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Making sure that community members can engage in a productive way requires that we <br />bring thoughtfulness and intention to designing our processes. This is essential for all to <br />benefit equitably from improvements to community quality of life. Using an equity lens <br />can be helpful for this. (For more information on using an equity lens, see the <br />publications by the International City and County Managers Association listed in the BP <br />24.1 Resources section.) <br />Designing for equity can make the outcomes for all Sustoinobility is <br />residents better. Everyone is not affected equally by a more sustainable <br />community crisis, but improving the conditions of those <br />most affected by structural inequity will make our when it reflects <br />communities better for all, an effect sometimes called the community. <br />"curb -cut effect." <br />The Curb -Cut: <br />more than o section <br />of sidewalk <br />In "The Curb -Cut Effect," Angela Glover Blackwell describes what happened when curb <br />cuts --the ramps designed to make sidewalks more accessible to people in wheelchairs -- <br />became the norm in US cities: "a magnificent and unexpected thing happened. When the <br />wall of exclusion came down, everybody benefited —not only people in wheelchairs. <br />Parents pushing strollers headed straight for curb cuts. So did workers pushing heavy <br />carts, business travelers wheeling luggage, even runners and skateboarders." <br />In other words, when we design spaces to make sure that they are accessible to our <br />most vulnerable populations, we all benefit. And it's not just the physical accessibility of <br />spaces that see this effect; this principle applies to policies, programs, and processes too. <br />In other words, "laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the <br />disabled or people of color, often end up benefiting all of society." <br />So, what kinds of "curb -cuts" could benefit your community? <br />5 <br />