RenewLV and our partners at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, the City of Allentown, the City of Bethlehem, and the City of Easton held a one-of-a-kind virtual public meeting for Envision Lehigh Valley. 100 participants logged in through a live video feed, Facebook, Twitter, and live chat. Missed the meeting? View the full recording on YouTube here

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