This was a planning and convening phase grant in which the team assessed the regional interest in reusing vacant lands as green infrastructure in major Great Lakes cities, and investigated the environmental, economic, and social value that this would provide. The team recruited leaders from fourteen Great Lakes cities and held a series of meetings, workshops, and site visits to assess the status of vacant urban lands in these cities, the status of wastewater infrastructure, the status of redevelopment efforts, and identified possible locations for demonstration projects.

A key project outcome was the design of a large-scale demonstration project and a proposal to the Fund. In December 2012, the Fund’s Board of Directors made a subsequent award to establish a neighborhood-based network of vacant small-parcel green infrastructure projects in Cleveland, OH; Buffalo, NY and Gary, IN that will determine the potential for vacant urban lands to serve as viable locations for effective green infrastructure and stormwater management.