Back to the Future: A New Era for Local Governments and their Communities

By Anita Tillman, AMCorp International and the Southeast Sustainability Directors Network

For the better part of the past decade, local governments have operated in an unprecedented era of opportunity. Billions in federal funding became available almost overnight, reshaping how municipalities dreamt, designed, and delivered infrastructure and resilience projects. And yet, as the landscape begins to shift again, with federal dollars slowing and administrative priorities evolving, it’s time to ask the hard question: what happens after the wave?

The answer is not to panic. It’s not in paralysis. It's pivoting.

At the Southeast Sustainability Directors Network (SSDN), we are embracing this transition with clear eyes and a renewed sense of purpose. We are not waiting for the next funding announcement or federal initiative to dictate our momentum. We are choosing to move forward—not backward—by returning to the fundamentals of local innovation, regional collaboration, and truly sustainable infrastructure.

We’ve been here before. Long before federal grants came with six- or seven-figure awards, communities in the Southeast were solving complex problems with limited resources. Southeast local governments knew how to partner, how to stretch dollars, how to innovate, and how to work across political and ideological lines. That muscle memory still exists—it just needs to be reactivated.

So what does a post-historic-funding landscape look like?

It looks like SSDN’s deep, tailored technical assistance programs, where 71 local governments and 23 community-based organizations built capacity, secured over $277 million in awards, and laid the groundwork for long-term impact. It looks like 80% of those communities reporting increased capacity to pursue funding. It looks like 96% forging lasting partnerships beyond the program’s end. It looks like new equity commitments, new project starts, and new public conversations about climate resilience and community wellbeing.

Most importantly, it looks like a network not waiting for the cavalry, but becoming it.

Assume Federal Funding Remains Limited. Now What?

Let’s be honest: much of the last few years’ work was built on the hope that federal funding would continue at high levels. But if we assume it won’t, we are encouraged to be proactive in exploring innovative ideas. We stop waiting. We can use this momentum to start building something truly sustainable, like funding models that aren’t dependent on political tides, programs that can be locally led and regionally scaled, and partnerships that reflect the values and needs of the communities we serve.

This isn’t just SSDN’s shift. It’s an invitation. We are calling on our partners, peers, and local leaders to join us at the table to share ideas, co-design solutions, resource innovative ideas, and reimagine sustainability through a lens of resilience and local leadership.

That doesn’t mean going it alone. It means being strategic, being flexible, and pursuing creative ways to advance your programs. It means identifying new philanthropic, private, and cooperative funders while continuing to be strategic about accessing federal and state funding sources. It means rediscovering the value of workforce-based programs, and community-centered innovation. It means no longer seeing sustainability as a grant application checkbox, but as the very core of how we govern, build, and thrive.

Leading Together in a New Era

We have a new generation of local government leaders who’ve never governed in an era of scarcity. That reality can feel daunting, but it’s also an opportunity. The strength of our future won’t be measured solely in dollars, but in the depth of our relationships and the resilience of our community fabric.

SSDN’s greatest asset has always been its network—the trust, expertise, and collaboration we’ve built across local governments, community-based organizations, philanthropic leaders, and private-sector partners.  That network is our bridge forward in this new era. We can’t do it all ourselves, but together, we have the relationships to get it done.

Moving forward means leaning into those connections, breaking down silos, and building tables where public, private, and philanthropic voices sit side by side across political and ideological lines. It means reshaping the future into one where resources are flexible, adaptable, and powered by shared purpose.

In this next chapter, sustainability isn’t just a goal; it’s the common bond that unites us. By pulling on the relationships we’ve cultivated and the community experiences we’ve shared, we can continue to design solutions that meet the moment, no matter how the landscape changes.

Let’s move forward, together.