Identify interested experts on sprawl at local universities and activist groups and ask how you can help. Learn what sprawl-related issues are timely and germane in your community and identify the best strategic responses.  To find statewide organizations active with transportation and land use policy, please visit http://www.sprawlwatch.org/inthestates.html and click on your state. 

Talk with reporters and editors at the local newspaper and TV stations to educate them about local sprawl issues -- and feasible responses to them.

Form your own activists affinity group of friends and neighbors to educate yourself about a discrete sprawl topic and initiate new dialogues with politicians, policymakers and the press.To find information resources on different sprawl issues, please visit http://www.sprawlwatch.org/resources.html

Monitor your Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Your region's MPO has enourmous influence on growth in your community. MPOs are transportation planning organizations for regions with populations over 200,000. To learn more about influencing your MPO, visit http://www.transact.org/Toolmonth/tools.htm and see February's article titled "TEA-21: Influencing the Money" and March's "MPO Re-Certification".

Hold your Planning Departments Accountable.  Most cities and counties have Departments of Planning (sometimes referred to as Departments of Community Development, Housing, or Urban Affairs). The statutory authority for planning departments vary from community to community, but generally, planning departments are responsible for regulating the type and scale of land use activities.