(Alabama)— Over 50 participants completed the Your Town, Alabama, Designing Our Future workshop held at Camp McDowell near Nauvoo, Alabama June 15-17, 2005. They attended interactive presentations and worked with a team to plan a hypothetical town. After attending this intensive three-day workshop, many participants have returned to their communities to emphasize the importance of planning to long-term economic viability.

With presentations by Tim Torma, EPA in Washington; Brian Rushing, Black Warrior Land Trust; Martha Cato, City Clerk and change maker for Valley, AL; Randy Shoults, Alabama State Council on the Arts, and a host of others 50 civic and community leaders found plenty of technical advice, inspiration, and hands-on training.

Your Town Alabama is a direct response to the uncertain future of Alabama’s small towns—a future increasingly threatened by large scale changes in our economy, population shifts, the impact of telecommunications and mass merchandising, and changes in land policy. In the face of these forces, communities have found themselves struggling to maintain their vitality and even their sense of identity. Whether the threat is sudden growth or stagnation, planning and design decisions can often make the difference between survival and decay, between healthy prosperity and decline.

The Your Town Alabama workshop format is an intensive engagement of citizen leaders and professionals and focuses on these critical planning and design decisions. The workshop is highly participatory, with lectures, case-study presentations and interactive group problem solving, including working on realistic issues in a hypothetical small town.

The Your Town Alabama workshop offers real hope to real communities. People who care about their community’s appearance can begin learning more about how to protect it through these workshops. For more information about Your Town Alabama, please contact Cawaco RC&D at 205.264-8460

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If you have any questions, please contact info@yourtownalabama.org or by phone (205) 264-8460 (direct) or (205) 251-8139.

Your Town Alabama |The Center for Regional Planning and Design
1731 1st Avenue North, Suite 200 | Birmingham, AL 35203 | info@yourtownalabama.org