Main Street Arkansas Update - October 6, 2008

Arkansas Art Links Conference October 20-21

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

Main Street Arkansas Calendar October 6 - 10

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MONDAY Destination Downtown
TUESDAY Destination Downtown
WEDNESDAY Destination Downtown
THURSDAY
FRIDAY

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IN THIS ISSUE:

El Dorado Finalist for GAMSA!

Over $300k for AR Preserve America Towns This Round

Main Street Batesville Press

Downtown Heber Springs Press

AR Public Relations Society Contest for AR Non-Profits

Freeways Without Future

Slow Food Nation

Fighting 50’s Era Parking Standards

Small Town or Metro Nation

Revitalizing the Core City Article

Heritage Travel Initiative

Pull Quote re: Non-Profits

Grant Opportunity





El Dorado a Finalist for the Great American Main Street Award!



Aledo Main Street, Inc.
Aledo, Illinois

Federal Hill Main Street
Baltimore, Maryland

Livermore Downtown Inc.
Livermore, California

Main Street Toccoa
Toccoa, Georgia

Main Street Oberlin, Inc.
Oberlin, Ohio

Main Street El Dorado
El Dorado, Arkansas

Main Street Fairmont
Fairmont, West Virginia

On Broadway, Inc.
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Rochester DDA
Rochester, Michigan

Rehoboth Beach Main Street, Inc.
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware


Preserve America

I’ve been promoting Preserve America for over three years now. To date, we have nine (9) PA communities with three (3) more pending. Last week we learned about three more successful PA grant applications for Blytheville, Dumas and Helena. In total, these towns received $319,178. Add to that the $50,000 our office, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program received this round (having received over $250,000 previously) Osceola receiving over $100,000 and Eureka Springs receiving $62,760 last year, Ft. Smith’s $46,000 and Little Rock’s $50,000 Arkansas is very close to having received $1 million in PA money. If that doesn’t motivate you to complete your PA application, I don’t know what will.

We have application templates we’ll provide you. Also, the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas recently hired a Preserve America coordinator to promote the program and help with local applications. Her name is Rhea Roberts and she can be reached at 501.372.4757.



n Arkansas Delta Gospel Institute Master Plan Dumas, Arkansas; $60,590

n Blytheville Greyhound Bus Station Interpretative Project; Blytheville, Arkansas; $55,088

n Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Markets Project State Historic Preservation Office, Arkansas $50,000

n Promoting Historic Helena Helena-West Helena, Arkansas; $203,500



Good Main Street Batesville Press:

http://www.guardonline.com/?q=node/48358



Heber Springs Executive Director Hired

http://www.thesuntimes.com/articles/2008/10/01/news/news03.txt



Arkansas Public Relations Society Contest Winner to Offer Free Services to Non-Profits


On Nov. 21, the PRSA Arkansas Chapter will be dedicating our monthly meeting to brainstorming public relations and marketing strategy for two winning nonprofit organizations. The winning nonprofits will engage our members in an hour of FREE public relations and marketing consultation. We hope to make this first session a success and continue it on an annual basis.

We are opening the competition up to any 501(c)(3) organization based in Arkansas. Small and large organizations looking to further their public relations and marketing efforts are encouraged to apply. Organizations are asked to submit the application form by Wednesday, Oct. 15 (more information can be found in the document; please contact Natalie Ghidotti for the form).

If you have any questions about the application process or the Nov. 21 session, please contact Natalie Ghidotti, APR, at ghidotti@sbcglobal.net.

We look forward to your participation on Nov. 21 and to helping some of our state's nonprofits take their communications to the next level!



Freeways Without Future

http://www.cnu.org/highways/freewayswithoutfutures

http://www.metafilter.com/75225/Freeways-Without-Futures



Slow Food Nation

http://fora.tv/partner/Slow_Food_Nation

http://www.metafilter.com/75180/Slow-Food-Nation-08

“Urban planning, food policy, health and education initiatives – government policy at all levels can contribute to food systems that support the whole community. Learn from leaders in the field as they explore the first steps. . . “



Cities Fight 50’s Era Parking Standards

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26806628/



Small Town or Metro Nation?

http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2008/1008_smalltowns_katz.aspx?p=1

The Brookings Institute continues to beat the drum of the value of urban areas vs. “small towns”. Their thesis is that our population & with it our economy is moving away from “small towns” – but nobody will admit it (admittedly, an oversimplification). I suspect we will see some of this after the next census when state house & senate seats are redistricted. Expect to see more seats in central & northwest Arkansas while other areas have fewer seats.



“The top 100 metropolitan areas are home to 68 percent of America's jobs and are the origin of 75 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.”



How Ohio Can Revitalize Its Core Communities

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2008/~/media/Files/events/2008/0910_restoring_prosperity/speech_katz.pdf



National Trust Launches Heritage Travel Subsidiary



The National Trust for Historic Preservation has created a subsidiary – Heritage Travel –a comprehensive, online resource for heritage travelers and historic destinations. The site will launch in early 2009.

http://www.heritagetravelinc.com



In case you didn’t read it, a highlight from last week’s article regarding the challenges non-profits in Arkansas face:



Of the $ 306.3 billion in charitable giving last year, the Giving USA Foundation reported $ 229. 8 billion came from individuals, not companies.

Religious groups (33 percent) and education organizations (14 percent) get the highest percentages of the $ 306 billion, the foundation’s survey shows.

Special events raise only a small percentage of annual donations, but they introduce people to a nonprofit organization and spur future gifts.

Up to $3,000 Grant Opportunity

Recognizing the demand for students to gain "real world" experience and for our institutional members to get qualified interns, AASLH offers its smaller institutional members the opportunity to apply for up to $3,000 for the Alderson Internship Program.

Requirements:

Must be an AASLH Institutional Member
Must have an annual operating budget under $500,000
Must agree to match funds on a 1:3 basis
Application must be received by the AASLH office no later than 5 p.m. on December 15
Learn More and Access the Application

Visit www.aaslh.org/alderson for more information or to download an application.