Recently in Your Town Category

LOUISVILLE, MS - "This process is one of the best I've seen," said long-time planning consultant John McClure.  Columbus Mayor Robert Smith echoed those remarks.  "Most of the time, we attend workshops where all we do is sit around listening to presenters," said the mayor.   "But this was hands on, and required teamwork, and I enjoyed it."  Mayor Smith also recommended that government officials from all levels attend future workshops.

The focus of these comments was the first WAEM Town Designing Our Future Workshop.  Thirty-nine civic and community leaders from the West Alabama - East Mississippi (WAEM) region joined experts from Alabama and Mississippi to delve into practical planning and problem solving for rural communities.  The highlight of the program, as noted by Mayor Smith, was the presentation of drawings, charts, goals, and vision to re-design and redevelop a hypothetical rural town; work product that resulted from the intensive hands-on work of the participants.

http://www.yourtownalabama.org/calendar/ytacalendar.php

For those of you that read only the blog section of Your Town Alabama's website (by far the most frequently updated portion of the site, you may be missing something. Check out the calendar above for a listing of many events through 2009. Got an event you'd like listed in our calendar or something you think would be useful for readers of the blog, send it our way! info@yourtownalabama.org

The workshop will be held at Camp McDowell from Wednesday, June 3 – Friday, June 5, 2009. Registration will begin shortly after the first of the year. 

Please take note of the buttons on the left hand side of each page. Your Town Alabama is now part of facebook and Linkedin. These social networking groups are there for Your Town Alums and friends to network, continue to learn from each other and just enjoy visiting with people throughout Alabama who have an interest in making our state the best it can be.

Also notice the donation button on the left hand side. Please consider making a donation (anything helps!) to help keep Your Town Alabama going strong. Your Town Alabama is a 501(c)3 organization, so any contribution is tax-deductible. For your convenience, here's the link to donate again!

As a Your Town-er, we are sure that you have taken the Your Town Alabama assets-based concept back to your community and are working to change the world.  We realize that many of the Your Town alumni return to their communities with new ideas and face the: “That’s nice but it can’t be done here,” mentality of the neighbors who haven’t been exposed to the Your Town asset-based principles and “can-do” message. 

To assist you in your quest, Your Town Alabama, through funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission, has produced a web-based video.  The video provides an introduction to:

• Alabama the Beautiful - Alabama is a beautiful State, full of natural resources and economic opportunities, and is worthy of preservation.  These concepts represent an economic engine for communities.
• They Can Do It – Why Can’t We? – Showcases Alabama examples of good community development practices.
• Economics of Great Community Planning – Provides case examples of the economic benefit of creative community planning.

It is hoped that this project will provide support to alumni, provide education on sustainable asset-based economic development to the local community and encourage participation in Your Town Alabama events. 

The 10 minute introduction video – Planning to Succeed: Asset-Based Planning in Small Town and Rural Alabama is available for viewing below and on the Your Town Alabama website (www.yourtownalabama.org).   A longer, more detailed DVD version is available through the Your Town Alabama website which includes:
ß 10 minute introduction web-based video
ß 20 minute complete version

You may download the 10 minute web-based version free by completing the request form at www.yourtownalabama.org/videorequest.html.   Copies of the DVD are free to Your Town Alumni by indicating your graduating class.  If you are not a Your Town Alumni, a $10 contribution is requested to offset duplication, processing and postage.

We encourage you to take advantage of this resource to educate civic leaders, elected officials and others about asset-based planning.  Please share your success, progress and needs through the Your Town Alabama blog on our website.

As always, with warmest regards,
Paul Kennedy, President



You can also view the video in a larger format by visiting it on Google Video.

 


Wonder how many people YourTown Alabama has reached? Take a look at the map at left (click it for a larger version). So far, in our 10 year history, we've reached 620 people through the workshops held.

Watch in the coming days for one of the latest Your Town Alabama projects: a video presentation that conveys a brief version of the Your Town philosophy. Coming Soon!

Since we started the Your Town Alabama blog approximately six months ago, we've been working hard to provide information that people will find helpful. We hope you have. Our main goal has always been to help Alabama be all that it can be. However, we've discovered that people from all across the country are on occasion turning to the Your Town Alabama website for information. Here's a map detailing where they've been coming from in just the last month (most visits are still from Alabama, of course--as it should be).

Thanks for dropping by. And, if you noticed the site was down for a little while yesterday, sorry. That doesn't happen often. We're in the process of changing our email routing to a more robust junk mail filter and that's where the problem happened.

Well, time to mark your calendars for the next workshop. June 17-19, 2009. It will be here before you know it!

Here's another number that should make you stop and think: 620. That's the number of people who have attended the Your Town Alabama workshops over the last 10 years.

Gina Clifford, director of Design Alabama,  interviews Cheryl Morgan, Professor at Auburn University and Director of the Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, about  the Your Town Alabama Workshop.

In addition to this interview, there are dozens of additional interviews you might enjoy listening to, including Joey Brackner interviewing some of the Gees Bend Quilters, Birmingham, Alabama's Sidewalk Moving Pictures Festival, and much, much more as far back as 2003. Enjoy!

http://arts.state.al.us/actc/1/radioseries.html

One of the those things that makes Your Town Alabama great is the ability to network with people to get different perspectives on the same problems. We've created two growing networks using social networking sites LinkedIn and Facebook to help Your Town alums and those interested in Your Town Alabama and preserving the unique qualities of their communities. Just click the links below to join up!

For those of you who would like photos that can be printed, there is a large (and slow-to-load) slideshow with over 100 images located here. Simply click on the image you want and it will open up in another browser window. For those of you who simply want to enjoy a few photos, just watch the slideshow below!

Your Town Alabama is in the news again. (Anytime you notice Your Town in the news, please let us know at info@yourtownalabama.org.)

Your Town Alabama has been working with small towns for 10 years.  The West Alabama – East Mississippi (WAEM) Regional Initiative is seeking ways to help its small towns be more competitive.  As a result, WAEM and Your Town are partnering to bring a new program to the WAEM Region.  It is called “WAEM Town.”

“WAEM Town will greatly resemble Your Town,” explained Bill Crawford, director of the WAEM Regional Initiative.  “But while it embodies the best of Your Town, WAEM Town will also add steps from Mississippi’s Main Street Program and from recent initiatives by the Appalachian Regional Commission.”

http://waem.tmi.ms/yourtown.html

more workshop photos coming soon!

The recently completed Your Town Alabama workshop marks the 10 year anniversary for the workshop. Check back soon for photos of the workshop!