Our homes and neighborhoods should be a place of respite. They should not cause the family or individual harm by being present in them. Our goal is to bring a natural footprint into the hardened infrastructure that surrounds us in our cities and communities.

We may live in a hardened environment, but that does not mean that we cannot build soft infrastructure that will provide habitat for small animal life. By increasing our tree canopy, border vegetations, and smart lot design, we can provide not only an ecological benefit, but also increase the health and quality of life for residents.

Our local built environment is a social determinant of our community health. It is imperative that what surrounds us locally does not create a burden on the health of the individual nor to the environmental conditions that surround us. This means we need to work with our business and community partners and neighbors to create an environment that promotes the health of all persons there.

We all want safe neighborhoods, that we can enjoy as weather permits, so we must get out into them to inventory the positive components that make our areas great, as well as find the areas that need a more detailed community involvement. Properties are individual but in their totality provide a community that inspires us to achieve greater planning and participation for future generations. It is up to us to make our communities what we want to see in the world.