Deadline: 22 July 2019
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), with buildingcommunityWORKSHOP ([bc]) has announced the Request for Applications to the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD).
The CIRD is focusing on communities with populations of 50,000 or less, CIRD’s goal is to enhance the quality of life and economic viability of rural America through planning, design, and creative placemaking.
CIRD is intended to empower local citizens to capitalize on unique local and regional assets in order to guide the civic development and future design of their own communities.
Goals
- Building capacity in rural communities to plan comprehensive revitalization strategies;
- Introducing creative placemaking, arts, culture, and design strategies as drivers of economic development in rural America;
- Facilitating a network of rural communities for idea exchanges and peer learning; and
- Preparing communities to be ready and competitive for state and federal funding opportunities.
Opportunities
CIRD program consists of two different opportunities via a single application:
- Workshop Communities: Up to 3 communities will be selected to host an on-site rural design workshop. With support from a wide range of design, planning, and creative placemaking professionals, the workshops bring together local residents and local leaders from non-profits, community organizations, and government to develop actionable solutions to the community’s specific design challenge. Examples of potential design challenges include:
- Historic preservation and adaptive reuse of community buildings;
- Designing quality affordable housing that supports livable and equitable communities; including housing and other amenities that support young people, families, and/or the elderly and aging in place;
- Creating public or civic space that supports and integrates cultural expression and local identity and/or play and active recreation;
- Developing recreational trails for mobility, active transportation, and economic development;
- Redesigning Main Street as a local street versus state highway/thruway;
- Improving access to healthy food and local food eco-systems;
- Leveraging Main Street or local businesses for economic development, including branding, wayfinding, façade improvements, and streetscape design;
- Integrating cultural identity into the built environment to drive heritage tourism.
- Learning Cohort Communities: Up to 20 rural communities will be selected to participate in a Learning Cohort. Rural community leaders from government, non-profits, local business, and civic organizations are invited to gather together for peer learning; training in design, planning, community engagement, and facilitation techniques; and support in navigating funding opportunities to make their community’s vision a reality. Applicant organizations can indicate on their application if they only want to participate in the Learning Cohort.
Both parts of the CIRD program connect rural residents with resources and ideas for developing locally driven solutions to community design challenges.
Benefits
- Workshop Communities: Three communities will be selected to do a deep dive into a pressing design challenge that is impacting their community. Each workshop includes:
- $10,000 stipend to the host community for workshop and related expenses;
- A tailored site visit and multi-day workshop with design experts to assist with project visioning and advancing toward implementation;
- In-person or virtual check-in with CIRD staff and team members – including designers and planners – on a quarterly basis after the workshop, to help tackle the community design challenge;
- A travel stipend to participate in Learning Cohort activities:
- Lodging stipend and registration fee waiver for HAC’s National Conference.
- Learning Cohort: An additional 20 communities from the applicant pool will be invited to participate in the Learning Cohort, an opportunity for two leaders from each selected community to gather together for peer learning; training in design, planning, community engagement, and facilitation techniques; and support in navigating funding opportunities to make their vision a reality. The Learning Cohort opportunity includes:
- Invitation to the Rural Design Summit (Fall 2019), an in-person, design focused gathering of rural leaders, designers, and related subject experts;
- $1,000 travel stipend;
- Access to online education and coaching on design related topics catered to the cohort’s particular design challenges;
- Opportunities to exchange knowledge and experiences of design issues with peers from across rural America;
- Invitations to in-person events and conferences to further peer learning and exchange,
- Invitations to link to HAC’s national capacity building network including webinars, convenings, funding opportunities, and related opportunities;
- An opportunity to contribute to rural design conversations at the national level.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicant Organizations must:
- Be part of a rural or tribal community of 50,000 or less, that is rural in character;
- Have a specific design challenge in mind, although the CIRD team realizes that design challenges might evolve based on on-the-ground happenings;
- Be able to participate in CIRD as indicated in Participation Expectations;
- Commit to the full period of programming from September 2019-December 2020.
The following entities meeting the criteria above are encouraged to apply:
- Municipal, tribal, or county governments;
- Local nonprofit organizations, including but not limited to Main Street organizations, art centers, preservation groups, historical societies, or chambers of commerce, working in rural areas;
- Regional planning organizations working in rural areas;
- University community design centers or university agricultural/extension offices or other programs with close ties to the community presenting the design challenge;
- Partnerships of the entities listed above are encouraged to apply.
Participation Expectations
- Workshop Communities must:
- Designate a local coordinator who will serve as the main point of contact for the workshop and communication with CIRD team. This person may also be responsible for tracking expenses and other administrative and logistical details.
- Provide a $10,000 match to the $10,000 stipend for hosting a workshop in their geography. A match can be cash or in-kind, which could include assets like the rental value of the workshop venue, donated meals for workshop participants, and/or staff time.
- Collaborate with the CIRD team to organize the design challenge site visit and workshop. This will include:
- Drafting of site visit agenda, including a site tour, introduction to local partners, and establishment of design challenge goals, objectives and timelines.
- Assistance in drafting workshop agenda
- Coordination of site visit and workshop logistics, including securing venues, recommendations for Resource Team lodging and transportation, and catering.
- Managing correspondence with workshop participants
- Provide a final budget report and narrative report after completion of the site visit and workshop.
- Participate in broader CIRD network building, including but not limited to CIRD workshops events, both online and in-person.
- Learning Cohort Communities must:
- Attend the Rural Design Summit (Fall 2019).
- Engage in peer learning activities, where applicable.
- Respond to a survey on learning outcomes.
- Commit to stewarding design activities and projects in their home community.
How to Apply
Interested applicants can apply via given website.
For more information, please visit https://www.rural-design.org/apply