Green Communities Program of the Atlanta Regional Commission Joins SSN

Lola Schoenrich, Network Coordinator
Kelsey Waidhas, Sustainability Coordinator, Atlanta Regional Commision

The Green Communities program of the Atlanta Regional Commission is the newest member of the Sustainable States Network. Lola Schoenrich, the SSN Network Coordinator, talked to Kelsey Waidhas, Water Resources Planner & Sustainability Coordinator at the Atlanta Regional Commission about the program and why they were excited to join the Network. 

What is the Green Communities Program?

The Green Communities Program is a voluntary, points-based sustainability certification program for cities and counties. It reaches across a broad range of sustainability issues, from clean energy and efficiency, water, waste/recycling, to education and transportation. The program is run by the Atlanta Regional Commission and is primarily targeted at our 10-county region, which includes 80+ cities; however, we are open to working with our fellow regional commissions throughout the state for any city or county that would like to participate.

How do you engage cities on climate mitigation and resilience?

The current Green Communities Program manual has provided our 20+ certified cities and counties a strong basis for next-step climate action and resilience. It is from this foundation that we have been able to produce an additional voluntary climate module that addresses buildings. Along with this work, which we are calling Climate Conscious Community, we are looking at our existing programming across different departments for where we should be baking in climate initiatives.

Why were you interested in joining the Sustainable States Network?

It was a relief to find a network of other programs like ours. We have so much material to tackle and paths to go down in sustainability. Finding a network of others who also guide cities and counties down the road to sustainability was reassuring. We see that the work of the Atlanta Regional Commission is in good company. I am also excited to be in this network to help me answer the question of “what’s next?” for our programming. We all know that there is much more to be doing to support communities in climate action and resilience and having these conversations with similar programs and program managers is an important part of making sure we take a collective step forward.

Find out more about the Green Communities Program.