USGBC receives funding for LEED for Cities and Communities Program

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) received a new $500,000 grant from Bank of America to support the LEED for Cities and Communities Program.

The money will be used to support LEED certification of 15 U.S. cities and communities. The grant provides financial assistance, educational resources, and technical support. USGBC and Bank of America launched the LEED for Cities and Communities grant program with six U.S. cities in 2018.

“The LEED for Cities and Communities certification program gives leaders a framework for planning, designing, measuring and managing the social, economic, and environmental performance of the places where they live, work, learn, and play,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, USGBC. “With support from Bank of America, we will empower these grant recipients to deliver a higher living standard for their residents.”

The U.S. cities and communities that will benefit from the 2019 grants are the first to pursue LEED v4.1 certification. They are:

— Albuquerque, N.M.

— Baltimore, Md.

— Birmingham, Ala.

— Bloomington, Ind.

— Cincinnati, Ohio

— Greensboro, N.C.

— Las Vegas, Nev.

— Miami, Fla.

— Orange County, N.Y.

— Orlando, Fla.

— Pueblo County, Colo.

— Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

— Royal Oak, Mich.

— Santa Fe, N.M.

— Shaker Heights, Ohio

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.