How to become redevelopment ready
The Redevelopment Communities® (RRC) process consists of several interconnected steps which are undertaken at a community's own pace. Learn more about each step below. For questions on the process, contact the RRC Planner for your region or your Community Assistance Team (CATeam) Specialist.
1. Engagement
Formal engagement indicates your community's desire to work toward RRC Essentials or Certification by officially establishing contact with the RRC team and beginning to access customized guidance. Engagement consists of the following steps:
- LEARN
Attend Best Practices Trainings—A community must complete training on all 6 best practices. RRC offers this training in several forms: online self-directed, online live instructor (next cohort starts September 7 - click here for more info) and, when conditions allow, in-person over two days.
- APPROVE
Pass a Resolution of Intent—The community’s governing body must pass a Resolution of Intent outlining the value the community sees in engaging in the process. Check out an example.
- CONNECT
Reach out to your RRC Planner, notify them of your intended engagement in RRC, and attach the Resolution of Intent in the outreach email. Your RRC Planner will review training records and get the community formally engaged in RRC.
- COMMIT
The MEDC legal team will send an RRC Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the community point of contact. The MOU should be signed by a municipal executive and sent back to the contact on the MEDC legal team.
2. Set Up for Success
Once the community is formally engaged, the RRC Planner assigned to the region will reach out to schedule an onboarding session. This session will provide a chance for RRC to introduce the community to our resources, reaffirm the process, and answer any questions. This will include an overview of Trello, RRC's online project management system.
During this step, the community and RRC Planner will also discuss which RRC level best fits the community's capacity, needs, and goals. Setting this goal early helps RRC provide more customized feedback. See the RRC Handbook for details on the two levels: Essentials and Certified.
3. Baseline Evaluation
After formal engagement, communities will be placed in their RRC planner’s pipeline. Each community is evaluated in the order of their formal engagement date. While awaiting formal evaluation, communities should begin to update the plans, policies, and procedures identified during their onboarding session that do not meet best practices criteria.
- Resolution to Proceed: Once the RRC Baseline Evaluation has been completed and is presented to the communities governing body. The governing body is asked whether it would like to accept the report and the recommendations. If it does, it must pass a resolution to proceed with the RRC program. This should be done within 30 days of the community receiving the RRC Baseline Evaluation. Visit the RRC Library to see examples of the Resolution to Proceed (near the bottom of the page).
4. Incorporate Missing RRC Best Practices
Once the community has been formally evaluated, it will have a firmer understanding of which best practices are already in place and which may need some work to fully align with the community's desired RRC level. Now is the time to work to meet the best practices that have been identified as missing. Work with your RRC planner to continue to prioritize which best practice to begin working on first. Upload supporting documentation to Trello, RRC's online project management software. A community is expected to be making progress toward certification on a regular basis in order to remain in good standing, but ultimately a community can work toward certification at its own pace.
As your community is in this phase, be sure to familiarize yourself with two main tools the RRC has built to provide direct assistance:
- Technical Assistance Match Funding: Once your community has successfully incorporated some missing Best Practices as identified in your baseline report, and confirmed by your RRC Planner, you can work with your RRC Planner to request technical assistance matching funds. Learn more about the RRC Technical Assistance Match Funding process at www.miplace.org/rrctamatch.
- RRC Online Resource Library: Working with more than 290 comunities across the state, the RRC has seen countless great examples of how to incorporate best practices into communities of all sizes. We've compiled many of those examples into one place - the RRC Libary - to help you avoid recreating the wheel. Whenever you need some inspiration, check out this resource to get the ideas flowing. Visit the library at www.miplace.org/rrclibrary.
5. Goal Achieved & Maintenance
Congratulations ona achieving a major milestone! During this phase, the community will tackle two subphases:
- Celebrating: Once the community reaches its desired goal, it's time to celebrate its success! The RRC Planner will work with the community to identify new benefits available to it based on the level it achieved (Essentials or Certified) and plan a public presentation if the community wishes to do so.
- Maintenance: The process of continuous improvement does not stop once a community has obtained RRC Essentials or Certification. Your community will be responsible for keeping up with certain Best Practices including annual updates and reporting for certain items. The amount of maintenace depends on the community's level and how it integrated the best practices to meet that level. Each community receives a customized maintenance plan.
Additionally, if the community achieved Essentials, it may choose to now pursue Certification as well (entirely optional). RRC is also always working to help Certified communities find new interests and focus areas to continually evolve and learn.
