In 2019, Hoxie Collective worked with Heartland Conservation Alliance (HCA) and Molly Gosnell (Midwest Geoinfo) to create a vacant land acquisition and management strategy. The intention of this project was to create new community ownership capacity and to restore land to a state of health to provide indirect benefits of reduced crime, blight, and property damage by flooding. This new community ownership will also have the direct benefits of a healthy environment that increases physical activity, provides education on healthy eating habits, provides improved air, water quality, and mental refuge. The first part of this process is to map:

• Watersheds

• HCA Action Areas

• HCA Projects and Partners

• Floodplain

• Neighborhoods

• Diabetes and Asthma

• Forest Patches and Interior Habitat

• Vacant Land (with scoring criteria)

 

The scoring criteria for the vacant land were developed in collaboration with Mid-America Regional Council. The criteria include:

• Floodplain 0-2

• Ecological value 0-7

• Farmland soils 0-1

• Land Bank 0-1

• Food deserts 0-1

• Poverty 0-3 (block group % below)

• Park deserts 0-1 (.5 mile buffer)

• Slope 0-3

• Proximity to stream 0-3

 

The higher the score, the more sensitive the needs on the parcel and in the surrounding community. Facilitated focus group conversations provided feedback on the mapping tool for use in decision-making, as well as appropriate conservation strategies, programs, and projects in each neighborhood and industrial district. These conversations informed HCA’s short term, mid-term and long term priorities for acquisition, restoration and conservation in the watershed. 

​

As a part of this project, Hoxie Collective developed web page content to organize resources and project process with graphic assistance from Rachel Krause (Banjo Creative).