The U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) organized nine hours of programmatic content for the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Portland, OR. OEJ placed a stronger emphasis on addressing long-standing gaps through pragmatic solutions, including impact assessment. Impact assessments are useful for assessing, appraising, or estimating the consequences that may follow proposed actions. Impact assessments represent a necessary tool which can encourage thoughtful discussion about subtle issues that represent potential blind-spots. Experts explained how the instrument is helping communities and agencies to improve transparency while making a visible difference in communities.
