Main Street Arkansas Update - September 29, 2008

NEXT WEEK - OCTOBER 6-8, DESTINATION DOWNTOWN, BAY ST. LOUIS, MS
We depart for BSL Sunday & return very late Wednesday night.

Arkansas Art Links Conference October 20-21

http://www.arkansasarts.com/ArtLinks2008.pdf

Main Street Arkansas Calendar September 29 – October 3

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MONDAY
TUESDAY Susan, Mark, Nancy – DeWitt
WEDNESDAY Cary & Caroline - Helena
THURSDAY Susan & Nancy – Crawfordsville
FRIDAY
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Main Street Searcy’s Get Down Downtown
Downtown Siloam Springs Reborn
Condos in LR Still Selling Well
Hear the Wyoming Main Street Conference in its Entirety
Sustainable Cities Website
The Bad News About Green Architecture
Brussels Taking On Downtown Tackiness
6 Grant Opportunities

Main Street Searcy’s Get Down Downtown
http://eventful.com/searcy/events/main-street-searcy-getdowndowntownfestival-/E0-001-015611011-5?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=EDP

Downtown Siloam Springs Reborn
http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/66168/

Condos in LR Still Selling Well
http://arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?lID=61&sID=77&ms=62&cID=Z&aID=108391.54928.120517&view=all

Economy Shakes Up Success of Arkansas Charities
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/238597/

Hear the Wyoming Main Street’s Conference in its Entirety
http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/WhatsNew/PodCasts.asp
- learn without leaving your home. Kudos to WY for being so progressive

Website Promotes Sustainable Cities
Liveable Streets Network
The Liveable Streets Network is an online community for people working to create sustainable cities through sensible urban planning, design, and transportation policy. The Network provides free, open source, web-based resources to citizens interested in developing a greener economy, addressing climate change, reducing oil dependence, alleviating traffic congestion, and providing better access to good jobs in healthy communities. Visit the Livable Streets website for more information.

The Bad News About Green Architecture
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157576

Brussels Taking On Downtown Tackiness
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/getaways/09/23/brussels.tackiness.ap/index.html

Grants Help Interpret Historic Sites
National Wildlife Refuge System "Preserve America" Grant Program
The National Wildlife Refuge System Preserve America Grant Program, an initiative of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, provides grants to help foster interpretive, education, and visitor initiatives that incorporate history and historic sites into the Refuge System's mission. This program seeks to protect historic sites, integrate history into refuge interpretive and education programs, and build partnerships with communities and organizations interested in supporting refuge programs. Collaborative projects between local refuges and schools are also encouraged. Grants range from $10,000 to $15,000 and require matching funds. Proposals must be postmarked no later than November 1, 2008. Visit the website listed above to review the Requests for Proposals.

Thanks to Kathy LaPlante for this
Allstate Foundation
The Allstate Foundation supports national and local programs that fit within three focus areas. Proposals for program support must address needs within one of the three focus areas to be considered for funding
http://www.allstate.com/foundation/funding-guidelines.aspx

Taproot Foundation Service Grants
Taproot has announced its September 2008 grant round for capacity-building service grants to other nonprofit organizations. Taproot engages teams of business professionals in pro bono marketing, IT, HR, and strategy management service grants, each of which is valued at between $25,000 and $50,000. Interested nonprofits should visit Taproot's website to check out the full catalog of service grants, as well as the basic eligibility criteria. Applications are being accepted through September 15. If you have questions, contact Allyse Heartwell, Program Coordinator, at 415.359.1423 x324.

State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants Available for Global Youth Service Day Projects

Deadline: October 15, 2008

With support from the State Farm Companies Foundation (http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/grants/foundati.asp ), Youth Service America (http://www.ysa.org/ ) is offering the annual State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grant for youth led community improvement projects across the United States and Canada (Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick provinces only).

The program offers one hundred grants of up to $1,000 each to teachers and service-learning coordinators who engage youth (ages 5 to 25) in implementing service-learning projects on Global Youth Service Day (http://www.gysd.net/home/index.html?width=1280 ), April 24-26, 2009. The program encourages semester-long projects that are launched on Martin Luther King Day on January 19, 2009, and ex- tends through Global Youth Service Day.

Grant applicants must meet the following requirements: 1) be a resident of the fifty states or the District of Columbia, or the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick; and
2) Be a teacher or professor who currently teaches in a public, private, faith-based, charter or higher education institution within the fifty states, the District of Columbia, or the Canadian provinces above; or be a school-based service-learning coordinator whose primary role is to coordinate service-learning projects in a school or university as described above.

Funds for Innovative Museum Programs
MetLife Foundation: Museum and Community Connections
The purpose of the MetLife Foundation Museum and Community Connections program is to encourage art museums to reach out to large numbers of people of all ages and backgrounds through imaginative programs and/or exhibits that help people understand and appreciate each other and the world. Museums that have been in existence at least five years and are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, or Wisconsin are eligible to apply. Funding may be requested for one or a combination of the following categories: Collaborations, Artist Residencies, Exhibits, and Offsite Programming. The application deadline is October 17, 2008. Visit the website listed above to download the Request for Proposal (RFP).

Grassroots Local Projects Funded
Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation
The Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation is dedicated to improving the communities the company serves through support of public education, community improvement projects, and home safety initiatives. Support is provided to grassroots projects located in communities where Lowe's operates stores and distribution centers. Priority is given to projects that can utilize Lowe's volunteers. Grants generally range from $5,000 to $25,000. Requests may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the website listed above to take the eligibility test and submit an online application.

Main Street Arkansas Update - September 22, 2008

LAST DAY FOR GROUP RATE IS TODAY!

OCTOBER 6-8, DESTINATION DOWNTOWN, BAY ST. LOUIS, MS

Arkansas Art Links Conference October 20-21

http://www.arkansasarts.com/ArtLinks2008.pdf

Main Street Arkansas Calendar September 22-26

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MONDAY Caroline, off; Susan - Batesville – Window Display Workshop
TUESDAY Susan – Batesville – reworking windows in downtown storefronts
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY Susan & Mark – Blytheville; Cary, out; Nancy, out
FRIDAY Susan & Mark – Blytheville; Cary & Nancy, out
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IN THIS ISSUE:

Good Downtown Harrison Press
Helena on GMA
Argenta Art Walk
AEDC Supports Preservation Tax Credit
LR-NLR & Rogers Area Rated in Milken’s Best Performing Cities
HPAA Solicits Award Nominations
Venture Capital Workshops
Survey of Federal Preservation Programs
Teardowns Tool
Events PR Opportunity
eBay Techquity Program
Living Cities Loan Fund
Sustainable Design Assessment


Good Downtown Harrison Press:
http://www.harrisondailytimes.com/articles/2008/09/18/news/doc48d2823b4d22c709339600.txt

GMA to feature Helena September 25
http://www.helena-arkansas.com/news/x1374607356

Check out the Argenta Art Walk website (sponsored by Main Street Argenta):
www.argentaartwalk.com

AEDC Supports Historic Preservation Tax Credit
http://www.talkbusiness.net/Weblogs/WeblogItemDetail.aspx?WebLogItemID=4b3001af-6949-4b1f-b5c7-92ec8d7f3d29&WeblogID=2c1ca2ae-06e6-4883-9e3a-554f31d9db55&Type=0

What You Could Accomplish With Traffic Delay Time:
http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/012/trans012delays.html

LR-NLR Named No. 54 in Milken Institutes Best Performing Cities
Last year we were at 73. Springdale-Fayetteville-Rogers is at 57. They were 21 last year.
http://arkansasbusiness.com/printable.asp?aid=107946

Alliance Solicits Nominations for 2009 Arkansas Preservation Awards
Little Rock— The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas is seeking nominations for the 2009 Arkansas Preservation Awards.
Awarded annually, the Arkansas Preservation Awards highlight outstanding achievement in projects, programs, and exemplary practices that foster historic preservation across the state. The Alliance invites Arkansas residents and organizations to submit projects and people to be considered for this year’s awards. The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, November 14, 2008.

-Parker Westbrook Lifetime Achievement Award
-Outstanding Service in Neighborhood Preservation
-Outstanding Work by a Craftsperson
-Excellence in Preservation through Rehabilitation
-Excellence in Preservation through Restoration
-Excellence in Personal Preservation Projects
-Outstanding Achievement in Preservation Advocacy
-Outstanding New Construction in an Historic Setting
-Outstanding Preservation Reporting in the Media
-Ned Shank Award for Outstanding Preservation Publication
-Outstanding Achievement in Preservation Education

The 2009 Arkansas Preservation Awards will be presented at a banquet at 6:00 pm, January 9, 2009 at the Governor’s Mansion, Little Rock.

http://www.preservearkansas.org/uploads/File/2009PreservationAwardsNomFormFINAL.pdf

Venture Capital Workshops

Workshops for the Arkansas Invention to Venture (AI2V) 2008 are slated in Little Rock, beginning September 29 to October 2, 2008. The hands-on workshops provide a new-venture accelerator for a start-up company preparing to move into the marketplace.

For more information contact the Ark. Small Business Development Center at 501-683-7700.

Survey About Federal Preservation Programs

The Expert Panel Examining the Structure of the Federal Historic Preservation Programs would like input from the historic preservation community. Please go to to fill out a survey. The survey asks for your preferences on the structure of the federal historic preservation programs. http://survey.preserveamerica.gov/

The survey will only take 10 minutes to fill out. The Expert Panel is trying to get input from as many people as possible. Please forward this e-mail to other mailing lists. We apologize if you receive duplicates.

Please respond to the survey by Friday, October 3

MANAGING TEARDOWNS: PRESERVING COMMUNITY CHARACTER AND LIVABILITY
The National Trust for Historic Preservation's new "Teardown Tools on the Web (pdf)" highlights approximately 30 tools that are being used by communities around the country in response to teardowns, with direct links to more than 300 examples in 32 states. It is online at http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/teardowns/additional-resources/Teardown-Tools-on-the-Web-1.pdf.

PR Opportunity: Top 20 Events in Southeast

Since 1985, the Southeast Tourism Society has published the Top 20 Events publication. Through a nomination process, the society chooses the Top 20 events going on in the Southeast for each month of the year, and publishes this list of winners quarterly. This publication is sent to over 300 newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, and others, as well as 125 AAA publications. The combined circulation runs into the millions. Current Top 20 Events are listed online at http://southeasttourism.org/top20/top20_julsep08.html.

Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism is a member of the Southeast Tourism Society. As a result, festivals and events in Arkansas may be submitted for the Top 20 Events publication, if they meet the following requirements set forth by the Southeast Tourism Society:

• 1,000 in attendance
• 3rd year in existence
• Payment of $10 nomination fee per event

Top 20 Events strongly encourages you to strengthen your nomination by providing supporting material such as:
• Photos
• Posters
• Brochures
• Press Releases
• News Clippings
• Volunteer Programs

Deadlines for Applications:

Event Occurring In: Submit by:
April/May/June 2009 October 10, 2008
July/August/September 2009 January 9, 2009
October/November/December 2009 April 10, 2009
January/February/March 2010 July 10, 2009
April/May/June 2010 October 9, 2009
July/August/September 2010 January 8, 2010
October/November/December 2010 April 9, 2010
January/February/March 2011 July 16, 2010


If you would like to nominate your event, contact the Tourism Development Section at (501) 682-5240

eBay Foundation Techquity Program
http://www.microenterpriseworks.org/index.asp?bid=128
• Provides funds to microentrepreneurs to purchase technology equipment
• Also provides funds to microenterprise development organizations for operating the project and providing technology training to their clients.

Living Cities Launches Innovative Loan Fund to Revitalize America’s Cities
www.livingcities.org
With initial commitments totaling $20million, Living Cities Catalyst Fund will broaden availability and use of capital to improve the lives of people in low-income and underserved urban area

Sustainable Design Assessment
The American Institute of Architects Center for Communities by Design released the 2009 Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) program Request for Proposals (RFP). The RFP solicits applications for inclusion in the 2009 SDAT program.

The SDAT program is a community assistance program that has provided more than 30 communities with integrated design- and policy-based assessments since its inception in 2005. SDATs bring teams of multidisciplinary volunteer professionals together to work with community decision-makers and stakeholders to help them develop a vision and framework for a sustainable future. The SDAT approach is designed to address many of the common challenges communities face by producing long-term sustainability plans that are realistic and reflect each community's unique context.

The final deadline to submit proposals for consideration in the 2009 SDAT program is Nov. 14, 2008. For more information or to download the 2009 SDAT RFP, visit www.aia.org/liv_sdat or contact Erin Simmons, director, design assistance, at esimmons@aia.org or 202-626-7492.

El Dorado MusicFest 2008

Main Street Arkansas Update - September 15, 2008

OCTOBER 6-8, DESTINATION DOWNTOWN, BAY ST. LOUIS, MS

Main Street Arkansas Calendar September 15-19


Caroline – out all week
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MONDAY Cary - out
TUESDAY Cary – out; Nancy – West Memphis; Susan & Mark – Paragould, Crawfordsville
WEDNESDAY Cary - out
THURSDAY Susan & Mark – West Memphis
FRIDAY
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Batesville Street
MSWM & Clinton School Work Together
Saving Superman’s House
Non-Profits & Google
Google & Newspapers


Batesville to Make Main Street Two-Ways
http://www.guardonline.com/?q=node/47698

Clinton School to work with MSWM, RHDI
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/news/?cid=110051

Saving Superman’s House
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/02superman.html?ref=us
http://ordinarypeoplechangetheworld.com/

Non-Profit Gives Itself A Google Makeover
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/non-profit-gives-itself-google-makeover.html

Google for Non Profits
http://www.google.com/nonprofits/

Google Grants Blog
http://googlegrants.blogspot.com/

Google to Archive 244 Years Worth of Newspapers
http://www.blakesthinktank.com/2008/09/09/researchers-rejoice/
As part of the latest initiative, Google will foot the bill to copy the archives of any newspaper publisher willing to permit the stories to be shown for free on Google's Web site. The participating publishers will receive an unspecified portion of the revenue generated from the ads displayed next to the stories.

Main Street Arkansas Update - September 8, 2008

As some of you know, we had a small fire in the Tower Building last week. Everyone & everything is OK, but we were off most of the week. Given that, I’m only posting our staff’s calendar in this week’s update.

If you sent us an email after Wednesday afternoon, we may not have received it. If it’s important, please call or send it again.

As a reminder, the room block for Destination Downtown has been extended to September 22. We were in the midst of calling programs to confirm their attendance, but obviously, we were derailed in those efforts last week. Expect to hear from us today.

On a personal note, my cell phone was destroyed this weekend and I apparently wasn’t saving phone numbers to the SIM card. So, I don’t have anyone’s phone number. If you are someone I communicate with on a personal or professional basis, I’d appreciate you shooting me an email with your cell phone number.

Thanks,

Cary



OCTOBER 6-8, DESTINATION DOWNTOWN, BAY ST. LOUIS, MS



Main Street Arkansas Calendar September 8-12



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MONDAY Susan & Caroline – Batesville
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY Cary, Greg, Mark - Rogers
FRIDAY

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Main Street Arkansas Update - September 2, 2008

OCTOBER 6-8, DESTINATION DOWNTOWN, BAY ST. LOUIS, MS

Main Street Arkansas Calendar September 2-5
- Susan & Mark – International Retail Design Conference – all week
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MONDAY - LABOR DAY, office closed
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Heber Springs Downtown Floods
Social Functions of NIMBY
Grant Opportunity


Heber Springs Downtown Floods. Again.
http://www.thesuntimes.com/articles/2008/08/27/news/news02.txt

The Social Function of NIMBYism
http://www.planetizen.com/node/34505

Institute of Museum and Library Services Museums for America Grant
http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&flag2006=false&oppId=42696

Arkansas Community Development Society Grant Information
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (August 19, 2008) – Community Development is the focus of a new grant being offered through the Arkansas Community Development Society (ACDS) fund. Arkansas cities, counties, regional organizations and non-profit organizations are all eligible for the grant. Up to $2,500 will be available for award in 2008. The total award may be given to a single applicant, or it may be split among several applicants depending on the need and quality of applications received.
Recipients of the grant must promote community development activities that follow the ACDS ‘Principles of Good Practice.’ Those include:
• Promoting community members to meaningfully influence the decisions that affect their lives.
• Engaging community members in learning about and understanding community issues and their impact.
• Incorporating the diverse interests and cultures of the area in the community development process; and stop supporting programs that adversely affect the disadvantaged in a community.
• Working actively to enhance the leadership capacity of community members, leaders, and groups within the community.
• Working toward the long-term sustainability and well being of the community.
Applications postmarked prior to September 1 are eligible, provided that the applications are received by the review committee before its review meeting in September. The grants approved by the Board of Directors will be awarded at the ACDS Annual Conference.
Grant applications should be submitted to:
Basil Julian, Grants Management Director
Arkansas Economic Development Commission
One Capitol Mall
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
Phone: (501)682-7392
Fax: (501)682-1209
E-mail: bjulian@arkansasEDC.com
The Arkansas Community Development Society Fund was established in 1991 by an agreement between the Arkansas Community Development Society and the Arkansas Community Foundation.
The grants will be awarded during the ACDS annual conference on October 30 at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
Click here to download the Grant Application.