Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to:

• Improve their quality of life;
• Encourage greater creative activity;
• Foster stronger community identity and a sense of place; and
• Revitalize economic development.

Other key information:

• Complete Our Town application guidelines are available at arts.gov/grants/apply/OurTown/index.html
• Application deadline is January 14, 2013 at 11:59 pm. This deadline is earlier than last year.
• Program Inquiries: Email OT@arts.gov to schedule a call with an NEA design program specialist
• For Our Town FAQs, go to arts.gov/grants/apply/OurTown/FAQ.html
• Webinars to learn more about this funding opportunity will be held on November 6 and 13, 2012 at 3:00 pm EST at arts.gov

Projects may include arts engagement, cultural planning, and design activities. Definitions of these activities can be found in the FY 2012 Our Town grant announcement.

Now in its third year, Our Town has provided $11.57 million to fund 131 projects in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  Those projects are diverse in geographic distribution, number and types of partnerships, artistic discipline, and type of project. As regards population size, in FY 2012 alone, 41 of the 80 grants supported projects in communities with populations under 50,000.

To view a map of these projects along with descriptions and images, visit the Our Town section of the NEA website.

Our Town grant examples in rural communities:

The Yadkin/Pee Dee Lakes Project  (Central Park and Star, NC, $50,000)
Central Park NC and the Town of Star partnered again on an Our Town grant related to the creation and promotion of a glass arts community in Star. Project activities include planning and development of a new annual FireFest event, an annual glass public sculpture competition, and development of multimedia promotional materials for the community including video, social media, wayfinding signage, and downloadable print materials.

Wormfarm Institute (Reedsburg, WI, $50,000)
Wormfarm’s Our Town grant will support the planning, pilot, and evaluation of Farm/Art D-Tour. These guided and self-led tours will take place primarily along rural roads in northern Sauk County, Wisconsin, and will feature farm-based ephemeral art installations and performances; mobile farm stands designed and built by artists; and interpretative signage about rural culture and the local arts, food, and farming communities.

Program inquiries: Email OT@arts.gov to schedule a call with an NEA design program specialist.

Rural and small town America face unique housing and transportation challenges.   While urban areas may be plagued with traffic congestion, rural areas more often face issues such as insufficient resources that impact the frequency and connectivity of transit access and service. Widely fluctuating gas prices and greater distances between employment, groceries and health services make good transportation choices essential.

This web training event focused on transportation and housing cost tools that can help illustrate the impact land use decisions have on household budgets and community economic vitality, and how to identify investment and planning opportunities to improve the livability of rural communities.  It will also introduce the Housing and Transportation Affordability Initiative, a joint HUD and DOT venture to develop tools and resources to help planners, consumers, and policy-makers make more informed decisions about where to invest scarce resources.

A new nationwide version of the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index, along with a Location Affordability Index tool, will be available from HUD later in 2012.  Visit http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/sustainable_housing_communities/housing_transaffinitiative for more details.

During an afternoon session at USDA, NADO member Kevin Byrd of the New River Valley PDC presented on lessons learned from the HUD sustainable communities initiative.  The forum offered an opportunity for rural leaders to provide input into the administration’s initiatives on regional innovation in rural regions.

On Thursday, June 7 at 2 p.m. EDT, the NADO Research Foundation will hold Lessons Learned from Irene: RPC Involvement in Recovery of Vermont’s Transportation Network.  Two regional planners from organizations in Vermont will discuss the steps the state’s regional planning commissions took to address the devastating results of intense rainfall occurring from Tropical Storm Irene. This webinar will focus on how the lessons learned in Vermont can help other regional planning and development organizations be a valuable asset in future disaster recovery for transportation infrastructure. The event is approved for 1 AICP CM credit.

Then, on Tuesday, June 12 at 1 p.m. EDT, The National Association of Counties (NACo), in partnership with the NADO Research Foundation, is hosting Framing the Issue: Communication Strategies for Planning Processes.  During this interactive online training, participants will learn techniques to develop effective community engagement techniques for their planning programs. Presenters will share recommendations for getting the message out via traditional and social media, and strategies for communicating with the general public. Participants will engage in interactive role-play exercises to test these new skills. NADO and NACo are applying to offer AICP CM credits for this webinar.

Registration for all of these webinars is free but must be completed in advance.

The presentations can be viewed here:

Achieving Economic Vitality through Smart Growth in Rural Communities and Small Towns (Bertaina) (PDF)

Prosperous, Healthy, Vibrant Rural Regions and Communities (Nothstine) (PDF)

Central Minnesota Resilient Region Initiative (Hills) (PDF)

During this interactive online training, participants learn techniques to develop effective community engagement techniques for their planning programs and processes. Presenters  share recommendations for getting the message out via traditional and social media, and strategies for communicating with the general public.

Speakers included:

• Robin Rather, CEO, Collective Strength, will present the most effective themes and word choices for discussing community projects.
• Stephany Snowden, Public Information Director, Richland County, SC, will share best practices for developing an effective outreach plan for county activities.
• Trudy Rice, Extension Association, K-State Research and Extension, Kansas State University, will discuss effective meeting formats and best practices for facilitating open dialogue.

For additional information , click here.

This event was  coordinated by the National Association of Counties (NACo) in partnership with the NADO Research Foundation, with support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In an effort to foster the creation and implementation of regional development strategies, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) established a new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities to provide seed capital and technical assistance for local governments, nonprofits, and private sector leaders to join forces to pursue new community and economic development opportunities.  The initiative is driven and controlled by local elected officials, in partnership with other local private sector, educational, and nonprofit partners.  It is about using public sector resources more effectively, fostering interagency and intergovernmental collaboration, and improving local conditions for long-term economic growth.

During this congressional briefing, HUD grantees from northern Maine, south Florida and the multi-state region of Memphis discussed how their coalitions are working to improve local conditions for job creation and economic development.

Joe C. McKinney, Executive Director of the Land-of-Sky Regional Council (Asheville, NC) and NADO Board Member, facilitated the briefing.  Land-of-Sky Regional Council is coordinating GroWNC, Western North Carolina’s regional planning process. Guest presenters included: 

• Shelley Poticha, Director for the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Washington, DC)
• Northern Maine Development Commission (Caribou, ME)
  • Michael Eisensmith, Director of Regional Planning
  • Ryan Pelletier, Director of Economic and Workforce Development
• South Florida Regional Planning Council (Hollywood, FL)
  • James F. Murley, Executive Director
• Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce (Memphis, TN)
  • Dexter Muller, Senior Vice President

To view a copy of the presentation, click here.

written by Jennifer Walsh, NADO Associate Legislative Director

This webinar explored the unique challenges and opportunities affecting coalition building in rural and small town settings. The discussion covered such topics as building consortiums, reaching out to diverse stakeholder groups, crafting communications strategies, and grant management. Speakers included Joe McKinney and Ron Townley of the Land-of-Sky Regional Council (Asheville, NC) and Cheryal Lee Hills and Stacey Stockdill of the Region Five Development Commission (Staples, MN). A recording of the webinar is available below, or by clicking here.

Kissel and Nothstine were invited to participate in the meeting to present information on two of the NADO Research Foundation’s initiatives that relate to the agencies’ Sustainable Communities work.  These programs include the recently released reports Regional Approaches to Sustainable Development (PDF) and Transportation Project Prioritization and Performance-based Planning Efforts in Rural and Small Metropolitan Regions (PDF), both funded through cooperative agreements with the Federal Highway Administration.  View the presentation here.