Monday Mailing
Year 21 • Issue 03 22 September 2014 1. Oregon Oceanfront State Park Acquisition Completed in Tillamook County 2. New Community Builders Report Describes Commercial Real Estate Trends in the West: From Malls to Main Streets 3. Rural Transit Fact Book 2014 4. Rural Gateway Conference Call: NEA Arts-Driven Community and Economic Development in Rural Areas: A Discussion of Best Practices September 25, 2014 - 2:00 pm EDT. 5. City Issues are Environmental Issues. Here's Why. 6. A Chinese City is Asking Smartphone Users to Walk in Their Own Sidewalk Lane 7. Great Willamette River Clean-Up 2014 8. Healthy Food Retail Strategies Webinar Series 9. Why Is the USDA Buying Submachine Guns? 10. Will Portland Always Be a Retirement Community for the Young? 11. Funding Opportunities 1. Oregon Oceanfront State Park Acquisition Completed in Tillamook County The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department sends word that the acquisition of the Beltz property at Sand Lake in Tillamook County is complete.
Quote of the Week: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others" ~Gandhi Oregon Fast Fact: Oregon grows 98 percent of the hazelnuts in the United States. There are more than 3,755,000 hazelnut trees in Oregon, worth $49.5 million, grown on 30,000 acres, mostly in western Oregon.
The department closed the $1.8 million deal Friday to acquire 357 acres of coastal property in Tillamook County, known locally as the Beltz property. The acquisition had been approved earlier in the summer by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission (click the link to read an earlier report). The ecologically diverse plot sits along Sand Lake Road north of Pacific City and south of Cape Lookout State Park. The acquisition is the first step in opening a new park, a process that could take a year or longer. To access the full story, click here. 2. New Community Builders Report Describes Commercial Real Estate Trends in the West: From Malls to Main Streets A new study released by Community Builders, a project of the Sonoran Institute, shows how commercial real estate in the West is trending away from single-use malls on the outskirts of town and toward smaller shops in town centers. Economic, demographic, and consumer preference trends, along with the growing prevalence of online shopping, are having significant influences on consumer behavior that are beginning to change commercial real estate markets. These changes are driving retailers to look at smaller formats in places with higher foot traffic, such as mixed-use areas where housing and office space are located near stores. The two dominant population cohorts in the U.S., Generation Y and Baby Boomers, will continue to drive these trends.
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However, various types of mixed-use development are more feasible in some places than others, and matching the type and size of development to the community is essential. “ReStore: Commercial and Mixed-Use Development Trends in the Rocky Mountain West” explores broad trends in the mixeduse development landscape, features specific case studies from the Rocky Mountain region, and provides recommendations on the types and scales of mixed-use development that are most appropriate for different types of communities. The report is intended to help local officials, planners, developers, architects, and financial lenders understand emerging trends and set realistic expectations for the type of projects that are most likely to succeed in different markets. Click here to view the report. 3. Rural Transit Fact Book 2014 The Rural Transit Fact Book serves as a national resource for statistics and information on rural transit in America. Includes rural demographic and travel behavior data indicating that work, school, and medical trips comprise a higher percentage of rural transit trips. Includes state-by-state data. To access this resource, click here. 4. Rural Gateway Conference Call: NEA Arts-Driven Community and Economic Development in Rural Areas: A Discussion of Best Practices - September 25, 2014 - 2:00 pm EDT. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts-Driven Community and Economic Development in Rural Areas: A Discussion of Best Practices HUD’s Office of Rural Housing and Economic Development (ORHED) invites you to take part in our next Peer-to-Peer conference call. Scheduled for September 25, 2014 this call will offer participants the opportunity to learn about the National Endowment for the Arts' (NEA) support of rural communities, focusing on their place-based investments and the field of practice linking rural arts stakeholders and rural community development stakeholders. On this call, leaders of the NEA will share their knowledge of successful arts-driven place-based activities that have expanded and created opportunities for those living in Rural America, and shed light on how rural arts stakeholders are finding powerful ways to link the arts to core community development projects and other funding streams. Practitioners will share their experiences and shine a light on potential opportunities for rural communities to better leverage their arts assets. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about best practices and federal programs (not limited to the NEA) that could support their communities, discuss the challenges of conducting this work in Rural America, and establish contacts for future reference. Join HUD’s Office of Rural Housing and Economic Development (ORHED) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) staff as we engage rural community leaders in this open forum on opportunities available through the NEA. Speakers will include:
Valerie G. Piper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development, Community Planning and Development, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Jackie L. Williams, Ph.D., Moderator, Director, Office of Rural Housing and Economic Development, Community Planning and Development, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Dan Lurie, Senior Advisor to the Chairman & Director of Strategic Partnerships, National Endowments for the Arts Jen Hughes, Design Specialist and program manager for Our Town, National Endowment for the Arts Charles Fluharty, President and CEO, Rural Policy Research Institute
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Topics to be discussed
Overview of funding opportunities at NEA Discussion of exemplar projects NEA's role in Promise Zone Initiative and other key federal place-based initiatives Other potential sources of support for arts-driven community development Next steps
Call-in instructions and additional materials will be emailed to participants on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. The 60 minute call will include presentations and a Q&A session. If you have any questions, please call 1-877-RURAL-26 (1-877-787-2526). Please RSVP by email to rhed@hud.gov no later than 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. Please include your name and organization. 5. City Issues are Environmental Issues. Here's Why. Cities need nature, as I wrote in an earlier essay. But what is not so well understood is that nature also needs cities. There is simply no way we can protect and maintain a beautiful, thriving, natural and rural landscape outside of cities if we continue to spread highways and suburban sprawl across the countryside. Healthy, robust, beautiful cities where people want to live are critical to the protection of nature. To paraphrase my friend Trisha (who coined the phrase that became the title of my latest book), natural habitat needs a corresponding strong “people habitat,” so that people are drawn to our own places, and enjoy but do not permanently infringe upon those extraordinary places where humans remain secondary to other parts of nature. I’ve been reflecting on these subjects because this year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark federal Wilderness Act of 1964. That very important law is eloquent in its recognition of natural places: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” In between cities and true wilderness is the “working landscape” of rural America – farms, forests, fisheries, ranchland, and more – where humans must act as stewards of the land’s natural resources. We need our rural landscape and its bounty to be sustained in order to survive harmoniously into the future. To access the full story, click here. 6. A Chinese City is Asking Smartphone Users to Walk in Their Own Sidewalk Lane China, home to 700 million smartphone users, is now experimenting with new ways to prevent smartphone-related accidents: On a 165-foot pavement stretch in the city of Chongqing, pedestrians can choose between a normal lane and an exclusive one reserved for heavy users of mobile devices. "There are lots of elderly people and children in our street, and walking with your cellphone may cause unnecessary collisions here," Nong Cheng, a marketing official for the group in charge of Chongqing's entertainment zone, told the Associated Press.
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The idea is based on an experiment conducted by National Geographic Television earlier this year in Washington, D.C. - and is supposed to (ironically) raise awareness for the lack of attention many smartphone users pay to traffic and other pedestrians. To access the full story, click here. 7. Great Willamette River Clean-Up 2014 Join the OP for the 2014 Willamette River Clean-up! This is an on-the-water cleanup site spearheaded by the University of Oregon Outdoor Program. Reserve a seat in a guided raft or BYOB (Kayak, canoe, or SUP). We will be floating and cleaning two miles of the Willamette River. Putting-in at Alton Baker Park and taking-out at the City of Eugene's River House facility. During this clean up, we will be leapfrogging our way down the river collecting garbage as we go. No skill required. To participate at this event and location you MUST register with the Outdoor Program, and attend the pre-trip meeting hosted by the UofO Outdoor Program where you will learn further details. The pre-trip meeting will be held Friday, October 2rd at 6:00PM at the Outdoor Program Barn (1225 E 18th Ave). After the cleanup... join your fellow Springfield-Eugene area volunteers for a post-cleanup celebration and lunch at Alton Baker Park at 1pm. Food will be provided, plus live music! At this moment, we are looking for four or five experienced guides and/or rowers. Cost: FREE! Initiator: Laughton Elliott-DeAgelis and Justin Sandoval Phone: 541-346-4365 Pre-Trip Location: UO Outdoor Program Barn 1225 E 18th St. Eugene, Oregon 97402 Pre-Trip Date: Thursday, October 02, 2014, at 6:00PM Start Date: Saturday, October 04, 2014, at 8:00am End Date: Saturday, October 04, 2014, at 12:00pm To register for this event, click here. 8. Healthy Food Retail Strategies Webinar Series Join us for three webinars this fall on strategies for creating healthier stores in your community. We’ll look at tools to increase food access in rural areas and increase distribution of healthy foods to small stores, as well as best practices for making sustainable change through policy making. We’ll also interview experts on healthy food retail and share success stories. These webinars are designed to give public health professionals, program planners, elected officials, and other community partners a chance to learn about and discuss effective program and policy strategies. Register today to save your spot!
September 23: Food Access in Rural Communities – Many healthy food retail interventions focus on urban environments, and there is little information about how to increase food access in rural areas. This webinar will describe challenges to healthy food retail in rural areas and discuss strategies such as sustaining independent small grocers, establishing distribution systems, and finding rural-specific funding.
October 22: Addressing the Distribution Challenge – Once a retailer decides to sell healthier foods, they face another challenge: working with distributors to stock small amounts of food conveniently and affordably. This webinar will describe components of the distribution system, Page 4 of 7
identify distribution challenges that urban and rural retailers face, and highlight solutions that different communities have implemented.
November 18: Ready For Change: Using Policy to Improve Food Access – The most sustainable change to a food retail environment may be through policy change. This webinar will define policy terms, outline food retail policy options, and highlight examples of areas that have enacted healthy retail policy.
Missed our healthy food retail webinars from the spring? Check out the recordings and resources!
Healthy Food Retail 101: Strategies for Changing the Food Retail Environment Soup to Nuts: Designing a Healthy Food Retail Certification Program Going for Green: Finding Federal Funding
9. Why Is the USDA Buying Submachine Guns? “Submachine guns, .40 Cal. S&W, ambidextrous safety, semi-automatic or 2 shot bur[s]t trigger group, Tritium night sights for front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore grip) and scope (top rear), stock-collapsib[l]e or folding, magazine - 30 rd. capacity.” In May, the USDA's Office of Inspector General filed a request for these weapons. But why exactly do they need them? According to a USDA press rep, the guns are necessary for self-protection. “OIG Special Agents regularly conduct undercover operations and surveillance. The types of investigations conducted by OIG Special Agents include criminal activities such as fraud in farm programs; significant thefts of Government property or funds; bribery and extortion; smuggling; and assaults and threats of violence against USDA employees engaged in their official duties,” wrote a USDA spokesperson. Those seem like legitimate enforcement activities, but still: submachine guns? Not everyone believes the USDA being armed to the teeth is justifiable. On Aug. 2, the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund launched a petition to support a bill that would curb the ability of agencies like the USDA to arm themselves. They see it as overkill and scare tactics, especially for smaller producers. To access the full story, click here. 10. Will Portland Always Be a Retirement Community for the Young? Like many residents of Northwest Portland, Matthew Hale doesn’t own a car. Instead, he prefers to walk or ride the bus to the city’s innumerable coffee shops and breweries and live-music spots. On weekends, he and his wife have no problem hitching rides to the Pacific Coast or the Cascade mountain range. Everywhere he looks, Hale told me, there are people just like him — bearded, on skateboards, brewing kombucha. “It’s really chill,” he says. Portland has taken hold of the cultural imagination as, to borrow the tag line from “Portlandia,” the place where young people go to retire. And for good reason: The city has nearly all the perks that economists suggest lead to a high quality of life — coastlines, mountains, mild winters and summers, restaurants, cultural institutions and clean air. (Fortunately, college-educated people don’t value sunshine as much as they used to.) Portland also has qualities that are less tangible but still likely to attract young people these days, like a politically open culture that supports gay rights and the legalization of marijuana — in addition to the right of way for unicyclists or the ability to marry in a Page 5 of 7
24/7 doughnut shop. “It’s really captured the zeitgeist of the age in a way that no other small city in America ever has,” said Aaron Renn, an urban-affairs analyst who writes the Urbanophile blog. According to professors from Portland State University, the city has been able to attract and retain young college-educated people at the second-highest rate in the nation. (Louisville, Ky., is No. 1.) To access the full story, click here. 11. Funding Opportunities NEA Foundation Invites Applications for Learning & Leadership Grant Program DEADLINE: October 15, 2014 Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded to educators and school staff for individual professional development opportunities and group projects related to collegial study.... Shared Insight Fund Invites Proposals for Projects to Improve Philanthropy - DEADLINE: October 15, 2014 The fund, a multiyear collaboration of seven funders, will pool their resources to improve philanthropy.... Whole Kids School Garden Grant Program - Application deadline: Oct 31, 2014 Offers grants to develop school gardens. Sponsor: Whole Kids Foundation Lilly Endowment Accepting Applications for Teacher Creativity Fellowships - DEADLINE: November 3, 2014 The program will award a hundred grants of $10,000 each to K-12 educators in Indiana to pursue an "imaginative project" that infuses their busy lives with personal renewal and intellectual revitalization.... NCTM Accepting Applications or Equity in Mathematics Grants - DEADLINE: November 7, 2014 Grants of up to $8,000 will be awarded in support of projects designed to improve the achievement of middle school student populations with a record of underachievement.... National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Students to Service Loan Repayment Program (S2S LRP) - Application deadline: Nov 13, 2014 Provides loan repayment assistance to medical students (MD and DO) who agree to provide primary care health services in eligible Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) of greatest need. Sponsor: National Health Service Corps Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellows - Application deadline: Nov 13, 2014 A fellowship program designed to develop the capacity of midcareer health professionals and behavioral and social scientists with an interest in health to participate in health policy processes at the federal level. Sponsor: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Rural Health Care Services Outreach Grant Program - Application deadline: Nov 14, 2014 Supports projects that will enhance and sustain the delivery of effective healthcare in rural communities. Sponsor: Office of Rural Health Policy NIH Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Program - Application deadline: Nov 15, 2014 Offers loan repayment assistance for health professionals who commit to research projects related to health disparities. Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
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National Disaster Resilience Competition NOFA – Application deadline: March 15, 2015 This NOFA will award supplemental disaster recovery CDBG funds competitively for resilient recovery activities. Because the law directs that CDBG-DR assistance must flow to the most impacted and distressed areas with unmet recovery and revitalization needs related to the effects of a covered major disaster, HUD decided that a competition framework would work best to elicit the data needed to inform allocation choices and ensure that the unmet disaster recovery and revitalization needs of communities around the country are appropriately considered. This publication provides information and instructions for the CDBG-NDR competition, Phases 1 and 2. The requirements for applicants are to be found in this Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) and in those General Section to HUD's FY2014 NOFAs for Discretionary Programs expressly incorporated. HUD will award CDBG-NDR funds at the end of Phase 2. All awarded funds shall assist eligible CDBG-NDR activities. HUD is making available approximately $1 billion in assistance, covering both phases of the competition. Funding Opportunity Number: FR-5800-N-29. Email address where you can direct formal questions: resilientrecovery@hud.gov Other links: http://hud.gov/resilience HUD Portal with links to NOFA and resilience-related resources: https://www.hudexchange.info/cdbg-dr/resilient-recovery/ Press Release: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2014/HU DNo_14-109 Fact Sheet: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=NDRCFactSheetFINAL.pdf NDRC NOFA posted on Grants.gov (link via HUD’s Funds Available webpage): http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/administration/grants/fundsav ail ACHA Foundation Invites Applications for Aetna Student Health Award - DEADLINE: January 31, 2015 Grants of $5,000 will be awarded to support the creation of novel wellness solutions and programs that address issues specifically related to the retention and overall well-being of college students.... American College Health Foundation Seeks Applications for Campus Health Initiatives DEADLINE: January 31, 2015 Grants of $2,500 will be awarded in support of campus initiatives that foster positive ACHA Health Campus 2020 outcomes for the campus community.... USAC Rural Health Care Telecommunications Program - Applications accepted on an ongoing basis. Provides discounts to rural health care providers to obtain internet and telecommunications access. Sponsor: Universal Service Administrative Company Wells Fargo Corporate Giving Programs - Geographic Coverage: Available in 40 States. Application deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis. Funding for nonprofit organizations in the areas of community development, education, human services, arts and culture, civic responsibility, and environmental consciousness. Sponsor: Wells Fargo
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