Your Town Alabama: Designing Our Future

Seed Grants for National Wildlife Refuge Organizations: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

The National Wildlife Refuge Friends Group Grant Program, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is requesting proposals for projects that assist nonprofit organizations to be effective co-stewards of the important natural resources within the National Wildlife Refuge System. This program provides seed grants to innovative proposals that seek to increase the number and effectiveness of organizations interested in assisting the Refuge System nationwide. This year's grant program will prioritize proposals that facilitate wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities on refuges and reach new audiences to increase their support for the Refuge System’s mission. Eligible applicants are nonprofit organizations, including Refuge Friends organizations, Cooperative and Interpretive Associations, Audubon Chapters, and other citizen support organizations interested in assisting a National Wildlife Refuge or the Refuge System as a whole. The next application deadline for the program is September 1, 2006. Visit the website for application guidelines.

---

News from Around Alabama's Small Towns

Damage from Hurricane Ivan

Each year, more and more people go back to their communities from a Your Town Alabama workshop and work to bring about positive change. Here are some of the responses to our recent request for information from Your Town alums and others receiving the Your Town Alabama newsletter. We've included news from all around the state, including the cities of Leeds, Pelham, Atmore, Fairhope and more. Click below to read all the news!
News from Fairhope: We are working on our new comprehensive plan and have placed a moratorium on all new subdivisions until we finish + what we can do about infrastructure/stormwater/workforce housing. We also are building a new Library in downtown—a great economic development tool for downtown. Debbie Quinn.
News from Atmore: In October of 2005 the Chamber applied for and received a Hurricane Ivan Urban and Community Forestry Grant in the amount of $75,000.  This grant was used to begin to replace some of the trees lost during Hurricane Ivan. Atmore lost approximately 75% of its urban forest during that storm. 250 trees were planted in public areas and 250 were planted through an Adopt-a-Tree program for residential areas. The residential program was coordinated by a local student, Ellen Corman, as part of an Emerging Leaders project.  All of the trees, 3 to 4 inch caliper, were planted, staked and mulched by a professional landscaper. To date, all of the trees are alive due to the extraordinary efforts of  Ed Brown of the City of Atmore who has devoted an entire crew to watering. South Alabama is presently experiencing one of the worst droughts on record. Emilie Mims. more>>>

---

Events Around Alabama

Heritage Center Gift Shop, Thomaston, AL

As always, you can find a more comprehensive listing of workshops, training sessions, grant deadlines and regional events on our calendar page (click for link), but with the summer vacation season in full swing, we thought we'd add some information about fun events taking place throughout Alabama over the next few months. And remember, small towns in Alabama want your tourism dollars just as much as your small town wants tourism!
Sat. August 26, 2006. 20th Anniversary Rural Fun Day. Thomaston, AL. The day’s events include a health fair, domino tournament, old-timey kids games, antique farm equipment exhibit, wood carving, weaving, quilting, basket making and much more. Of course lots of food and Good Ole Thomaston BBQ will be available throughout the day. Free admission. For info. call 334-627-3388.
August 26-27, 2006. Folk Roots Festival. Eutaw, AL. Celebrating 31 years of local art, food and musical talent. Free admission. Great vendors with handmade crafts including quilts and baskets, old timey Blues on Saturday with down home cooking each day. Gospel show is Sunday. www.gcidb.com
Saturday, October 28, 2006. 9 to 5 PM Williams Station Day. Atmore, AL. A heritage festival celebrating Atmore's founding in 1866 as a supply stop along the Mobile & Great Northern railroad named Williams Station. This event includes an arts and crafts show, model train show, fiddler's tent, old time cane mill and a static train display. Entertainment on the Center Stage will showcase blues legend, Willie King, and storyteller/musician, Pat Mendoza.
Sat. October 28, 2006. Downtown Boll Weevil Festival. Enterprise, AL. The festival is always held the last Saturday in October. Main Street, Downtown Enterprise, is filled with arts and craft booths, children’s activities, food and entertainment for ages. GREAT fun for the family! Call 334-347-0581 for more info.
Nov. 3-4, 2006. ButlerFest 2006. Butler, AL. www.choctawcountyinfo.com. The festival includes carnival, Memphis in May sanctioned cook-off, Backyard and Little Porker's divisions. Music Friday and Saturday evenings, 5K, 2K & children's run and walk, bass tournament, judging of the pig displays, antique car show, vendors, food and fun for the whole family.

---

 

Communities Helping Each Other Want to help communities around the state? Do you have ordinances for your community that address signage, development or anything else you’d like to share with the greater Your Town community? If so, please contact us. We’re working to build additional resources for Alabama’s communities. Email us at info@yourtownalabama.org (feel free to send us any planning documents or ordinances that you’d like to share—in Word or PDF format.)	Renew Our Rivers Spring CleanupOn Saturday, June 3rd, 72 volunteers removed 4.4 tons of trash and debris from Bankhead Lake.  The clean up was sponsored by a coalition of local citizens and businesses - supported by corporations, County, State and Federal agencies  including the US Army Corps of Engineers and Alabama Power.  Buddy Vines Camp hosted the event. Several weeks before the clean up, the US Army Corps of Engineers and a group of lake residents marked heavy trash items (i.e. propane tanks, refrigerators, and tires.) On the week of the clean up, Alabama Power, with a contingent of employee volunteers removed the heavy items that could not be removed by individual volunteers.  On Saturday, volunteers removed floatable trash from sloughs.  As volunteers returned with the gathered garbage, the Samantha Co-op (Sierra Club of West Alabama) sorted debris for recycling.  Items sorted included plastics, glass, tires and metal.  The day’s events closed with a volunteer lunch.
Web Resources for Planning and Community Development · http://www.uli.org. The website of the Urban Land Institute. The site has a number of policy documents, case studies, and other publications, including a number of free pdf documents (from “Involving the Community in Neighborhood Planning” to “Translating a Regional Vision into Action.” Ed McMahon, a frequent keynote speaker at Your Town also has a variety of articles on the site. · http://www.aia.org. For a look at the planning world from a different perspective, visit the website for the American Institute of Architects, where you can find information on subjects as diverse as upcoming events for intern architects to an architectural approach to historic preservation.  · http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Land_use/ From the Cornell Law School, this site provides information on Federal, state and local land use laws, including links to specific state laws, including Alabama’s.  · http://www.transact.org/ The Surface Transportation Policy Project. This group is, according to their site, "working to ensure safer communities and smarter transportation choices that enhance the economy, improve public health, promote social equity, and protect the environment." The site includes factsheets on transporation as it relates to many issues, from housing and social equity to traffic congestion problems.	It Pays to Save Six reasons why land conservation makes good economic sense: Parks and open space often increase the value of nearby properties, along with property tax revenue. Parks and open space attract businesses and trained employees in search of a high quality of life. Parks and open space attract tourists and boost recreation spending. Parks and open space reduce obesity and health care costs by supporting exercise and nutrition. Working lands, such as farms and forests, usually contribute more money to a community than the cost of the services they require. Conserved open space helps safeguard drinking water, clean the air, and prevent flooding – services provided much more expensively by other means. SOURCE:  Land and People.  The Trust for Public Land.  Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2006.
EPA's Turning Bases into Great Places: New Life for Closed Military Facilities As a result of the latest round of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, communities across the country are planning for the reuse or partial reuse of military installations. To assist communities in establishing a strong foundation for this planning, EPA created this new guidebook, Turning Bases into Great Places: New Life for Closed Military Facilities. more>>>	Smart Growth News with State by State Headlines Stay current on smart growth news with the State by State News Headlines, a free service of the Smart Growth Network. Each week you'll receive brief summaries of smart growth news items from around the country, new resources, upcoming events, and more. To sign up for this free service, visit the link below. http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/signup_epa.asp