About the Reconnecting Communities Institute
Our Mission
The Reconnecting Communities Institute (RCI) is a U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) center for learning that helps communities expand economic opportunity and mobility through transportation reconnection projects.
Our Work
RCI provides free technical assistance for projects that aim to remove, retrofit, mitigate, or replace existing transportation barriers.
Through trainings and one-on-one assistance, we support communities at each phase of their transportation reconnection projects. We help communities:
ENVISION
RCI helps communities turn project ideas into proposals through grant writing trainings, budget development support, community engagement planning, and more.
PLAN
RCI helps communities develop robust project plans through environmental review support, benefits and impacts assessment, right of way navigation, and more.
IMPLEMENT
RCI helps communities move from planning to implementation through engineering and design support, community engagement strategies, and more.
Who Can Participate in RCI
RCI can assist any state, local, or Tribal government, metropolitan planning organization (MPO), or nonprofit working to address a barrier posed by existing transportation infrastructure, in order to expand community mobility and improve lives.
Our technical assistance is available to qualifying projects at any stage of planning or development, including grantees of previous US DOT programs, such as the former RCP and RCN programs. If you are not sure if your project qualifies as a transportation reconnection project, we encourage you to submit the Expression of Interest form so that our team can assess whether your project qualifies.
Our Team
The RCI technical assistance team is a partnership of 12 organizations with expertise across urban planning, communications, adult learning, civil engineering, and other subjects.