Main Street Arkansas Update - July 21, 2008

NEXT WEEK - MSA QUARTERLY TRAINING: JULY 29-30, HARDY
TOPIC: MAIN TO MAIN (HOW CAN WE REPLICATE THIS IN AR?)
SPEAKER: LEON STEELE, MAIN TO MAIN COORDINATOR, LOUISIANA MAIN STREET

THIS WEEK - JULY 24-25 - ARKANSAS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION SUMMER MEETING, MT MAGAZINE

OCTOBER 6-8, DESTINATION DOWNTOWN, BAY ST. LOUIS, MS
OCTOBER 21-25 – NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION CONFERENCE, TULSA, OK

October 20-21 - Artlinks 2008: The Value of the Arts in the 21st-Century, Little Rock

NOVEMBER 15-18 NATIONAL TRAILS SYMPOSIUM, LITTLE ROCK more at www.americantrails.org (good place for Rails to Trails information)

Main Street Arkansas Calendar July 21 – July 25, 2008
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MONDAY Mark, Caroline & Susan – Batesville
TUESDAY Cary – West Memphis; Greg, Susan – Crawfordsville
WEDNESDAY Cary – Helena, RHDI Quarterly Meeting
THURSDAY Cary – Paris, Arkansas Community Development Conference; Nancy & Mark – Helena
FRIDAY Nancy – annual leave, Susan – Searcy
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IN THIS ISSUE
Grant Announcement
Inquiry
Press In Various Communities
2 Grant Announcements
GreatNonProfits.org
Preserve America Info
Smart Growth Parking Publication
2 Good In State Workshops


We announced our Slipcover & Downtown Revitalization grants Thursday. Each of the recipient programs should have received their letter from Governor Beebe congratulating them by now. Press releases have been sent to your local newspaper. Congratulations to all.

If you have special zoning for ‘entertainment properties’ owned by a public or non-profit &/or have dealt with updating city regulations for banners, please contact me or Anita Parrett in Blytheville.

Paragould’s Own Gina Jarrett’s 1st in a Series of Columns for the Paragould Daily Press:
http://www.paragoulddailypress.com/articles/2008/07/05/opinion/doc486edf2d80629476960269.txt

Good Main Street Harrison Press:
http://www.harrisondailytimes.com/articles/2008/07/14/news/doc487b7de74bc81881850549.txt
http://www.harrisondailytimes.com/articles/2008/07/17/news/doc487f6e9e6d953704519261.txt

Good Main Street El Dorado Press:
http://www.eldoradonews.com/news/localnews/2008/07/18/main-street-receives-grant-90.php

Good Russellville Press:
http://www.couriernews.com/story.php?ID=18986

Good Main Street Rogers Press:
http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/63862/

American Heritage Preservation Grants
http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&flag2006=false&oppId=42279

Bank of America is partnering with the Institute to provide grants to small museums, libraries, and archives. The grants will raise awareness and fund preservation of treasures held in small museums, libraries and archives. Grants will help to preserve specific items, including works of art, artifacts and historical documents that are in need of conservation. Applicants will build on completed conservation assessments of their collections, to ensure that the Bank of America/IMLS grants are used in accordance with best practices in the field, and underscore the importance of assessment planning.

Tourism Cares Accepting Letters of Inquiry for Worldwide Grant Program

Deadline: October 1, 2008 (Letters of Inquiry)

Tourism Cares' (http://www.tourismcares.org/ ) Worldwide Grant Program distributes charitable grants to worthy tourism-related nonprofit organizations worldwide for capital improvements or programs.

The program's primary consideration is to fund projects and programs whose goal is capital ("brick-and-mortar") improvements that serve to protect, restore, or conserve sites of exceptional cultural, historic, or natural significance; or the education of local host communities and the traveling public about the conservation and preservation of sites of exceptional cultural, historical, or natural significance.

Program grants average $10,000 each; however, based on availability of funds, grants of up to $100,000 each will be considered. The 2008 Worldwide Grant Program goals call for a balanced distribution of grants to U.S. and non-U.S. recipients.

U.S.-based applicant organizations must have nonprofit, tax- exempt, 501(c) (3) status; non-U.S.-based applicant organizations must have status equivalent to the 501(c) (3) designation.

Letter of Inquiry packets are available at the Tourism Cares website.


Check out www.greatnonprofits.org
GreatNonprofits is a place to find, review, and talk about great—and perhaps not so great—nonprofits.

If you have direct experience with a nonprofit, share your knowledge and help other people discover trustworthy nonprofits that are making a difference.

Preserve America Funding Passes House
http://www.preservationdirectory.com/PreservationBlogs/ArticleDetail.aspx?id=582&catid=14
- each Main Street & Network program needs to be PA communities. We’ll talk more about this in Hardy We have PA application templates for you.

Parking Matters Publication – “Designing, Operating & Financing Structured Parking in Smart Growth Communities
http://www.parking.org/parkingmatters070106.pdf

Two Upcoming Workshops

August 6: Reinventing Communities Seminar, Peabody Hotel, Little Rock.
James A. Richardson Jr., Executive Director of the National Rural Funders Collaborative will speak on regionalism and ways to “reinvent” communities following a systemic shock such as a natural disaster, loss of a major employer or a changing economy. The seminar is sponsored by the Little Rock Branch of the Federal Reserve, and will take place at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock from 4 - 6 p.m.
To register, call Julie Kerr at 501-324-8296 or e-mail julie.a.kerr@stls.frb.org

October 28: Workshop: Jump-Starting a Brighter Future for Communities through Quality of Place, Mather Lodge, Petit Jean State Park near Morrilton.
Does your community strive to move beyond ordinary? Would you like to attract entrepreneurs back to their hometown to generate economic opportunities? Is your community struggling to recover in the wake of recent disasters? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, your community may benefit from strategies to improve its quality of place. Community leaders are invited to a workshop to be held October 28, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at historic Mather Lodge on Petit Jean Mountain. Registration - by July 25 - is required. There will be a charge of $35, to cover the cost of meals and educational materials.
Instructors Dr. Mark Peterson and Maureen Rose will lead an active learning session and provide grab-and-go tools to jump-start community development projects for communities, civic groups, youth organizations, boards and councils. Participants will receive a quality of place toolkit to identify community projects for innovation, entrepreneurship, beautification, heritage, and more. Learn to create extraordinary personal experiences leading to high quality of place.
Learn what attracts people to live, work and play in your community.
Create an action plan for a quality of place feature for your county or community. To register, call or email Maureen Rose at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service Community and Economic Development program office: 501-671-2066; mrose@uaex.edu