YOUR TOWN ALABAMA NEEDS YOU!!! We're collecting the best and worst gateways to Alabama communities. (and other communities around the country) 
Your Town Alabama 2006 Workshops
The dates for Your Town Alabama this year are: Wednesday, June 21 – Friday, June 23, 2006 at Camp McDowell. It’s time to start “getting the word out” and distributing applications. As a Your Town Alumni, we count on you to identify workshop participants that not only would benefit from the information received at the Your Town Workshop, but also those that have the drive to take the information back to their community to make a positive change. The Your Town Workshop registration form may be found on the Your Town Alabama website at www.yourtownalabama.org. If you need assistance, please contact Martha Whitson at (205) 348-7058. Late Breaking News! There are still slots available for this year's workshop, but We are well ahead of previous years for enrollment, so remember to get your applications in soon!
Alumni Reception
Wednesday night, June 21, 2006— Alums are invited to attend a Dog Trot reception at Camp McDowell. Ed McMahon will be our keynote speaker. If you'd like to attend and want more information about overnight arrangements, please contact Martha Whitson (205.348-7058 or email at martha@aitc.ua.edu). If an Alum wants to bring someone, they are more than welcome to do so, just let us know well in advance so we'll know how many people will be attending. Meet the Your Town Alabama class of 2006, visit with old friends and enjoy the beautiful scenery at Camp McDowell.
Calendar of Events
We have added a calendar of events to yourtownalabama.org. You'll notice a part of it on the left hand column of the newsletter--the events listed will always be the next two events that are in our calendar. For a full listing, visit the calendar page. You can also sort these events using a variety of topics (grants, conferences, and training are the three largest now). The calendar now includes dates for all of 2006, beginning in March with approximately 40 dates highlighted in April and May. These events are conferences, grant deadlines, training workshops and more. If you know of any events you’d like to add, please email us at info@yourtownalabama.org for consideration. The calendar will continue to grow and improve as more people submit dates.
Best Places to Live in Rural America
In the February 2006 issue of Progressive Farmer, there is an article on "Best Places to Live in Rural America." Although we may be prejudice in thinking Your Town is the best place to live in Alabama (and of course, it is!), Progressive Farmer devised a method to statistically determine the "Best Places to Live". Only one Alabama County was ranked for the Southeast. Baldwin County ranked 19th of 20. Although this is something to be quite proud of, there are many Alabama communities that did not make "the cut." (For more information on how they compiled the list, visit their website at www.pfbestplaces.com.
Rankings were based on:
• Cost of living (the ratio of average household income to average household spending) |
• Access to health care (the number of medical professionals per thousand people) |
2006 Call for Entries: National Award for Smart Growth Achievement |
EPA Releases four new smart growth publicationsEPA has released the following four new smart growth publications: For FREE HARD COPIES of any of these publications, please send an e-mail to ncepimal@one.net or call (800) 490-9198. Electronic versions of these publications are available at: www.epa.gov/smartgrowth |
Web Resources for Planning and Community DevelopmentIn each issue of this newsletter, we'll scour the web and try to report on sites that give information on planning and development for small towns and communities. Some sites will be general, others specific to certain issues. If you have a suggestion for a featured site, send us an email! For this first issue, we'll start off with some pretty general sites, the first being the most well-known site for planning, the American Planning Association's main site. |
New resource from EPA: Smart growth scorecards and rating systems from around the country |
A new course offered by Auburn University's Economic Development InstituteApril 18-19, 2006 |
Grant Conference and Grant Writing Program May 1: Congressman Spencer Bachus hosts a grant conference at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. May 2-3: President's HUD Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives grant writing program for those interested in learning details and strategies to improve their federal grant writing ability. For more info, download the pdf invitation: grantwriting.pdf |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the fifth annual National Award for Smart Growth Achievement (due May 1, 2006). This competition is open to local or state governments and other public sector entities that have used the principles of smart growth to create better places.
Smart growth development serves the economy, the community, and the environment. Smart growth approaches to development create clear environmental benefits, including improved air and water quality, preservation of critical habitat and open space, and more cleanup and re-use of brownfield sites. 
Wondering if a proposed development is smart growth? Curious if your policies and zoning will deliver the results your town wants? This new resource can help answer those questions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency compiled a set of smart growth scorecards and rating systems currently being used in communities across the country. These tools help communities choose the best policies and strategies to ensure that growth and development benefits everyone. Some scorecards will help communities understand how the local regulatory climate impacts development patterns. Others are designed to determine if proposed new developments meet community-defined smart growth goals. Click on the link below to access this new resource. 