Placemaking Newsletter - March 2019

Placemaking Indiana’s monthly newsletter celebrates placemaking happening locally and nationally. We share placemaking trends and opportunities to inspire and support the work you do in your communities.

Indiana’s Cardinal Greenway Will Help Connect Eleven States The 61-mile stretch of the Cardinal Greenway traverses Delaware, Grant, Henry, Randolph, and Wayne Counties. It is featured prominently as one of the Great American Rail-Trail’s twelve gateway trails.

Why History Matters in Equitable Development Planning Planners for the 11th Street Bridge Park project in Washington, D.C. are including the history of inequitable treatment of people and neighborhoods in the 7th and 8th Wards as part of the planning, design, and community engagement processes. The 11th Street Bridge Park Equitable Development Plan includes a strategy for “cultural equity” that talks about the neighborhoods’ histories and current efforts to keep residents in place.

Funding Opportunities

• IHCDA’s CreatINg Places program helps activate public spaces in your community!

• National Endowment for the Arts is offering various grants for art organizations.

• The Home Depot Foundation Community Impact Grants offer up to $5,000 to projects that aim to benefit veterans, veterans families, or diverse and underserved communities.

• FedEx Small Business Grant applications are being accepted through March 25.

• Applications for Central Indiana Community Foundation grants accepted from March 1-March 31.

• The National Park Service is accepting grant applications through April 1 for projects that support the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities.

• Letters of Intent to apply for the 2019 Stellar Communities program are due April 5, 2019.

• The AARP Community Challenge is accepting applications through April 17 for funding community-based “quick-action” projects related to housing, transportation, smart cities and public spaces.

• The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs offers grants for the demolition of blighted properties. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Webinars and Conferences

• The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking regional summits happen throughout 2019.
• Main Street Now Conference - March 25-27 in Seattle
• Preserving Historic Places Conference - April 9-12 in Evansville, IN
• American Planning Association - April 13-16 in San Francisco
• People & Places - April 15-17 near Washington, D.C.
• Indiana Chapter of the American Planning Association - May 10 in Wabash, IN
• Congress for New Urbanism - June 12-15 in Louisville

• Great Lakes Main Street Conference – August 18-20 in South Bend, IN

• The National Recreation and Park Association - September 24-26, 2019 in Baltimore, MD
• Creative Placemaking Summit - September 26, 2019 in Lansing, MI

• International Economic Development Council October 13-15 in Indianapolis

• Indiana Arts Commission Homecoming - October 24-25 in Indianapolis

• Webinar on July 18, 2019 - Big Ideas, Small Town: Rural Placemaking hosted by the International Economic Development Council. Cost is $95 for members, $135 for nonmembers.

• Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design offers recorded past webinars for rural communities on community engagement, rural design, developing partnerships, and workshop planning.

• The Project for Public Spaces offers a variety of other conferences and events on placemaking.

Resources, Guides and Case Studies

• PlacePlanning: A Detailed Step-by-Step Guide outlines the basics for those that want to improve a place or who will be managing a placemaking process.

• A recent study in Chicago shows that “upzoning” may not help to stabilize housing prices, at least in the short term.

• The Rural Innovation Initiative is a project of the Center on Rural Innovation that hopes to curb and reverse brain drain in rural communities by building a series of outposts for remote workers.

Read, Listen, Watch

• Read: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is an engaging non-fiction book about a serial killer, Chicago, urban planning, and the 1893 World’s Fair. Betcha didn’t think those things could be combined and called engaging, huh? Also, see below – read it before you watch it!

• Listen: The Energy Gang is a weekly podcast about technological, political, and economic forces driving energy and environmental issues.

• Watch: The Devil in the White City will soon be adapted into a Hulu series.

Placemaking in the News

• A proposed redevelopment of a 130-year old building in Madison, IN will help tourism in the city.

• Fishers’ vision for its Nickel Plate Trail includes a rec center, playgrounds, reading nooks, and plazas.

• Logansport is raising money to improve trail safety.

• Indianapolis residents are preparing for the 10 East Art + Design District.

• Queen Latifah is investing in affordable housing in New Jersey Hometown

Jobs

• Land Use Planner (Indianapolis)

• Director of Urban Forestry; Staff Engineer; Housing Inspector (Terre Haute)

• Director of Planning and Development (Town of Lowell)

• City of Indianapolis Summer Internships

• Project Manager, Near North Development Corporation (Indianapolis)

Contact me with ideas, comments, or questions: Carmen Lethig, IHCDA Placemaking Manager at clethig@ihcda.in.gov or 317.234.6290. If your agency has a new staff member who wishes to receive this newsletter, please e-mail communications@ihcda.in.gov.