Community Playmaker - Issue 10 - August 2026

Inspiring the next great American community

August 2026 - Issue 10

MAGAZINE

THE PLAYMAKER DECADE P.32

ISSUE

THE RACE TO REGULATE P.22

10 Playmaker Spotlight Mayor John Horhn | P.04

Playmakers,

We serve municipal leaders of communities large and small by bringing together the intersection of tourism, economic development, amateur sports, and recreation in a way that no one else does. We bring private-sector innovation to government leaders to help protect and secure the future of sport, recreation, and tourism in America.

Editor in Chief Ashley Whittaker Feature Editor Johnny Crosskey Digital Editor Johnny Crosskey Assistant Editors Ali Yenchick Ally Azzarelli Contributing Writers Ally Azzarelli Matt Swenson Johnny Crosskey Jake Kring-Schreifels Suzanne Wentley Production Manager Ashley Worsham

Creative Team Tristan Makaroff Ashley Kimmel Makenna Parks Research Coordinator Jenna Capuano Website Manager Nicolas Desranleau Playmaker Pups Stormy Rey & Batman Junior Rumple & Roy Riley Nala PowerGirl Luna

Across nearly three years, ten issues, and countless articles, newsletters, and blog posts, we’ve celebrated the important actions and initiatives of municipal leaders from around the country. We’ve also celebrated the leaders themselves—all in the spirit of serving our readers.

We are proud to present this edition of Community Playmaker, the Futurecast issue. We asked leaders the seven trends that will impact municipal government over the next decade. We dig into the impact that libraries are having on our communities. We highlight the growing importance of P3s in sports facility development and we provide guidance on some of the most challenging issues cities face: food insecurity, climate resilience, and AI. And we introduce you to Mayor John Hornh of Jackson, Mississippi. His dedication to his hometown is changing its perception nationally.

On behalf of the Community Playmaker team, we sincerely thank you. It’s your participation that fuels us to create content on topics that are most important to you.

Peace, love and public service, Johnny

Managing Editor, Community Playmaker Magazine Issue 10: Summer 2026

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No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the permission in writing from the publisher, except small excerpts for review purposes. Submitted work, reviews, ads, and photographs are copyrighted by their respective owners.

Copyright Community Playmaker Magazine 2026.

The Sports Facilities Companies are a proud partner and sponsor of Community Playmaker.

2 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

IN THIS ISSUE

August 2026 - Issue 10 FEATURE

DEPARTMENT

8

4

REIMAGINING FOOD ACCESS From the Ground Up

22 THE RACE TO REGULATE How Cities are Ensuring Ethical AI Use 32 THE PLAYMAKER DECADE 7 Trends That Will Define the Next 10 Years 44 LIBRARIES REIMAGINED The New Front Door of Civic Engagement 58 COME ONE COME ALL Cities Turn to Multipurpose Venues...

PLAYMAKER SPOTLIGHT Mayor John Horhn

18 COMMUNITY PLANNING Food Halls and Public Markets Keep Cities Satisfied 26 COMMUNITY OPERATIONS It’s Getting Hotter in Here 40 HUMAN INTEREST Community Playmaker Launches Three New Categories for CoY 52 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Skin in the Game: P3s Reduce Risk for Communities...

P.32

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Playmaker Spotlight

MAYOR JOHN HORHN:

A NEW CHAPTER FOR A CITY READY TO RISE

By Ally Azzarelli

W

hen Mayor John Horhn talks about Jackson, Mississippi it’s as if he’s known the city his entire life. Because he has. Born in Goodman, Mississippi, the son of a labor organizer and a public-school cafeteria worker, he moved to Jackson at just three weeks old and grew up in the capital city’s neighborhoods, schools, and community spaces.

Destined to be a civic leader, he served as class president at the former Morrison Elementary School. Before entering elected office, Horhn worked across state agencies as a program manager at the Mississippi Arts Commission, the state’s film commissioner, director of federal programs in the Governor’s Office, and state tourism director. Those early experiences shaped a career rooted in public service, economic growth, and cultural storytelling.

Public service, he says, has always been in his blood. “My father was a labor union president in Mississippi — the second Black person elected to that role in the state. A. Philip Randolph, a great civil rights leader, was his mentor. Along with that came a deep interest in voting rights and voter education. So, I got it in my blood fairly early.”

In 1993, he won his first race for the Mississippi Senate. For the next 32 years, he represented parts of Hinds and Madison counties, chaired the Economic Development Committee, and helped move more than $1 billion worth of projects through Jackson — including facilities, hotels, museums, and long-overdue water and sewer improvements.

Image Source: City of Jackson, MS

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One of the key accomplishments of his legislative career was sponsoring the bill that established the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the first state-supported civil rights museum in the United States.

Image Sources: Stephen Little

“I was the original author of that bill. We raised $93 million from the state and another $30 million from the private sector,” Horhn says. It remains one of the city’s most important cultural landmarks.

“Talk is Cheap. It’s Time for Action.”

When he was sworn in as Jackson’s 54th mayor on July 1, 2025, Horhn brought decades of experience, but he also inherited a city facing serious challenges. His victory speech set the tone: “Talk is cheap.

It’s now time for action.”

He describes those first months as a period of crisis management. Jackson faced infrastructure failures, safety concerns, and the ripple effects of long-term blight. But Horhn treated it as a starting point, not a setback.

“The city was broken, and still is broken in some ways, but we’re fast fixing a lot of that,” he says. “Folks had lost a lot of hope.

The first thing we had to do was work toward the restoration of trust and accountability.”

In his first State of the City address on Oct. 21, he declared “Jackson is rising,” a twist on his campaign message, “Jackson is ready.” It was his way of signaling that progress would be measured not in words,

but in daily, visible improvements. “Like a phoenix, we’re rising out of the ashes and recasting Jackson into the place that everybody wants it to be,” he says.

Setting Priorities: Safety, Blight, and Infrastructure Horhn has made the city’s top priorities his mission: improving public safety, addressing blight, and rebuilding infrastructure. His approach has centered on collaboration across city, county, and state partners — an area where he’s already strengthened key relationships.

“That sense of hopelessness was almost palpable in Jackson. Now it’s almost palpable that people have a sense of hope.”

In public safety, early numbers show promising movement. Jackson ended 2025 with 75 homicides, a 32% decrease from the 111 homicides recorded in 2024.

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Playmaker Spotlight

Horhn is encouraged but cautious: “In the last few weeks, we’ve had a spate of homicides ticking that number back up, which is part of why we’re excited to have a new police chief coming in to hopefully implement things that will mitigate that.” His appointment of Dr. RaShall Brackney adds another layer of leadership that residents hope will bring stability and consistency to public safety strategies.

Infrastructure has also seen a boost. “I’ve found $125 million to pave about 450 streets,” the mayor says. The city has also focused on the gateway, the major entrances and exits into downtown, to make them more welcoming. It’s the kind of work that may not make headlines but is essential for the city’s long-term health.

“Jackson is not only ready, it’s rising.”

One of the trickiest infrastructure challenges has been the water and sewer system, which failed after a major storm nearly four years ago and has since been under federal oversight.

“The federal government controls our water and sewer system and has put up $600 million to help fix it,” Horhn explains.

“We’re right now wrestling with the legislature about how we can get our water and wastewater system back in the hands of the city,” through an independent commission authorized to hire a professional manager.

Turning Blight Into Beauty

Image Sources: Stephen Little

6 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

One of the most visible efforts currently underway in Jackson is the transformation of neglected areas into community assets. Under Mayor Horhn’s leadership, the city established a blight task force and a housing task force that support tenants’ rights and seek new housing options. Va-

cant lots are becoming green spaces, urban farms, and gathering places.

These efforts reflect Horhn’s belief that revival must stem from both policy and community partnership. However, he’s open about what it takes to change public perception: “You’ve got to be the cheerleader. I’m not naturally a cheerleader type. I’m a little more reserved, but you have to put a different face on things in order to be that great encourager.”

He also acknowledges the double-edged nature of early progress. “Now that people see somebody’s doing something, they’ve got a long list of other stuff they want you to do too, that’s been neglected for years.

Managing the expectations of the citizenry is a big job.”

Culture, Commerce, and What’s Next Art, culture, and economic development are also central to Horhn’s vision. Within three months of taking office, his administration fundraised for and hosted the National Folk Festival. An initial budget of $300,000 was supplemented with an additional $1.2 million. 30,000 attendees participated over three days.

Real estate is also on the upswing. “In the last nine months, we’ve had $100 million in new projects — affordable housing, market-rate housing, and hotels — cropping up in the city.” The city also earned Michelin honorable mentions for three locally owned restaurants and boasts a James Beard Award recipient.

Looking ahead, Horhn states that workforce training, blight remediation, and youth violence remain top priorities. He’s also watching for opportunities in emerging industries. “We must be careful that we don’t get left behind on artificial intelligence. Data centers are something we have to examine — there’s a lot of misinformation out there that might cause us to miss an opportunity right in front of us if we’re not cautious.”

trust. 2025 was his fourth run for the office. He describes the journey as not just political, but spiritual: “It wasn’t according to my plan — it was according to his plan. Now I truly believe that I’m a man for this point in time in terms of what the city needs.”

As Jackson progresses in its recovery and growth, Horhn’s focus stays steady: enhancing public safety, rebuilding essential infrastructure, and transforming long-neglected spaces into opportunities.

A local resident who texted him after a radio appearance summed it up simply, and he hasn’t forgotten: “The definition of hope is that tomorrow is going to be better than today.” For Mayor John Horhn, that’s the work.

There’s also a $24 million budget deficit inherited from two consecutive years of shortfalls under the previous administration — a challenge Horhn faces with the same directness he brings to everything else. “It’s going to require some belt-tightening.”

Horhn’s long career in public service has given him a deep understanding of what a city can become with the right mix of leadership, investment, and community

Image Sources: Stephen Little

The revitalized Thalia Mara Hall, one of the state’s largest performing arts facilities, has hosted Kamala Harris on her book tour, a Star Wars symphony concert, and a symphonic harmony event featuring Morgan Freeman. Jackson also hosted the St. Patrick’s Day parade — the fourth largest such celebration in the country. “We don’t have that many Irish people here in Jackson,” Horhn says with a laugh, “but we have a lot of people who like to party, and it doesn’t take much of a reason for that.”

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Reimagining food access...

8 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

...from the

Ground Up

By Ally Azzarelli

F

or many, it’s challenging to imagine not being able to get fresh fruits and vegetables, yet according to USDA data, more than 50 million people face some level of limited access to healthy food.

In Detroit; Memphis; Durham, North Carolina; and Jackson, Mississippi; residents aren’t waiting for retail stores to come back. They’re rolling up their sleeves and building something even better.

August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 9

Detroit: Land, Lots, and Leadership Detroit’s urban agriculture story is one of the most documented in the country. Over the past decade, the movement grew from a handful of community gardens to a network of approximately 2,200 gardens and farms engaging nearly 20,000 residents as of 2023 — the result of decades of organizing by Black-led organizations that understood food access as a matter of justice.

over how their food is grown, how it’s processed, distributed, and ultimately sold and then recycled back into the system.”

Image Sources: Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network

In 2023, Detroit established an Urban Agriculture Division and appointed the city’s first urban agriculture director, a genuine shift toward integrating community-led efforts into official city planning. Council Member Angela Whitfield Calloway has been an outspoken champion.

“I grew up in a city where residents could easily walk to grocery stores, and neighbors maintained abundant gardens,” she says. “Today, too many of our local gas stations have evolved into mini markets.

That shift is unacceptable, and it’s why I support our movement toward becoming a food-sovereign city. Everyone deserves access to nutrient-dense, affordable food.”

Calloway has also advocated for sustained public investment in the infrastructure behind these efforts. “I am proud to champion continued funding support for urban farmers, and I am encouraged that my colleagues are joining me in sustaining that investment into the next fiscal year,” she adds. “Through Eastern Market and our broader food systems work, we are strengthening Detroit-based agriculture, expanding opportunities for local growers, and helping scale knowledge and resources across our communities.”

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One distinctive model to emerge is the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative, a three-acre farm in the North End neighborhood that calls itself America’s first “sustainable urban agrihood.” It grows what the neighborhood locals are looking for, from hot peppers to collard greens, in a community where the nearest fresh produce store is about four miles away.

Yet Tyler reminds us that policy momentum alone won’t close the gap. “The hidden costs of the food system are highly invisibilized,” she says. “Someone’s labor had to be exploited for the price to be made as such, so we do a lot of political education with folks around what it really takes to get things from seed to fork.”

D-Town Farm, the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCFSN), and Keep Growing Detroit helped build the infrastructure that anchors the movement. Keep Growing Detroit now supports more than 1,550 gardens citywide, providing seeds, transplants, workshops, and market access to residents.

For Dr. Shakara Tyler, Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, the movement goes beyond just growing food. “We see building a circular food economy that’s based in community and culture and care as a power building process,” she says, “where people have more ownership and control

It’s that kind of ground-level reckoning, she argues, that turns residents from passive consumers into active participants in building a truly sovereign food system.

Image Sources: UCAN

Durham: Rooted in the Bull City

land trust land to a Black-led nonprofit in the region.

The USDA has identified five food desert areas in Durham, with 16 to 63% of residents in those zones lacking reliable supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables. In Northeast Central Durham, a 302-block area with one of the city’s highest poverty rates, more than 20,000 residents have historically had access to just one small grocery store.

The organization has donated over 100,000 pounds of produce to date and, in 2025, served 2,337 people through monthly distributions of locally grown vegetables, fruits, and eggs. “Our purpose is to teach people to grow their own food, how to prepare a healthy meal with limited resources,” Ms. Sellars says.

“Once you have knowledge, nobody can take that away from you.”

“Families living on a working minimum wage have to choose between healthy food and non-healthy food,” says Delphine Godley Sellars, co-founder of Urban Community AgriNomics (UCAN).

“Food access really centers around the lack of access to healthy, nutritious foods, those things that don’t just put calories in your body but add to your body’s health,” she adds.

UCAN, founded in 2016, operates Catawba Trail Farm — a historic farmstead six miles from downtown Durham.

Through a partnership with Triangle Land Conservancy, UCAN has received full ownership of the entire 176-acre property, one of the largest transfers of

“You can write a grant and get money,” Sellars says, “but to have volunteers who want to come out and help you bring that vision to fruition, that you cannot purchase.” (continued on page 14)

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FOOD DESERTS IN

13.7%

of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2024.

(18.3 million)

(Economic Research Service USDA)

7.3 million

children live in food-insecure households in which children, along with adults, were food insecure.

(Economic Research Service USDA)

North Central Durham

5

The USDA has identified

food desert areas in Durham,

with 16 to 63% of residents in those zones lacking reliable access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Northeast Central Durham, a 302-block area with one of the city’s highest poverty rates, more than

20,000 residents have historically had access to just one small grocery store.

Memphis Memphis carries one of the most severe food insecurity burdens of any major American city.

103,400 32% people in Shelby County are food insecure

according to a 2021 report by Feeding America.

of residents are low-income

and live in areas with insufficient grocery access.

Across the county's census tracts, life expectancy ranges from

65-85 years.

THE UNITED STATES Detroit “Today, too many of our local gas stations have evolved into mini markets. That shift is unacceptable, and it’s why I support our movement toward becoming a food-sovereign city.

Everyone deserves access to nutrient-dense, affordable food.”

- Detroit Council Member Angela Whitfield Calloway

Detroit’s urban agriculture network is approximately

2,200 gardens and farms with

20,000

residents engaged

Keep Growing Detroit now supports

1,550 gardens citywide

providing seeds, transplants, workshops, and market access to residents.

UCAN - Durham Urban Community AgriNomics (UCAN) operates Catawba Trail Farm — a historic farmstead six miles from downtown Durham.

176 acres

100,000 pounds of donated produce to date

2,337 people served

Black Seeds Urban Farms in Memphis

600

families served

through food distribution and educational programming over the past year. Alongside food production, Black Seeds runs workshops that equip residents with the skills to grow and prepare their own food, partnering with local universities and community organizations.

Jackson: Growing From Within In 2010, Dr. Cindy Ayers Elliott, a former investment banker and CEO of the Delta Foundation, founded Foot Print Farms in Jackson, establishing a 68-acre urban farm that has grown into Mississippi’s largest and most prominent urban growing operation.

Today, Foot Print Farms operates as a worker cooperative, growing specialty crops year-round in ten high-tunnel greenhouses and selling everything from kale to callaloo at the Mississippi Farmers Market.

“It’s all about access,” says Dr. Elliott.

“Having access to a farm right in your community, where you can know how it’s grown, who grows it, where it’s grown, changes the dynamics of any community, but especially in urban areas.”

organization’s School Garden Program is set to reach more than 1,500 students across Jackson County.

Midtown Partners used a 2024 USDA Farm to School grant to install a garden, orchard, and hydroponics lab at Midtown Charter School, though that funding has since been threatened, underscoring how vulnerable these programs remain when federal priorities shift.

City Council President and Ward 4 Councilman Dr. Brian Grizzell is working to move those principles into policy. “Our approach to food sovereignty is grounded in both necessity and strategy,” he says.

“Food sovereignty in Jackson is not just about access; it is about empowerment. It is about ensuring that communities have a voice in how food is grown, distributed, and sustained within their neighborhoods.”

The Mississippi Food Justice Collaborative, formed in 2016, has brought together Black, Indigenous, and Asian American food systems stakeholders around racial equity and food sovereignty as organizing principles.

Dr. Elliott says the departure of grocery chains is actually opening new doors. “Big brick and mortar is not happening, and it’s not coming back, especially to food deserts where they pulled out and left vacant buildings,” she says.

The farm also introduces young people to agriculture and creates pathways to entrepreneurship. “We always ask our young people: how many in your family are diabetics or take insulin?” Dr. Elliott says.

“You’re going to get hands up. We’re all about prevention.”

Foot Print Farms is not alone. Grow Jackson’s community gardens produced thousands of pounds of food in 2024, which was distributed through free giveaways, community dinners, and nutrition classes. Its urban agriculture workforce program pays young people ages 16 to 21 for summer jobs, pairing pre-apprenticeship and agricultural training with financial literacy education. In 2025, the

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Image Source: Foot Print Farms

Memphis: Reclaiming the Roots Memphis carries one of the most severe food insecurity burdens of any major American city. USDA data indicate that 32% of residents are low-income and live in areas with insufficient grocery access, the highest share among all metro areas with more than 1 million people.

Feeding America estimates that Image Source: Bobby and Derravia Rich more than 103,400 people in Shelby County are food insecure, including over 45,000 children, according to a 2021 report. Across the Community Redevelopment Agency’s county’s census tracts, life expectancy Lots Re-Imagined program, the Riches ranges from as low as 65 years to nearly converted a vacant Uptown lot into an ac85, a gap of almost 20 years between the tive urban farm. poorest and wealthiest communities. The gap is not accidental: decades of redlin- Black Seeds now operates multiple growing and disinvestment stripped majori- ing spaces in Uptown Memphis, all at ty-Black neighborhoods of supermarkets, full capacity, and has served more than leaving them saturated with fast food and 600 families through food distribution convenience stores. and educational programming over the past year. “Food insecurity in the commuInto that void stepped Black Seeds Urban nities we serve is both persistent and comFarms. When Bobby and Derravia Rich plex,” CEO Derravia Rich says. “Tradireturned to Memphis from Nashville in tional systems often focus on distribution, 2015, they found their late grandfather’s while our communities need solutions garden overtaken by weeds. Bobby, a that also build knowledge, ownership, and firefighter who had seen the city’s food long-term sustainability.” deserts up close, restored it and found a calling. Through the City of Memphis

Alongside food production, Black Seeds runs workshops that equip residents with the skills to grow and prepare their own food, partnering with local universities and community organizations. “Urban farms play a critical role in providing direct access to fresh food while also serving as spaces for education and community engagement,” Bobby says. “The most measurable impact is increased access to healthy food, hands-on learning, and the ability to build self-sufficiency.”

The Riches are deliberate about what they need from city government.

“Effective collaboration looks like investing in community-led initiatives, providing access to land and funding, and listening to those closest to the work,” Derravia says.

Bobby adds: “Making underutilized land available for community-based farming can immediately expand food production and strengthen neighborhood resilience.” Black Seeds has already identified additional land for expansion and plans to open neighborhood storefronts to put fresh produce within walking distance of everyday life.

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The Bigger Picture What connects these four cities is their approach: gardens are job training sites, farms are classrooms, and vacant lots become anchors for neighborhood stability. Food access is treated as a community development question.

These programs are rooted, self-determined efforts that have been building for years, and there’s evidence that the infrastructure is real and the results are measurable. And in four places where the national food system has consistently failed, residents are proving that another model is possible, one seed at a time.

Image Sources: Bobby and Derravia Rich

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Community Planning

FOOD HALLS AND PUBLIC MARKETS KEEP CITIES SATISFIED

By Suzanne Wentley

Image Source: Russ Brown Photography

W

hat’s to be done with that abandoned warehouse or spacious historic building after a business moves away? For some communities, the answer is nothing short of delicious.

Food halls, a creative twist on the shopping mall food court, have become a popular redevelopment option that creates a tourism destination as well as a “third space” for residents to meet and connect.

These modern foodie paradises are an offshoot of the more traditional public 18 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

markets, which offer prepared foods along with the work of local craftspeople and purveyors of fresh produce, meats, cheese, and fish.

Public markets, the older counterpart to food halls, often have long histories and independent stands that have operated for generations. Both bring in good-paying jobs that buoy local economies.

“We’re an ecosystem of employment on every level. It’s a mixture of all walks of life who come here to work, eat, and support

the community,” said Cody Charland, the events and venue manager for the Transfer Co. Food Hall & Gathering Place in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Every food hall is different. I love being able to translate this into a space for community events, nonprofits, and programming.”

Transfer Co. Food Hall opened in 2019, just in time for the pandemic to shift the concept temporarily from a gathering space to a centralized takeout hub. Now back in full action, it boasts ten vendors and a full schedule of events.

They’re not alone in their success. The number of food halls across the nation grew from 2019 to 2023 by 55%, with the latest count at 360 and growing. These mostly for-profit ventures provide incubator space for small kitchens looking to test concepts.

How Food Halls and Public Markets Work

set fair prices, and maintain public order.

By the mid-1800s, nearly ever American city of any size operated a municipal market and many of them, like Baltimore’s Lexington Market (founded in 1806) or Seattle’s Pike Place Market (established in 1907) became defining landmarks of their communities.

Public markets are generally more robust structures. Typically ran by non-profit boards, they include small kitchens. There are around 240 public markets operating in North America, according to the website Markets of the World.

Other historic public markets, including Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace and New Orleans’ French Market, similarly took root as civic anchors. The rise of supermarkets and suburban sprawl in the postwar decades gutted most of these institutions, and hundreds of public markets closed or deteriorated through the 1960s and ‘70s.

Public markets have been part of American civic life since before the country itself. Colonial-era markets in cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and New Orleans served as regulated gathering points where farmers, butchers, and fishermen sold directly to residents, and local governments used them to enforce quality standards,

One of the survivors is Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market, which opened in 1893 beneath the Reading Railroad’s train shed and has served as a central food hall for the city’s residents. By the 1970s and ‘80s, both the railroad and the market had fallen into serious decline, and the building faced possible demolition.

What saved it was a public-private effort in the early 1990s tied to the construction of the adjacent Pennsylvania Convention Center, which repurposed the train shed as part of the convention facility and reinvested in the market as a complementary anchor.

Today, Reading Terminal Market employs 700 people and draws more than six million visitors annually across roughly 80 vendors, blending legacy merchants with newer food entrepreneurs.

“In this digital world, people are really looking for that authentic, in-person connection,” said Annie Allman, the CEO and general manager of Reading Terminal Market. “The Reading Terminal Market really belongs to people who have been here for generations or who went on their first date here or whose grandfather took them here. People love this place.”

Public markets tend to value history over innovation. New business owners interested in a stall must submit their business plan to the leasing committee, which reviews the request to determine the space needed and whether the business competes with or complements current offerings. The result is a particular kind of texture, imperfect, layered, and deeply local.

“New food halls are beautiful with great products, but maybe they’re a little too perfect,” Ms. Allman said. “Public markets tend to be a little grittier. It’s the link between rural and urban, and keeping that is really important.”

“Setting up a food hall is certainly easier than starting a public market,” Ms. Allman said.

“People don’t wake up and say they want to be a butcher or a fishmonger,” she explained. “It also starts with a historic building they want to repurpose and keep vibrant.”

Image Source: Russ Brown Photography

August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 19

Community Planning

The Food Hall Difference Food halls have a few common features.

Many are designed with a centralized bar selling craft beers, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic concoctions. Restaurants have their own kitchens and prep areas but share communal seating areas and patios. There isn’t any wait staff; it’s normally a self-service model that lets customers place orders at counters and pick up their food when their pagers buzz.

If public markets prize legacy and longevity, food halls are built for momentum.

“Food halls can be incubators for entrepreneurs to have a satellite location and then keep growing,” Mr. Charland said.

“A lot of places have shorter-duration contracts that may be government-subsidized. We want you to get established and get your own space.”

Both models share a commitment to curating a diverse and distinctive vendor mix, featuring innovative concepts and emerging culinary trends rather than fastfood chains or large franchises.

“In this digital world, people are really looking for that authentic, in-person connection,” said Annie Allman.

Benefits for Foodies and Beyond In Raleigh, the Transfer Co. Food Hall is on the larger end with 50,000 square feet of indoor and developed outdoor areas available for vendors and programs.

“This was the Carolina Coach garage, one of the biggest bus transfer stations in the Southeast,” Mr. Charland explained. “We preserved as much as we could about that history.”

After decades of hosting travelers, the building was parceled into different warehouses in the late 1950s. Located in an impoverished area, it fell into disrepair until the city purchased it. Eventually sold to a private team of visionaries, the building was redeveloped into its current foodie haven. The investment paid off. Instead of potential crime magnets, the building is now surrounded by new homes, small businesses, and schools.

In 2025, a developer invested in a new high-end condo building right next door in Raleigh’s Olde East neighborhood. The entire area is under “intense development pressure for the first time in decades … fueled by private revitalization,” according to the city’s 2030 comprehensive plan.

That’s typical of trickle-down redevelopment and real estate sales surrounding food halls nationwide. While the national average to build out a food hall costs around $400 per square foot (according to commercial real estate firm CBRE), it can generate 10 times the sales of a traditional restaurant.

While economic impact studies are rarely done by for-profit businesses, it’s clear that food halls and public markets make a positive impact on surrounding real estate prices. The Findlay Market in Cincinnati, for example, helped spur $505 million in capital investment across 53 developments in the surrounding area. That led to nearly $600 million in indirect economic impact.

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A food hall’s hotbed of commercial activity can serve as an epicenter for what’s known as “urban suburbs,” or secondary city centers. One study found that food hall diners spend 35 more minutes browsing nearby shops than non-dining visitors.

They have to digest that tasty meal somehow!

That wasn’t the only community benefit, either. Mr. Charland says the food hall hosts different events almost every day of the year. Recently, on a Saturday night, they hosted an event in association with the Raleigh Comedy Festival called the “Giant Robot Fight Club.” One of the comedy scripts had participants line up for a “Nerd Communion” of a single Dorito and a sip of Mountain Dew. Twelve hours later, on Sunday morning, a real church used the space for a traditional version of the ritual.

“It’s so fun to see what happens here on any given weekend,” he said. “Three to five food tours come through the food hall a week, and I work closely with Visit Raleigh and the convention bureau.”

The food hall is just a short walk from the convention center, making it a popular destination for tourists to grab a meal together. It’s featured on the Visit Raleigh website and included in their list of attractions. Plus, the tourism board works directly with Mr. Charland to fill his space with public, private, and nonprofit events.

Back in Philadelphia, Ms. Allman said Reading Terminal Market is also a hot spot for tourism and energy for the city.

It’s been featured in numerous movies and television shows in its 133-year history.

They plan special entertainment around sporting events, national celebrations, and citywide events. They saw six million visitors to the national historic landmark building last year alone.

“People just love the market,” she said. “It’s a great magnet for people.”

How Local Officials Can Support Food Halls and Markets These businesses — run by for-profit or nonprofit organizations — are complex and often require support from local government officials to thrive. Flexible parking policies, reliable waste management, and street closures during loading times can all make a big difference in day-to-day operations.

Some markets even operate as a department within the city. West Side Market in Cleveland, for example, was municipally-operated for years before transferring to nonprofit oversight in 2024.

Of course, grants and other financial incentives are also welcome.

“We have received $5.5 million to date in [state] grants, but they are structured so that they don’t cover soft costs like management or architectural fees. We don’t receive any operating funds. For a historic

public market, that’s where we struggle,” Ms. Allman said. “There’s only so much you can pass on to small family businesses operating in the heart of the city to keep it authentic.”

The building’s age makes upkeep and maintenance a challenge; heat pumps, air conditioning units, doors, and plumbing are expensive.

Big warehouses that are perfect for food halls can have different problems. They are often located outside municipal service and redevelopment areas. Local government officials can work to restructure boundaries to make favorable tax rates, grant dollars, and collective marketing opportunities accessible to these popular businesses.

The Transfer Co. Food Hall, for example, is just two blocks outside the Raleigh municipal service district of the downtown area. Mr. Charland said the food hall is included among the attractions advertised by the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, but it misses out on other benefits.

A Recipe for Civic Investment Whether housed in a 19th-century train shed or a repurposed bus garage, food halls and public markets succeed because they do something a supermarket or a chain restaurant cannot: they gather people. But these spaces don’t thrive on good intentions alone. They need city councils willing to redraw service district boundaries, public works departments willing to coordinate on loading zones and waste pickup, and economic development offices willing to channel grants toward the unglamorous costs — the architectural fees, the management salaries, the aging plumbing — that keep historic markets running and new food halls open. The return on that investment shows up in surrounding development, quality jobs, and visitor traffic that lifts nearby businesses. For local officials looking at an aging warehouse or a fading landmark, the experience of cities like Raleigh, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati offers a promising blueprint for what the next chapter could look like.

Image Source: Russ Brown Photography August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 21

HOW CITIES ARE ENSURING ETHICAL USAGE OF AI TOOLS

By Jake Kring-Schreifels

L

ast summer, New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) used an AI tool to categorize families by various “risk” factors. The tool’s algorithm effectively scored the chances a child will be severely injured in a household based on various factors such as neighborhood, a mother’s age, and the number of siblings a child has.

According to reporting by The Markup, the algorithm operated in complete secrecy, using analyses of 279 variables derived from cases in 2013 and 2014. However, as noted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “it’s unclear how many cases were analyzed, what kind of auditing and testing was conducted, and whether including data from other years would have altered the scoring.” In addition, ACS staff have admitted that the agency has been more punitive towards Black families—a practice that the algorithm was likely to amplify.

As cities rapidly adopt artificial intelligence to improve and expedite operations and service delivery, a new challenge has emerged: how to ensure these systems are transparent, fair, and accountable.

In 2023, under Mayor Eric Adams, New York City attempted to address these kinds of issues with the Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. At the time, the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) laid out a framework of initiatives and commitments to responsibly leverage its tools. But over the last couple of years, the plan’s principles and guidance were voluntary to integrate, and lacked enforcement and compliance. Many agencies were left on their own, deploying AI tools without any centralized review or accountability.

That changed last November with the passing of the GUARD Act (Guaranteeing Unbiased AI Regulation and Disclosure), one of the first comprehensive municipal frameworks intended to bring oversight and transparency to the city’s AI and automated decision systems. According to council member Jennifer Gutierrez,

chair of the committee on technology, the legislation is built around letting the public know how the government plans to use its algorithmic tools and to create the necessary guardrails to prevent equity concerns (like ACS) from occurring.

FactSheet to explain how they source and manage data. It’s a way for the city to start developing trust with frequently-used third parties, which offer everything from traffic-light systems to automated paperwork and invoice services.

“The city should have a moral compass when it comes to using these tools, because these examples exist,” Gutierrez says.

“There’s an impact for a parent who is unaware that she’s being tracked by a city agency based on predictive AI tools.”

In essence, Tawfik says, the factsheet eliminates vendors from guessing what protocols the city wants them to maintain, creating better communication and clearer expectations. “We add language in our contracts to require vendors to not only tell us what they’re doing today, but also puts the burden on them if they change their AI strategy,” he says. “What we learned through the process is that vendors are really welcoming that engagement.”

Building the Playbook The GUARD Act is a crucial step in a new era of governance, and it’s one that other cities are attempting to follow as AI becomes a formidable part of their operations. In Washington, D.C., an AI Values Alignment Group holds public listening sessions to solicit public input on the appropriate government use of AI tools, while city leaders in Lebanon, New Hampshire, maintain an Algorithm Registry that provides transparency on its use of AI. And in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the city government created a “prompt library” for staff to use generative tools effectively and ethically, streamlining tasks across various departments.

Arguably, the most impressive measures being taken belong to San Jose, California. Under chief information officer Khaled Tawfik, the city crafted a list of basic AI guidelines in 2023. Not long after, they turned them into comprehensive policies (thanks to input and feedback from cities across the country), which included an algorithmic impact assessment mandating that vendors that use AI complete an AI-

That kind of transparency and organization can be just as important for internal usage. In New York, Gutierrez said that, as a former staffer, she noticed various constituencies received different messaging because offices had been using different AI tools for campaign fliers, emails, and other back-office content. “It got to a point where nothing looked uniform, nothing was consistent, messaging was crazy,” she says. It’s a small example of the importance

August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 23

of ensuring vendors have a clear, consistent method of communication and that government agencies are aware of how tools are used.

with an AI model helping analyze everything the camera picks up.

“The goal is not only to detect graffiti, but to interpret graffiti,” Tawfik says. “If I can interpret the graffiti tagging as a message for violence, then I need to immediately notify police that we need to take

care of this. This is really when we completely shift our way of doing business.”

But the addition of new technology and added surveillance lacks efficacy if it’s “We do need to audit more,” Gutierrez not explained to impacted residents. says. “Being able to create a system where According to Chelsea Palacio, the city’s agencies are using the same model to compublic information municate, to share updates, to manager, any facial be transparent, and data that’s collectto make decisions is ed is anonymized, really important.” and only still photos are sent to the city, not full videos. “It is trained on detecting Transparency what a pothole looks “The city should have a moral Starts on the like, what trash may Street look like,” she says. compass when it comes to “But it’s not trained to using these tools, because these One way San Jose is actually identify anythinking about largething else.” To instill examples exist,” Gutierrez says. scale transparency is further trust, Palacio “There’s an impact for a parent through community frequently attends field engagement. Each year, events with examples of who is unaware that she’s being the city receives about the cars and cameras, maktracked by a city agency based 300,000 non-emergency ing sure to explain the full 311 calls, usually made to scope of how AI is collecting on predictive AI tools.” report potholes, noise comneighborhood data and fielding plaints, and other daily disquestions from the community ruptions. As a way to be more to guide the city’s efforts. proactive about these issues (and thus ensure more efficien“Once you lose trust, it’s realcy within government), Tawfik ly hard to regain it,” Tawfik says. notes that San Jose in“We’re cognizant that certain things stituted a pilot program we’re going to do with AI, the public that added cameras to sanitation and parking enforcement vehicles that detect and capture imagery of poor infrastructure and graffiti—

24 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

will never see. And it’s important for us to understand why and intentionally say the public’s not going to see it. But when we do operational changes for the public, we need to engage them.”

GovAI Coalition Summit, which brings together private-sector, non-profit, and government agencies from seven different countries to discuss and further solidify the trends and guardrails already in place.

The GUARD Act encourages similar levels of transparency and accountability, demanding that agencies disclose how and why they’re using AI tools so that the public has a better understanding of their results and the decisions behind them.

“Everybody can negotiate a curb when we’re driving, but when it’s raining, and you’re driving too fast, it really reduces your ability to control the vehicle, and that’s where the majority of people make mistakes,” Tawfik says. “We’re in a better position doing it together.”

“How is this going to improve your agency? It can’t just be, like, ‘It was cheap, and this is why we’re using it,’” Gutierrez says.

“You have the right to ask if you’re interacting with a city agency—and if an unfavorable decision came down, you should know whether a tool was used to make that decision and how you can appeal it.”

Staying Ahead of the Curve The biggest concern Tawfik has about the city’s framework is AI’s rate of change.

As more capabilities are introduced over the coming years, he can see private enterprise and vendors potentially cutting corners as competition increases. But he’s confident that the city’s coalition of other leaders and agencies across the country will help mitigate that risk, citing this winter’s

Gutierrez has also been interacting with other city officials, sourcing ideas and attaining information about random pricing, housing needs, and other issues AI has a role in affecting.

Ultimately, she hopes that over the next few years, legislation like the GUARD Act will equip cities to better unmask the entities behind some of these AI models and keep residents informed about how tools are playing a role in their lives.

“Government will forever need to be a person-to-person interaction. There’s no way around it,” Gutierrez says. “You want it to feel like we’re still engaging with humans.”

Community Operations

IT’S GETTING HOTTER IN HERE: CITIES DESIGN FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE

By Suzanne Wentley

Image Sources: Louisville, Kentucky - AdobeStock

I

s it hot, or is it just us? Make no mistake: Everyone is feeling the heat.

The 12 months from April 2025 to March 2026 were the warmest on record for the continental United States, according to the national scientists tasked with keeping track. During that time, over 19,800 daily and 2,000 monthly temperature records were shattered.

What’s more, 2026 witnessed the hottest March ever, and April didn’t chill out, either. A long-lasting heat wave brought temperatures in the 90s throughout the Northeast.

In the face of rising mercury, some municipalities aren’t resigning in defeat to

Mother Nature. Instead, they are putting in the effort to redesign their urban and suburban areas to address and even counter the rising temperatures.

“We can’t change the fact that the weather is more extreme. It’s getting hotter,” said Jacob Medley, the Director of the Office of Sustainability with the city of Louisville, Kentucky. “We’re just trying to mitigate the impacts.”

A recent study uncovered that nearly 210 million Americans, or around two-thirds of the nation’s population, live in counties that are especially vulnerable to health threats due to unexpectedly high temperatures. The nation’s traditionally hottest

26 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

cities are leading the way toward climate resilience.

This work is far from straightforward.

With the complex causes and impacts of global climate change, elected officials and engineers must get creative and innovative as they consider which programs could work best in their communities.

From planting more trees to providing financial incentives for state-of-the-art cooling roofs for homes and businesses, the ideas need to be practical, economically feasible, and focused on making a long-term difference.

Starting With Studies When it comes to building any case for governmental focus, scientific studies can make a big difference. For Louisville, the catalyst for its extensive heat management work was a 2012 study by Georgia Institute of Technology that unveiled it as the most rapidly growing urban heat island in the United States.

The term “heat island” refers to highly developed areas where buildings, roads, and other infrastructure are concentrated, and greenery is limited. These structures absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat, and the lack of natural landscape limits the area’s ability to cool the air and offer shade.

“The problem was that we didn’t know the problem until we mapped it out,” Mr. Medley said. “That revealed large disparities. In the city center, green areas stopped, and you just had concrete.”

The hottest areas of the city were also those with economically struggling communities that had been historically ignored. These residents tended to have more medical problems, which were made worse by the heat.

Heat is the leading weather-related killer in the United States, impacting infants, young children, pregnant women, those with chronic medical conditions, and older adults the worst.

In Louisville, the study’s findings helped build the public awareness and political will needed to advance efforts in enhanced climate resilience. In 2017, the city commissioned additional studies to establish a baseline and brainstorm ways to address the heat.

Cool Roofs and Cool Centers While nonprofits like TreesLouisville and Louisville Grows focused on planting trees throughout the city, the government

focused on a less traditional approach.

They started a Cool Roof program, which offers rebate checks to residents who replace their asphalt shingles with light-colored, reflective ones.

“The regular market shingle is less expensive than the Cool Roof shingle. But with our rebate, it makes up for that cost differential, and sometimes it’s less expensive,” Mr. Medley said. “And they’ll be offsetting their (energy) bills up to 15 percent

in the summer months.”

The $100,000 for the program comes out of Louisville’s general operating budget each year, and the key to its success is its streamlined process. Residents, with the help of their contractor, fill out a simple three-page form. Within a week, the finance department cuts the check for the new roof owner.

To date, they’ve added 1.4 million square

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Community Operations

Image Source: San Antonio, Texas - AdobeStock

feet of reflective rooftops to targeted areas of the city.

Louisville isn’t alone in this climate resilience effort. In Miami, another notoriously hot area of the nation, city officials are planning to increase the tree canopy to create more shade. But that’s not all.

They’ve created a program to provide immediate relief to residents. As part of the city’s Extreme Heat Plan, they’ve added Cooling Centers in communities with larger populations of people with health vulnerabilities. These air-conditioned facilities, open for residents to stay cool on excessively hot days, include community centers and libraries.

by voters in 2023.

They plan to create 100 “Cool Corridors,” with shade structures and drinking water stations, as comfortable pedestrian pathways. This $1.4 million project includes planting 1,800 new trees citywide.

The city of San Antonio, too, has a “Heat Resilience Playbook” that instructs residents on how to stay safe during extreme-

These centers offer “cooling kits” that include ice packs, electrolytes, water bottles, paper fans, and a cooling towel. They’re available to residents during the city’s “extreme heat season,” from May 1 to Oct. 31.

Another hot spot in the nation, Phoenix, also plans to plant thousands of native and drought-resistant trees and construct hundreds of new sidewalk shade structures over the next five years. It’s all funded by a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, $4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, and another $7.7 million from a heat resilience fund approved 28 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

ly hot days. Communication is important because the city has reported 2,400 heat-related illnesses since 2022.

In addition to funding the planting of 11,000 new trees in the city, San Antonio also added 28 miles of reflective pavement. The city also runs the same Cool Roof program as Louisville, with almost 700 homes with the innovative roofing material since 2022.

“Just Do Something”

The term “heat island” refers to highly developed areas where buildings, roads, and other infrastructure are concentrated, and greenery is limited.

Part of engineering for a cooler future includes efforts to reduce manmade pollution that contributes to climate change.

Louisville has a moonshot goal of achieving a net-zero carbon impact for the community by 2040.

One way to accomplish this goal is through a program called Solarize. The city has negotiated with solar panel installers to provide upfront discount incentives for homeowners who agree to install panels on their roofs.

“Solar is a lot like buying a car in terms of price, except that with a car, you’re buying something that depreciates. With solar, you’ll see that money back,” Mr. Medley explained.

For new homes and commercial developments, the city is offering a program called PACE, which stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy. This is a financing mechanism that allows property owners to pay for projects that support energy-efficiency initiatives by structuring the debt into the property tax bill. They can pay off the work over 20 or 30 years.

So far, the city has completed 12 PACE deals totaling $48 million worth of improvements, Mr. Medley said.

While the PACE program has required him to work with the local banks to become comfortable with the concept, he said, overall, he doesn’t receive too much public pushback with his work. For those in his community who don’t believe in climate change, Mr. Medley said he simply shares the long-term savings that come with programs like his Cool Roof initiative.

Image Source: San Antonio, Texas - AdobeStock

“I believe, and the mayor believes, that this work is important and we should be doing it,” he said. “Everyone wants to save money.”

Mr. Medley added that all communities — not just those with identified heat islands — need to consider climate resilience projects. He invited elected officials and city leaders to reach out to him to discuss any of Louisville’s heat management projects.

Image Source: Phoenix, Arizona - AdobeStock

“If you haven’t started, just do something.

Anything,” he said. “I follow the science, and I understand that CO2 going into the atmosphere is not good. That’s made things hotter and created more volatile weather conditions. You can see it.”

Image Source: Phoenix, Arizona - AdobeStock

August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 29

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7 TRENDS THAT WILL DEFINE THE NEXT 10 YEARS OF CITIES

Image Source: AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk

By Ally Azzarelli and Johnny Crosskey

G

ood municipal leaders work with the circumstances around them to help their cities run efficiently, create economic opportunities, and cultivate an excellent quality of life for residents.

However, great leaders don’t stop there.

They also secure the future of their communities by anticipating trends and positioning their cities to capitalize on them.

Through conversations with experts and city leaders, we are highlighting the seven trends that all municipal leaders should both monitor and act on in the coming years. Some trends are inspiring (the ubiquitous use of AI, the evolution of downtowns), while some focus on the challenges that lie ahead (climate resilience, the mental health crisis). However, they all represent a significant shift in how cities need to be governed to maximize their impact on residents.

The Emergence of AI as a Tool for City Government “I wouldn’t necessarily say that cities are slow to adopt technology,” said Micah Gaudet, the Deputy City Manager and Chief Public Safety Officer, city of Maricopa, Arizona. “I think they’re thoughtful about adopting technology, and I think that’s a very good thing.”

That thoughtfulness, he noted, is why AI is gaining traction now in municipal governments. “We’re starting to see more real-world applications and more real-world things getting done,” said Gaudet, who’s also the founder of Civic.AI, where he provides AI consulting and training to local governments. “Now that [GovTech] companies have built those platforms out

and have solutions to offer, cities have something concrete to engage with.”

Gaudet’s comments provide context on a noted increase in the number of city governments implementing AI-based solutions. A National League of Cities report, in partnership with Amazon Web Services, found that about 53% of surveyed cities were implementing AI into their operational processes, with 83% planning to do so within the next three years.

AI usage in city government reflects current uses by businesses and consumers, with most municipalities using it to increase process efficiency (including solutions related to zoning), enhance decision-making through access to specialized data, and provide better, more transparent service to residents.

Chesterfield County, Virginia, a suburb of Richmond, is leading the way in terms of AI implementation. The county is currently implementing a variety of AI solutions across departments. The county’s circuit court deployed an AI-powered chatbot that answers legal process or procedural questions with the use of official documents.

Another AI search platform answers general questions for residents by referencing municipal documents and public information.

The county’s fire and EMS department created a predictive model to forecast emergency service needs over the next five years. The data gathered is being used to determine where to build new fire stations and how to best allocate resources. “I think the best use cases are

those where folks are solving real problems using AI,” Gaudet said. “We’re in the problem-solving business, not in the AI adoption business.”

In Austin, Texas, AI start-up Pano AI developed a system that detects forest fires across a vast swath of land that would otherwise be difficult to cover by human means. This system uses cameras, weather data, and GPS positioning to detect smoke and the location of a potential fire.

In an interview with Community Playmaker, Chris Vetromile, the Wildfire Mitigation Manager for Austin Energy, said of the system, “We can get the firefighters there faster because AI can confirm the location. When they can put the fire out fast, it won’t have the destruction it’s capable of.” The technology was developed in response to forest fires that burned 200,000 acres across the state.

But growth in adoption will hinge on more than tools. “How do we do this in a way that enhances public trust?” said Gaudet. “This is the new reality, and we still need to cultivate and build public trust in our local government.”

San José, California, offers a practical blueprint for building public trust around AI. When the city initially rolled out automated license plate readers without community input, residents pushed back with concerns about surveillance.

Rather than pressing forward, the city paused, engaged residents directly, and found that once people understood the purpose, they shifted from opposition to actively requesting where cameras should be placed.

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Image Source: AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk

San José now maintains a public inventory of every AI system in use, requires staff to disclose when AI is involved in public-facing work, and prohibits AI from making actionable decisions, such as approving job applications.

An Emphasis on Adaptive Reuse and Brownfield Redevelopment Throughout the country, cities, counties, and states are elevating buildings and brownfields from their neglected or underused pasts to become hubs for economic development, drivers of quality of life and placemaking, and solutions for enduring municipal issues. While wellknown developments like Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and the High Line in New York City get a lot of deserved attention, the most impactful application of adaptive reuse will be increasing the housing supply in American cities.

According to Yardi Matrix data (analyzed

by RentCafe), over 70,000 apartments were converted from office buildings in 2025. This is 200% higher than the previous three years. Major hubs such as New York City (8,310 units), Washington, D.C. (6,533), and Los Angeles (4,388) are leading this trend, but even small communities like Cape Coral, Florida (600), and Bridgeport, Connecticut (1,473) are focusing on building reuse as well.

A couple of emerging societal trends lie at the heart of why cities are reinventing older properties. The first is a post-pandemic push towards location-independent work, which is driving up office vacancy rates (18.9% according to a CBRE report). Second, a national housing shortage has driven an urgent need for affordable housing.

The core appeal is straightforward: converting underused or vacant office buildings adds housing units without requiring new land acquisition or ground-up construction in already built-up areas. This is especially meaningful in dense urban 34 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

cores where developable land is scarce, and zoning has historically restricted residential construction.

These factors have led to a sharp increase in office-to-apartment conversions, accounting for nearly 42% of the 168,500 future conversion projects, according to a RentCafe report.

“We’re in the problem-solving business, not in the AI adoption business.”

— Micah Gaudet, Deputy City Manager, Maricopa, Arizona

Equally important is the emergence of brownfield redevelopment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are over 450,000 brownfields across the U.S. They cover an estimated five million acres and are in nearly every state in America. The untapped opportunity is immense. Recent analysis from the U.S. Conference of Mayors estimated that U.S. cities could realize $1.3 to $3.8 billion in additional annual tax revenue if their brownfield sites were redeveloped. While redevelopment costs vary widely, with reported costs as high as $5 million, the EPA reports that $20.13 was leveraged for each dollar the EPA granted to cities for restoration.

One recipient, the city of Wilmington, Delaware, in partnership with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, began work on the former site of the Delaware Chemical Engineering Company, which sat abandoned and deteriorating after closing in 2000. The state began remediation in 2006, and by 2018, the property had been transformed into Wilmington Brew Works, a brewery and restaurant that’s become a neighborhood anchor. This was part of a series of projects aimed at revitalizing brownfields throughout Wilmington and the state as a whole. “They did a wonderful job on that building,” said former Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzyck in describing the impact of the project to the Delaware Business Times. “What was almost a drain on our economy is just so vibrant.”

In Detroit, it wasn’t just a building but a 5.5 mile portion of their riverfront that was revitalized. For much of the late 20th century, the east riverfront — the stretch now known as Rivertown — was dominated by factories, rail yards, and industrial silos. The river became polluted and toxic over time, and, eventually, the manufacturing industry shifted away from Detroit.

Thanks to the EPA’s Brownfields Assessment and Cleanup Grant Program and the work of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, several projects were launched along the river that have added community gathering points, housing, a popular beachfront, office and retail space, and multiple places for adults and children to play. The Detroit River Conservancy estimates $275 million has already been invested along the riverfront, with an additional $1 billion expected to be invested in the next decade. The Conservancy, which partners with the city of Detroit, General Motors, and The Kresge Foundation, says the riverfront draws 3.5 million visitors annually. It’s been named the country’s top riverfront by USA Today for three years.

The Mental Health and Public Safety Intersection Mental health has quickly become a public safety crisis that’s fundamentally reshaping how cities deploy first responders.

Loneliness, housing instability, substance abuse, and the unraveling of communi-

ty support systems have all contributed to a surge in behavioral health emergencies, and police departments are absorbing the consequences.

In Detroit alone, the police department’s mental health unit fielded more than 16,000 calls in 2024, an average of 40 per day, and that unit has more than doubled in size since it launched in 2022.

The challenge, as Larry Consalvos of IXP Corporation, which provides managed services for 911 call centers, puts it, is finding a response model that is both effective and sustainable. “Every community has to look at its emergency services and decide what is affordable when it comes to addressing the behavioral health issues inside their community,” Consalvos says.

IXP’s approach focuses on what the company calls a behavioral health hub, staffed by trained crisis navigators who field calls either as referrals from 911 or through a separate line, and connect individuals directly to local care systems, targeting treatment within 24 hours. In a pilot program conducted in partnership with Catholic Charities of Trenton, New Jersey, and funded through a SAMHSA grant, the model kept thousands of people out of emergency rooms and off the 911 queue entirely.

Detroit’s model takes a different but complementary path. Its centralized co-response unit pairs specially–trained officers with behavior specialists, who arrive in distinct uniforms and vehicles to de-escalate crises and connect residents to care.

Of about 3,000 referrals to Oakland County’s (Detroit) co-responder network, a neighboring program pairing mental health professionals with officers, half of those individuals were able to remain at home and receive follow-up treatment rather than being jailed or

August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 35

hospitalized. Broader research indicates that this is the preferred direction among cities. A 2024 study published in Policing: An International Journal found that nearly half of all co-responder programs launched in the U.S. have started since 2020.

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which has handled more than 13 million contacts since its 2022 launch, provides communities with another access point.

The FCC now requires all wireless carriers to implement georouting, so callers can connect to the nearest crisis center.

Communities like Pierce County, Washington, have gone further by embedding 988 counselors directly inside dispatch centers, enabling real-time routing of behavioral health calls away from law enforcement response altogether.

The infrastructure is available. The question, as Consalvos frames it, is whether cities have the will to build something sustainable before the cost of inaction forces their hand.

The Evolution of Downtowns The coffee shop that buzzed during morning rush hour traffic, the packed lunch spot, and the downtown ecosystem— that all thrived on commuters—changed during the 2020 pandemic.

According to the Crexi Market Trends Report, remote and hybrid work have permanently reduced weekday office occupancy across the country, with national office vacancy rates climbing to 18.9%.

In response, cities are shifting to a residential focus for their downtowns, starting with office buildings. Office-to-residential conversions surged 28% year-overyear, reaching more than 90,000 units in the pipeline at the start of 2026. Since

2022, the number of housing units generated through office conversions has grown by an extraordinary 290%. Small cities like Omaha, Nebraska, and large ones like Chicago are leading the charge.

The communities that are making it happen are doing so through policy innovation: zoning reforms that allow conversions by right, meaning developers can proceed without a lengthy discretionary approval process, long-term tax abatements tied to affordability goals (requiring that a portion of converted units remain priced below market rate in exchange for the tax break), and dedicated financing programs that make the economics work for developers.

Turning offices into apartments is a start, but neighborhoods need reasons to show up. The cities that are genuinely thriving have stopped designing downtown for the 9-to-5 and started designing it as a lifestyle center by developing walkable blocks, ground-floor retail, cultural programming, and gathering hotspots that attract people from morning to night.

Amanda Ellis, editor-in-chief of Livability.com, sees this shift playing out across communities of all sizes. “People are picking where they want to live based on what they like or where they want to be — and then figuring out the career part,” Ellis said.

“Events and festivals really create a buzz and bring people in. A density of things to eat or enjoy that’s feasibly walkable, that’s what makes a downtown feel alive,” she added. The formula looks different city to city, but the intent is the same: turn downtown into a destination that draws people on a Tuesday evening just as reliably as a Saturday night.

Cities are programming public plazas with outdoor fitness classes and food markets, converting vacant storefronts into popup venues and maker spaces, and building sports and entertainment anchors that generate foot traffic across entire districts.

The underlying logic that the downtown

36 | COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM • August 2026

of the future is built around experiences, not corporate headquarters, is driving investment from Nashville to Spokane.

Chattanooga is a perfect example of this shift, as the city is redeveloping 140 acres of the former Wheland Foundry and U.S. Pipe sites in its South Broad District, located roughly one mile south of Chattanooga’s urban core along Broad Street, anchored by Erlanger Park and a new stadium for the minor league Chattanooga Lookouts.

The project, backed by $80 million in city and county bonds and a Tax Increment Financing district, is projected to generate more than $1 billion in new investment and $2.3 billion in broader economic impact.

Although about 20% of the venue’s annual programming comes from minor league games, Erlanger Park is being designed as a year-round destination, with concerts, high school and college athletics, community events, outdoor fitness classes, and private gatherings filling the calendar year-round. The surrounding South Broad development is expected to transform an industrial dead zone into a mixeduse neighborhood built for people to live, work, and stay.

Valparaiso, Indiana, is running a similar play but on a smaller scale. A former industrial warehouse site just off the city’s main thoroughfares, the kind of blight that had sat untouched for years due to environmental remediation costs, is being converted into a $20–$30 million community and recreation complex.

The project includes outdoor courts, multi-sport playing surfaces, a children’s museum, and a senior center, all located within the Central neighborhood. City leaders are also attracting adjacent businesses, health providers, fitness studios, and coffee shops to build the kind of daytime and evening activity that makes a district feel alive.

The playbook is there. Office conversions

create the housing. Zoning reform clears the path. And sports, recreation, and cultural infrastructure give people a reason to show up.

Climate Resilience Has Become a Priority Climate resilience measures have become a baseline expectation for every significant municipal infrastructure project, and communities that haven’t started planning are already behind.

Nearly all U.S. cities, 98.6% to be exact, reported facing significant climate hazards in 2024, up from 83% the previous year. Annual disasters such as floods, heat waves, wildfires, and extreme storms have cost more than $30 billion for five consecutive years.

And since January 2025, a federal executive order has made it clear that state, regional, and municipal governments will bear most of the costs for disaster recovery and risk reduction.

Cities are now integrating resilience directly into their community infrastructure as a design standard, and the approaches vary as much as the hazards themselves. In Denver, the parks and recreation department partnered with the Mile High Flood District to build dual-purpose nature play spaces that manage stormwater, serve neighborhoods, reduce flood risk, and expand green space.

In New York City, the post-Sandy “Big U” project is wrapping lower Manhattan in a network of berms and parks engineered to absorb storm surge while creating usable public recreation space.

In Hoboken, N.J., BRIC grant funding went toward multipurpose infrastructure that simultaneously improves stormwater resilience and delivers public amenities. Each of these projects: resilience isn’t a separate line item — it’s baked into the design.

August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 37

In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis announced $311 million in grants to improve infrastructure across 37 communities impacted by the 2023 and 2024 storm seasons, including Hurricanes Idalia, Debby, Helene, and Milton.

opers and municipal leaders are looking for in an anchor tenant. According to Sports ETA, youth and amateur sports generated $60.1 billion in direct spending in 2025, outpacing spectator sports tourism’s $51.1 billion.

The funding, drawn from the Community Development Block Grand-Disaster Recovery Infrastructure Repair Program and the Rural Infrastructure Fund, supports utility upgrades, water system hardening, bridge rehabilitation — and in some communities — the construction or hardening of emergency shelters.

Communities of all sizes are building complexes that anchor hotels, restaurants, retail, and entertainment, creating self-sustaining ecosystems that generate traffic 365 days a year.

The grants reflect a growing recognition that post-disaster recovery costs far more than pre-disaster investment, and that communities with hardened, purpose-built infrastructure simply fare better.

The challenge is one of coordination.

Resilience planning requires thinking simultaneously across departments, varied timelines, and funding streams — bond financing, state grants, and public-private partnerships all in play at once. The cities getting it right are treating resilience not as an insurance policy, but as an investment in the long-term viability of their communities.

Youth Sports-Anchored Mixed-Use Development Is Redefining Economic Strategy Youth sports are an incredibly reliable anchor for mixed-use development. “People will change their spending behaviors, but they won’t take their kids out of sports,” says Eric Sullivan, partner and executive vice president of The Sports Facilities Companies (SFC), pointing to 2008 and 2020 as proof points.

Youth sports were among the first markets to rebound after COVID and the great recession of 2008, and that macroeconomic resilience is exactly what mixed-use devel-

What makes youth and amateur sports uniquely suited to this model is that a multi-sport complex running soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring creates what Sullivan calls “a very predictable buying cycle — 12 months a year.” That reliability is gold for hotel owners, restaurateurs, and retailers needing consistent foot traffic to thrive.

The demographic picture matters, too.

Traveling families, the core audience for youth sports tourism, spend very differently from business travelers. They buy souvenir shirts, linger over dinner, and often extend their stays. And when local leagues fill the complex on weekday nights, they activate the surrounding restaurants and shops on a recurring weekly basis. “When you do this right,” Sullivan says, “it becomes a hub of the community.”

An example of this trend can be found in Overland Park, Kansas, where Bluhawk, a 277- acre master-planned development with healthcare facilities, multi-family residential homes, and retail components is anchored by AdventHealth Sports Park, a 420,000-square-foot indoor sports complex.

City leaders who understand this convergence and start treating tourism, parks and recreation, and economic development as a single strategy rather than three separate mandates will capture outsized returns.

In Mattoon, Illinois (pop. 16,700), the recently opened Emerald Acres, a sports complex anchors a 150-acre mixed-use

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development that includes hotels, restaurants, and retail from national chains like Texas Roadhouse and Hampton Inn. Developed through a partnership between the city and Rural King, the facility features indoor courts and upcoming outdoor fields, and is projected to draw 580,000 visitors and generate $23.8 million in annual economic impact — with an estimated $200 million in total construction over the next few years. “We don’t really know any other thing that could bring this many people to us from such a distance to a city of our magnitude,” said Mattoon Mayor Rick Hall.

Autonomous Vehicles Are Coming Sooner Than You Think Years ago, the idea of robotaxis seemed like a distant future scenario reserved for sci-fi movies. That’s no longer the case, and the implications for how cities plan streets, parking, transit, and land use are profound.

Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company, now operates a fully driverless commercial service in ten U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, and Phoenix, providing more than 500,000 rides per week as of March 2026.

Its 2026 expansion plan adds more than 20 cities, including Dallas, Houston, Denver, Las Vegas, Nashville, Washington, D.C., and London, with a target of reaching 1 million rides per week by year’s end.

For municipal leaders, this has become a land use story. If even a fraction of daily trips shifts to autonomous ride-hailing over the next decade, cities will need fewer parking structures, freeing valuable real estate in urban and neighborhood commercial corridors for housing, retail, or green space. But the outcome hinges on how AV usage takes shape. In a recent panel organized by the Urbanism Next Center at the University of Oregon, Nico

Larco, the organization’s director, noted that fleet-based models — companies deploying robotaxis — could “encourage denser development” and reduce the infrastructure burden on cities. But a shift toward personal ownership of autonomous vehicles, he warned, could produce the opposite: more sprawl, more congestion, and more pressure on the roads that cities are already struggling to maintain.

Street design will follow the shift. Fewer wide lanes, more dedicated pickup and drop-off zones, and potentially more space for pedestrians and cyclists. Transit investment decisions will change too — particularly in corridors where robotaxis can fill first- and last-mile gaps more effectively than fixed bus routes, forcing cities to rethink where public dollars go.

The cities that start planning for this transition now, even those not yet hosting robotaxi services, will have a significant advantage. That means revisiting parking minimums in zoning codes and building flexibility into street design standards before the pressure to do so arrives.

It also means confronting an equity question. Autonomous vehicle services are currently concentrated in higher-income, well-mapped urban areas. If that pattern holds, the land freed up by declining parking demand will benefit communities that are already well-resourced. Ensuring that underserved neighborhoods share in those gains — through affordable housing, public space, or improved transit access on freed-up land — will require deliberate policy.

Image Source: Emerald Acres Sports Connection

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Human Interest

COMMUNITY PLAYMAKER LAUNCHES THREE NEW CATEGORIES FOR 2026 COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR AWARDS

By Ally Azzarelli

E

very city has a dynamic and unique story to tell — some are comeback and reinvention stories, while others are tales of quiet, steady investment in the people who proudly call it home.

Community Playmaker’s 2026 Community of the Year Awards goal is to identify those stories and give them the national recognition they deserve.

This year, Community Playmaker is excited to introduce three distinct award categories, each recognizing a different aspect of what it means to build a community that truly works. Whether a city is leading with bold economic moves, championing programs for underserved residents, or excelling in multiple areas, there’s now a category celebrating that achievement.

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Nominations will be accepted through August 17, 2026, at: communityplaymaker.com/communityoftheyear.

Image Sources: Various Community Playmaker - Community of the Year Submissions

Three Categories, One Mission The awards are based on the idea that community excellence comes in many forms. Here’s what each category honors: Community of the Year is the top award, given to the community that shows overall excellence in economic growth, quali-

ty of life, infrastructure, and community values. This award recognizes the city that got it right — not by accident, but because its people and leaders intentionally support and uplift each other.

The Social Impact Award honors communities with exceptional programs that improve the quality of life and prioritize the needs of underserved residents. This

category exists because real progress is measured in whether the most vulnerable members of a community are being seen, supported, and served.

The Economic Impact Award recognizes bold investments in infrastructure, development, and economic strength that drive long-term community growth. It honors the city that made challenging decisions, August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 41

took strategic bets on the future, and built something that will benefit its residents for generations.

Together, these three categories embody Community Playmaker’s core belief: that strong communities are built through intention, investment, and dedication to people.

The SF Conference is a premier event that brings together leaders in the sports and recreation industry, community planners, and economic development professionals.

Being recognized at this event signals that a city’s efforts are gaining national attention.

Save These Dates Who Can Apply The awards are open to any U.S. city, county, town, village, or parish. There’s no minimum size requirement or geographic limitation. From mid-sized metros to small rural towns, if a community is doing the work, it belongs in this conversation.

Judging criteria must align with Community Playmaker values and evaluate economic and social impact, infrastructure investment, and a demonstrated commitment to marginalized and underserved residents.

The timeline for the 2026 awards is as follows: •

Applications open: June 22, 2026

•

Applications close: Aug. 17, 2026

•

Winner notification: Sept. 8, 2026

•

SF Conference: Dec. 8-9, 2026

What Winners Receive Recognition is only meaningful when it truly matters. Community Playmaker crafted the winners’ awards package with that principle in mind.

Every winner receives a physical plaque and a digital badge, a spotlight feature in an upcoming Community Playmaker issue, a press release, inclusion in the annual SF Conference, and 10 copies of the magazine to share with city leaders, staff, and community members.

The Community of the Year winner also receives two complimentary tickets — valued at over $2,000 — to the SF Conference, held Dec. 8-9, 2026 in sunny Saint Pete Beach, Florida, where the award will be presented. Social Impact and Economic Impact winners each receive one complimentary conference ticket.

“We want to recognize cities doing the hard work,” says the Community Playmaker team. “This is not a popularity contest. It is industry recognition for communities driving measurable impact.”

What Community of the Year Means City leaders, economic development directors, and planning professionals know that the work is rarely glamorous. It involves board meetings, budget negotiations, and programs that take years to produce results. It is the persistent, unglamorous effort of striving to improve a place for the people who live there.

The Community of the Year Awards are designed to honor that work, and to say, on a national stage, that it matters. Community Playmaker’s mission has always been to amplify the stories of communities building places where people thrive. These awards are a prime expression of that mission.

Nominate a Community Today Know a city that deserves the spotlight? Think your community’s story needs to be heard? The nomination process is open to individuals, organizations, and city representatives. All U.S. cities, counties, towns, villages, and parishes are eligible.

Applications close Aug. 17, 2026.

Submit a nomination at: communityplaymaker.com/communityoftheyear

“We want to recognize cities doing the hard work,” says the Community Playmaker team. “This is not a popularity contest.

It is industry recognition for communities driving measurable impact.”

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Community Playmaker

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THE NEW FRONT DOOR OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

By Ally Azzarelli

R

emember when the public library was somewhere you went simply to check out a book or study quietly with friends? America’s public libraries have come a long way since then. Walk into a library today, and you might find a job seeker updating a résumé, a senior getting tips on how to use their new smartphone, or a first-time voter picking up registration materials.

Libraries have become a third place for many folks. It’s where they connect, participate, and engage with their community, and for city leaders and planners, that shift represents opportunity and a surprisingly strong return on public investment.

The Community’s Most Trusted Building Before seeing what libraries can do for civic engagement, it’s worth asking why they’re a perfect fit for that role. In a time when trust in institutions may seem fragile, libraries remain an exception.

“Libraries are among the most trusted institutions in any community, and we view that trust as both an honor and a responsibility,” said Todd Frager, chief executive officer of Library Systems & Services (LS&S), a managed services partner with more than 40 years of experience operating and optimizing public libraries across the country. There are about 9,000 public libraries nationwide, each serving a civic role most people don’t even realize. Libraries offer a shared, nonpartisan space where anyone can access reliable information that can be hard to find elsewhere. As the American Library Association puts it, libraries are nonpartisan, but not indifferent.

According to an AAMC Center for Health Justice poll conducted between 2021 and 2024, fire departments and li-

braries were consistently ranked among the most trusted institutions in America for serving their communities fairly. And when people trust an institution, they’re more likely to walk through its doors, engage with its programs, and utilize the information they discover there.

“The library remains a staunch advocate for First Amendment rights … but because of the rise in book challenges, libraries now need to more actively protect the freedom to read,” said Christine Johnson, director of the Waterford Public Library in Waterford, Connecticut. In a media environment muddled with misinformation and political noise, that role has never been more important.

The Numbers Behind the Mission For city officials weighing budget priorities, the civic case for libraries is compelling enough. The economic case may be even more so.

A 2025 study by the Carl Vinson Institute

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of Government at the University of Georgia, commissioned by the Georgia Public Library Service and using fiscal year 2024 data, found that every $1 of public funding delivered $3.75 in services and economic impact across the state’s library systems.

The pattern holds at the national level too. A 2024 study published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy by researchers from Montana State University, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Miami University found that local governments spend over $12 billion annually to fund more than 15,000 public libraries across the country.

The research found that library capital investment increases children’s attendance at library events by 18%, children’s checkouts by 21%, and total library visits by 21%, and that those usage gains translate directly into improved reading test scores in nearby school districts. For budget-minded officials, the implication is straightfor-

ward: investment in library infrastructure drives measurable community outcomes.

The placemaking dimension matters too.

Libraries are increasingly being incorporated into downtown revitalization projects and urban development plans, with a growing body of evidence on their positive impacts on local economic development.

Today, libraries are being designed to serve as gathering places, learning hubs, and anchors for downtown reinvestment, repositioned as vital public assets rather than relics of a pre-digital era. When a library anchors a block, it generates consistent foot traffic, supports nearby retail, and signals civic investment in ways that attract further development.

For example, in Homestead, Florida, the city opened the world’s first “Cybrarium” in 2021. Located in the city’s downtown, the 23,000-square-foot, multi-floor hightech library anchors bustling entertainment, dining, and retail district.

“The Cybrarium is one of the highest drivers of traffic in our downtown. People are coming to downtown just to visit the Cybrarium,” said Zackery Good, former assistant city manager of Homestead.

“And not only our residents, but people from outside the community are coming to see what it is about.”

Then there’s Manassas Park, Virginia, where the opening of the Park Central Library serves as a cornerstone of the city’s downtown. “Opening the library was a huge milestone in our downtown redevelopment project,” said former city manager Laszlo Palko.

Libraries and the Vote Walk into a public library around election time, and you’ll most likely find more than books. Ballot drop boxes, voter registration tables, candidate forums, polling stations — these are now standard offerings at libraries across the country. A 2025 American Library Association survey found that 68% of public libraries offer some form of election support. “[Attleboro Public Library] mostly offers passive election services, creating displays around voter information — and publishing links to reliable information sources,” said Amy Rhilinger, director of the Attleboro Public Library in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

That approach reflects a careful balance between active civic participation and political neutrality.

Other libraries take it a step further.

For example, in Kansas, the Johnson County Library has partnered with the League of Women Voters since 2015 to host “Legislative Coffees,”

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bringing state lawmakers and constituents together for structured, nonpartisan Q&A discussions during each legislative session.

In El Paso, the public library system takes civic programming into neighborhoods through its Pop-Up Civics Lab, a mobile, multigenerational, bilingual initiative that brings materials and discussion on voting, citizenship, and civil rights directly to families across the city. For cities looking to increase civic participation without building new infrastructure, the solution may already exist on a familiar street corner.

Workforce, Digital Access, and the Knowledge Economy The library’s civic role extends well beyond Election Day. Libraries have become major providers of workforce development and digital access — and the scale of that need is significant.

As of 2025, just 54% of adults in the lowest-income households subscribed to home broadband, compared with 94% in six-figure households, according to Pew Research, a gap that has barely budged over the years. For many in that lowest-income group, a smartphone remains their only point of internet access.

third in 2020, according to the Public Library Association’s 2023 technology survey. Some are going further. “We’ve increased hotspot lending and even placed devices on permanent loan at community locations like the Council on Aging and the farmer’s market,” said Ms. Rhilinger.

The stakes are practical and immediate. Without reliable access, applying for a job, navigating a government benefits portal, or completing a child’s homework can become an insurmountable hurdle. “With many government services now only accessible online, library staff often assist patrons, especially older adults, in accessing these portals,” said Mrs. Johnson.

“Most job applications must now be filed online. Librarians often provide individualized assistance.”

“Digital equity is a critical priority for LS&S-managed libraries as access to technology is increasingly tied to education, employment, healthcare, and civic participation,” Mr. Frager said.

Libraries are often the bridge. Nearly half of U.S. public libraries now circulate internet hotspots for off-site use, up from a

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Libraries as Community Connectors

needs, and building strong local partnerships.”

Libraries have a way of bringing people together, be it schools, health departments, election offices, and community groups that don’t always cross paths. And in places where other civic spaces have faded, where local papers have closed, and public forums have disappeared, the library is often still there.

Although the programs filling those gaps look different city to city, the pattern is consistent:

And communities are asking more of it. “The large-scale need for housing and food — and the need for mental health support — we didn’t see the scale of that coming,” said Ms. Rhilinger.

In commenting on the role his organization’s partner libraries play in their communities, Mr. Frager said, “LS&S-managed libraries are constantly evolving to meet changing community needs; today, that includes providing spaces for civic dialogue, learning, collaboration, workforce support, digital access, and community connection. Fulfilling that role requires library staff and leadership to be deeply engaged with the communities they serve, listening closely to residents, identifying emerging

Salt Lake City’s public library system built a Resource Corner inside the building, giving partner organizations, including Mental Health America of Utah, a harm reduction service and a veterans housing provider, dedicated office hours, so patrons can connect with help instead of being sent elsewhere.

Downers Grove Public Library in Illinois partnered with Aurora University to place social work interns on-site. In one threemonth period, they worked with over 100 residents and connected nine individuals with temporary housing.

Brown County Public Library in Wisconsin, named the 2023 Wisconsin Library of the Year, hosts a hydroponic vertical farm inside the building that grows fresh lettuce, free for anyone who needs it.

Hartford Public Library’s “We Belong Here” initiative offers programming in linguistics, civic integration, and economic stability, with a specific focus on immigrant youth ages 17 to 18 who are aging out of public schools and at risk of falling through the cracks academically and socially.

Los Angeles’s public library system runs New Americans Centers at multiple branches, offering free on-site immigration and naturalization services, from citizenship classes to green card renewals, in more than 10 languages.

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That expanding role positions libraries as informal social service hubs, often without formal recognition or funding to match.

Libraries offer a neutral space for younger residents to explore civic identity, while providing language resources and pathways to integration for immigrants. For older adults, they can serve as one of the last consistent points of true human connection.

In his 2023 advisory on the loneliness epidemic, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy argued that social connection is a critical and underappreciated factor in community health. Libraries are already doing that work daily.

The Asset Cities Already Have

connected, and more resilient communities,” added Mr. Frager.

“This library has a strong, respectful relationship with local government … support is clearly evident and regularly offered,”

“Digital equity is a critical priority for LS&S-managed libraries as access to technology is increasingly tied to education, employment, healthcare, and civic participation,” Mr. Frager said.

For mayors, city planners, and civic leaders, it’s a good reminder that the infrastructure already exists.

Libraries operate in every neighborhood, serve every demographic, and maintain a level of trust most institutions spend decades trying to build. They’re already hosting civic programs, supporting job seekers, and connecting residents to services.

They don’t need reinvention; they need reinforcement, and that starts with investment.

“Modern libraries serve as essential community anchors that support economic development, workforce development, lifelong learning, and neighborhood revitalization, and investing in them is ultimately an investment in stronger, more

stated Ms. Rhilinger In other communities, funding models reflect similar collaboration. “Our library is an example of a strong public-private partnership,” described Mrs. Johnson, highlighting a mix of municipal support, grants, and private funding that sustains operations and programming.

Understanding how libraries are funded helps clarify why such a partnership matters. Nationally, roughly 85–90% of public library funding comes from local governments through property taxes, municipal budgets, or county levies, covering core operations such as staffing, collections, and facilities.

State governments supplement that with direct aid or targeted grants, often administered by state library agencies. At the federal level, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the largest source of federal funding for libraries, distributing funds primarily through its Grants to States program, which supports technology, literacy, and access initiatives.

In fiscal year 2024, IMLS awarded $266.7 million across its grantmaking programs supporting both libraries and museums nationwide. That federal support, while a small share of overall library budgets, often funds the programs, digital literacy training, hotspot lending, and summer reading that make libraries most responsive to changing community needs.

But gaps remain, and libraries are often viewed as easy budget cuts, which overlooks their role as civic infrastructure. “Libraries need staff training — trauma-informed care, de-escalation techniques, and new technologies,” Ms. Rhilinger noted.

“City and county leaders who do not yet view their libraries as key partners in civic planning may be overlooking one of the most effective and trusted assets available to help achieve broader community

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goals,” Mr. Frager said. “The opportunity leaders may be missing is that it’s not simply investing in a library building or service but leveraging a trusted institution that already has the reach, relationships, and community presence to be a powerful driver of the outcomes local governments are working to achieve.”

A Front Door Worth Investing In The cities getting this right are rethinking what the library represents: today, it’s a civic anchor, a workforce hub, and a digital access point—a place where democracy is practiced in small, everyday ways.

In a time of polarization and declining trust, that kind of space is essential. The front door of civic life has been there all along. It’s just waiting for more leaders to walk through it.

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JOIN THE CONVERSATION

“With LS&S, we have been able to significantly increase the level of service to the community, while also reducing annual costs.”

- Mayor of Moreno Valley, CA

communityplaymaker.com

Community Development

SKIN IN THE GAME:

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS REDUCE FINANCIAL RISK FOR COMMUNITIES AND DRIVE ALL PARTIES TO HELP FACILITIES REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL

By Matt Swenson

Image Sources: The Sports Facilities Companies

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W

hen Cedar Point Sports Center (CPSC) was planned, before its January 2020 opening, the idea was to develop a facility that could draw visitors during Cedar Point’s (aka The Roller Coaster Capital of the World) offseason. “We wanted to put a roof over the snow,” explains Erie County Commissioner Pat Shinigo, a champion of Sandusky, Ohio’s sports tourism industry before it existed.

And while Sandusky already has a long-established tourism brand, it has become a role model for cities across the country seeking to fill hotel rooms, restaurants, and retail stores to increase local employ-

ment and generate revenue to improve the quality of life among citizens. However, economic impact is only part of the story.

The success of CPSC is due in large part to the initial project structure, Shinigo notes. Cedar Fair Entertainment (owners of Cedar Point), Lake Erie Shores & Islands Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Firelands Regional Health System partnered in what’s known as a “P3 development,” which involves sharing risks, responsibilities, and rewards between public and private entities.

“You’ve got to put some skin in the game” to be an effective partner, says Shinigo.

Lowering the Burden

“It was never about having a sports complex,” says Kyle Gill, city manager of Mattoon. “It was to bring people here as an economic driver.”

At its core, a public-private partnership is a framework to align public priorities like economic development and community impact with private capital and expertise that can help deliver and operate the project more effectively, says Anthony Adair, director of business development at ARCO National Construction, an award-winning design-build firm headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, focused on sports-centered development.

“Most municipalities don’t struggle with vision; they struggle with execution,” Adair says. “The biggest barrier is funding, and more specifically, the gap between what they can fund publicly and what the project actually costs.”

In most cases, the city already has part of the project covered, whether that’s land, infrastructure, or a dedicated tax stream, but typically there’s a shortfall in the 20– 50% range of the total project cost, says Adair. “On a $40 million project, you’re usually looking to solve for roughly $8 million to $20 million,” he notes.

To cover the difference, government entities can include land contributions or revenue streams such as hotel taxes or a Community Improvement District. Private capital can come in the form of a developer, operator, or capital partner who’s willing to help close that gap if there’s an incentive to ground lease, revenue share, or establish an operating agreement, Adair adds. Naming rights, sponsorships, grants, and tax credits also aid the effort.

The worst-case scenario for a community building an events center is that it becomes a “white elephant,” a term for a site that lies dormant and degrades due to inactivity. Not only are such empty venues an eyesore, but they often become symbols of wasteful government spending.

Tax Districts to Defray Costs By splitting the cost among multiple partners, communities lessen the burden on taxpayers and reduce the political and economic risks of crippling financial overruns.

Understanding the risks involved, Mattoon, Illinois, developed a long-term,

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In spring 2026, an estimated 46,000 athletes attended a slate of marquee sporting events in Panama City Beach, generating significant economic impact for the destination.

creative funding plan for Emerald Acres Sports Connection, a 150-acre mixed-use project developed as a partnership between the city and local agricultural giant Rural King, which first brought the idea to Mattoon’s leadership.

“It was never about having a sports complex,” says Kyle Gill, city manager of Mattoon. “It was to bring people here as an economic driver.”

In its first foray into sports tourism, Mattoon was concerned about placing taxpayers at risk through traditional municipal bonding. Local leaders took several steps to limit the burden on residents, includ-

Image Sources: The Sports Facilities Companies

ing forming a nonprofit entity that owns the sports complex and land. The Sports Facilities Companies (SFC) was brought on board to operate the facility and lure tournaments.

Funding for Phase One of the project, an indoor sports facility opened in 2024, relied on the creation of a business district that imposed an additional 1% sales tax, projected to earn about $100,000 in revenue per month ($1.2 million annually).

The business district covers both new development and existing retailers, including stores like Walmart and Home Depot, as well as restaurants. The city structured repayment over 23 years or until bonds were paid off, whichever came first. Early projections suggest payment will be complete in 19 years.

Payment for the outdoor fields, which are under construction, comes from a TIF district covering the 50 acres of Emerald Acres dedicated to business development in the form of strip malls, restaurants, and new hotels. Rural King helped recruit initial interest from retailers to place storefronts on-site. Chick-fil-A and Texas Roadhouse are examples of restaurants to open at Emerald Acres. “I truly believe we would not have those businesses if we

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didn't have a sports complex,” Gill says.

A Fairfield Inn recently opened, and a Hampton Inn is slated to open soon. Negotiations are occurring to bring in a third property.

Local businesses and residents also contributed nearly $12 million in pledges, exceeding the original $10 million fundraising goal, adds Gill.

Like the business district, the TIF collects 1% in tax revenue from on-site attractions. The money is earmarked to pay for construction and create funds for future maintenance, like replacing the turf fields.

Gill says Mattoon has 23 years to repay debts but expects to do so in 19 years, like the business district.

Mixed Funding Down south, Panama City Beach, Florida, used a combination of federal and state grant funds tied to the 2010 BP oil spill, tourism dollars from their CVB, and private funds to construct the home run that is Publix Sports Park. The 160-acre outdoor site, which opened in 2019, has

a mix of diamond and rectangular fields and has extended an already robust tourism effort. Publix came aboard as the title sponsor in 2022.

The destination has gone from a spring break hub to a year-round mecca for youth sports, all due to the complex. In spring 2026, an estimated 46,000 athletes attended a slate of marquee sporting events in Panama City Beach, generating significant economic impact for the destination. Through the first three months of 2026, Publix Sports Park generated an estimated $41.2 million in economic impact with $25.9 million in direct spending, 49,674 room nights, and $415,285 in bed-tax revenue. The venue has been so successful that there is a concerted effort to build an indoor facility to complement the outdoor complex.

In the case of Cedar Point, sound financial planning has spurred additional development.

Cedar Fair acquired the land on which the facility was built, a former airport, for $3 million. The company also provided $3 million for interior furnishings at the venue. Firelands Regional Medical Center added an $11 million sports medicine center attached to the sports complex.

Public funding came in the form of a bed tax applicable to hotels, motels, bed-andbreakfasts, and more. The region already had approximately 8,000 hotel rooms due to the amusement park’s demand.

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Community Development

Originally, there was a 2% bed tax even though the state’s maximum rate was 3%, Shinigo says. Erie County successfully lobbied to increase the allowable tax to 4%, creating new revenue streams. The extra two percent was split equally to pay bonds used for the outdoor baseball site and the indoor facility, while the original amount remains earmarked for tourism ventures involving the Shores & Islands Convention and Visitors Bureau and the hospitality community. In 2020, that tax generated $1.1 million, says Shinigo, and has doubled to $2.1 million.

Shinigo, a Realtor by trade, says it was vital that the project avoid real estate tax loopholes. By generating those tax dollars, the sports development is directly responsible for an ongoing project known as The Landing, a new 27-acre waterfront park that will open up Sandusky’s back bay in 2027. The Landing will feature trails, boardwalks, kayak launches, a pavilion, playground, and bridges through natural wetlands, according to the City.

That outgrowth is proof of Cedar Point Sports Center’s success, says General Manager Justin Kijowski. “Our facility was designed to be a supplement to the already booming tourist industry. The goal is keeping businesses open, keeping hotels busy, and providing full year-round employment.”

An Emerging P3 Trend In a typical P3 arrangement, capital from the private sector is often allocated toward the facility’s hard and soft costs. Naming rights and sponsorship deals add additional revenue streams.

Meanwhile, the municipal partner is typically responsible for

Images Sources: The Sports Facilities Companies

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infrastructure improvements, including roads, Adair explains.

However, Adair describes the operations at Cedar Point as a reflection of an evolution in public-private partnerships. While they will always offer political cover to get lawmakers on board with large projects and alleviate taxpayer concerns, a practical benefit is that communities “can assemble a full ecosystem” run by experts in the field to support every phase of facility development and operations.

The City of Hoover, Alabama, outside of Birmingham, invested $80 million in 2016 for its 124-acre sports complex and indoor event center. The Sports Facilities Companies, the city’s operating partner for the Hoover Met Complex, ensures the facility maintains its appeal through upgrades like improvements to the baseball stadium’s training equipment, the concourse, and seating. It also added private suites, a popular tool for local businesses to woo clients. In large part due to the enhancements, the Southeastern Conference renewed its contract to hold the annual baseball championships there.

Through connections and a strong reputation within the industry, SFC’s team also builds out a strong events calendar, including soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and other tournaments. As a result, the city’s

financial commitment pays off thanks to partnership and expertise from sports tourism officials. Hoover is banking on future growth, as evidenced by the addition of six new hotels to match interest in the complex and destination.

Structure the Deal, Shape the Outcome The through line from Sandusky to Panama City Beach to Hoover is consistent: the communities seeing the greatest return from sports facilities are the ones that structured the deal right from the start.

A well-designed P3 doesn’t just reduce financial risk—it creates accountability.

When private partners have capital on the line, and operators have performance incentives tied to outcomes, facilities don’t sit idle. They generate room nights, tax revenue, and follow-on development that compounds over time. For community leaders evaluating their next major project, the question isn’t whether to pursue a public-private partnership. It's whether they can afford not to.

CITIES TURN TO MULTIPURPOSE VENUES TO ATTRACT OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS AND SUPPORT LOCAL RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES

By Matt Swenson

S

andy Springs, Georgia, Mayor Rusty Paul can’t help but smile when he struggles to find parking around City Hall. Likewise, Paul is fine patiently waiting to try the new pizzeria that’s attracting massive crowds with its star-shaped pies.

The Mayor isn’t just being polite or political with his accommodating attitude.

Paul sees these minor inconveniences as evidence that one of the city’s key developments is “serving its purpose,” as he says.

City Hall is not a standalone building in this city, which was incorporated in 2005.

Paul’s office, as well as the rest of the local government, is located within City Springs, a 14-acre, walkable mixed-use district that opened in May 2018.

City Springs is a testament to the benefits cities across the country are enjoying by constructing venues that serve multiple purposes. The facilities can attract out-oftown events, artists, and visitors, as well as serve as a magnet for locals looking for a night on the town, and businesses taking their staff and clients out of the office for meetings, teambuilding, awards banquets, and other special events.

As a result, City Springs and similar flexible venues not only generate important economic impact but also significantly improve the residents’ quality of life.

Springing to Life Hosting about 300 events per year, including concerts, Broadway-style shows, a weekly farmers market, and holiday celebrations, City Springs has given Sandy Springs an identity it was previously lacking, Paul says, lamenting that there wasn’t a place to gather until the facility

was built.

Moreover, Sandy Springs was the epitome of the divide between the ITP (inside the perimeter) and OTP (outside the perimeter) in the greater Atlanta metropolitan region. “The perimeter” is the unofficial name for Interstate 285, which loops around Atlanta. Generally speaking, those inside the perimeter tend to be younger professionals and individuals who enjoy an active nightlife. Outside the perimeter, lifestyles are more consistent with suburban norms, ideal for young families and small business owners seeking more affordable rent than in downtown areas.

“We used to be a beautiful collection of strip malls,” Paul says sardonically.

In that same vein, the south side of Sandy Springs tended to identify with the luxe shopping and dining scene in Buckhead, while northern residents opted to make their way toward Roswell, a thriving suburb north of the city, for shopping and dining. Even Sandy Springs’ old City Hall’s official address was in next-door Dunwoody.

“We wanted to keep people from leaving Sandy Springs,” Paul explains, noting eight Fortune 500 companies are located within the city limits.

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Image Source: Sandy Springs August 2026 • COMMUNITYPLAYMAKER.COM | 59

A (N)Ice Place to Play and Work

The facility’s hub includes office space, a 50,000-sq.-ft. performing arts theater and a smaller studio, and is surrounded by the Great Lawn.

Restaurants and shopping complete the experience. Paul likes to say visitors can spend 12–16 hours there, enjoying shopping, dining, and theater/ arts performances all within walking distance within one development, with an underground parking garage there for convenience.

About 500,000 visitors use the grounds annually, a number that could grow significantly in the coming years. Paul hopes to break ground on Phase 2 of City Springs later this year in hopes of it opening in two to three years, before his current term ends. That project will add more retail, restaurants, and housing. Paul places an emphasis on residences based on advice he learned from famed developer John Portman.

Commercial real estate giant Trammell Crow has also broken ground on Hillcrest, an 8.1-acre mixed-use community adjacent to City Springs. Hillcrest will include 362 premium apartment units, 30 luxury for-rent townhomes, and more than 19,000 square feet of retail space integrated with a central greenspace plaza. The project will feature a three- to five-story apartment building with a parking garage accommodating over 100 public parking

Founded in 1836, Janesville, Wisconsin, has a long history of blending strong industry and economic success with its abundance of beautiful parks and recreational areas.

But when planning for the future, the central Wisconsin city is looking inward. The Woodman’s Sports & Convention Center promises to be a major positive force built on a site that had little chance for growth.

The facility, which opened last year, features an ice arena with two NHL-sized ice rinks, one that’s available year-round for ice sports and one that converts between ice, courts, turf, and space for corporate meetings or special events.

spaces for city events and retail, according to Trammell Crow’s website.

“Our public investment has spurred private development,” says Paul.

As a symbol of City Springs’ impact, the post office has finally recognized Sandy Springs as a mailing destination. “You don’t have to write ‘Atlanta’ anymore,” Paul says.

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“We identified a lot of gaps in our community programming that led us to want to create a facility that had a lot of flexibility,” says Jennifer Petruzzello, neighborhood and community services director for the city of Janesville.

The timing could not be better, as the Woodman’s Center opening coincided with the closing of the city’s primary ice sheet. Now, the facility and Janesville Convention & Visitors Bureau are working together to create revenue-generating events that spur business development and opportunities for local and regional

Image Source: Woodman’s Center

athletes to compete on a premier surface.

In the building’s first year, Janesville went from hosting one youth hockey tournament to six and also produced a top-tier scouting event spotlighting players from 18 regional teams, according to Tony Thiry, general manager of The Woodman’s Center. It also supports Beloit College’s new men’s and women’s ice hockey teams, which both practice and play on site. Janesville Jets, a North American Hockey League team, also calls the Woodman’s Center home.

Other events already held on-site include an MMA fight night, cheerleading and gymnastics competitions, a trading card show, a pickleball tournament, a New Year’s Eve celebration for 1,400 attendees, as well as non-profit fundraising events, business meetings, special events, and public meetings.

Thiry acknowledges that there is learning as the center grows in terms of reputation and business.

“We’re trying to get anything and everything in to see what works for us,” he says.

According to the Janesville CVB, there was a 200% increase in events, 135% in

economic impact, and 25% increase in room tax revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 over the prior year. That added up to an economic impact of more than $5.8 million in the first quarter of operations.

The results are validation of the feasibility study and planning that went into constructing the Woodman’s Center, says Christine Rebout, executive director of the Janesville CVB. “Our hotels, restaurants, and hospitality businesses did well June through October, and we knew that youth sports and weekday corporate business were the best way to move the needle in the winter months,” she says.

All of the parties involved — the city, CVB, and the professional firm that manages the facility (Sports Facilities Companies) — agree the community embracing the $46 million project is a key driver for its success. Support for this project began when the owners of the mall where the vacant Sears stood sold the land to the city for $1. They recognized the potential, says Petruzzello.

Research led by the UW-Whitewater Fiscal and Economic Research Center showed that the center would create an annual economic impact of $23 million.

The CVB hopes to add an on-site hotel property, as well as indoor playgrounds, adventure parks, arcades, and gaming for youth, says Rebout. A new children’s museum is slated to open in October.

Thiry sees the facility as an ideal venue for regional hockey tournaments and niche events. He expects participation in learn-to-skate and youth hockey programs to surge based on Alysa Liu’s figure skating gold, and Team USA winning the gold medal in men’s, women’s, and para ice hockey this winter. Closer to home, the University of Wisconsin Badgers won the NCAA women’s hockey championship, and the men reached the tournament final.

Demand doesn’t appear to be an issue, says Petruzzello. “This is a long-term municipal facility. It’s expected to be a fixture for generations.”

The Friends of the Woodman’s Center, a nonprofit group that has coordinated the effort to build the facility since 2019, raised $9 million, one of the largest private fundraising campaigns in Janesville’s history.

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Philadelphia PENNSYLVANIA Many of the nation’s food halls serve as incubators for a diverse set of culinary concepts that later go on to become standards within their local dining scenes. And then there’s places like the Reading Terminal Market (pictured above), that not only meet that purpose, but also symbolizes a vibrant past. Since 1893, Reading Terminal Market has fed locally grown and prepared food to hungry Philadelphians while emerging into a must-stop for tourists. The public market draws more than six million visitors each year and has been the subject of countless travel shows.

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