By Jenna Pizzi, Vermont Press Bureau

Editor's note: The following article first appeared on the website of Montpleier Times-Argus newspaper. You can find the original here.

The Montpelier-based Institute for Sustainable Communities was awarded a $1 million federal grant announced Thursday to work with a federal coalition to help spread sustainable growth in neighborhoods throughout the country.

The institute will use the grant to work with Smart Growth America, an advocacy group, under the federal government’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities to create a learning network to help regional planners clear the hurdles they may come across when creating a sustainable community.

"Our job will be to create a peer learning network from the start," said Steve Nicholas, the institute’s vice president for U.S. and climate projects. "To learn from each other and coach each other and improve on the work that they are doing."

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities integrates federal departments, like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency, allowing them to work together to find solutions to common problems.

The grant the institute received is part of the total $5.65 million that was awarded to eight organizations nationwide.

"This is great news for Vermont and the rest of the country," said Vermont’s congressional delegation in a joint statement Thursday. "The ISC has a track record of success doing this, and their bottom-up approach creates community leadership and lasting results."