Monday Mailing
Year 24 • Issue 30 07 May 2018 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Quote of the Week: "Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate. And though I often have passed them by a day will come at last when I shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien Oregon Fast Fact: Oregon is located nearest the 45th parallel. The 45th parallel is equidistant from the North Pole and the equator and is found just north of Salem.
12 Principles for Designing Healthy Communities WealthWorks Northwest THINK GLOBALLY, EAT GLOCALLY!! The Forest Service Faces a Century-Old Call for Equality Webinar: Aiming for Walkable, Inclusive Communities – May 30th, 1011am PST Webinar: Neighborhood Effects: How Small Towns Give Poor Youth a Head Start – May 17th, 11am-12pm PST Building “Buy Local” Campaigns that Shift Culture and Spending Rural Gateway The Ultimate Guide to Creating Walkable Streets USDA Rural Development Innovation Center Launches Interactive Webpage to Share Best Practices for Rural Economic Development USDA Funding Available for FY2018 Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI).
1. 12 Principles for Designing Healthy Communities The design of our roads, shopping areas, local playgrounds, and other public spaces plays a significant role in all aspects of our health— physical, mental, and social. America’s auto-centric sprawl has played a role in our current national health crisis, and this understanding has created a renewed focus on public spaces and community design. Public officials and decision makers are now starting to consider health when making transportation and land-use decisions. Dan Burden, America’s foremost walkability expert, leads our Blue Zones built environment team. We use decades of evidence-based experience and research to help improve and transform the street life in cities across the country and in Blue Zones Project communities. Burden recommends these general guiding concepts, principles and patterns for designing and building model healthy communities. These concepts and principles apply to communities large and small, new and old, and influence both individual and community health. All face similar challenges, but often of different orders of magnitude and resources available. These principles and processes are flexible; they can be adapted depending on scale and context of each project. -related findings that tell us how America and the world are changing. To access the full story, click here. 2. WealthWorks Northwest WealthWorks Northwest (WWNW) improves rural livelihoods with an innovative approach to economic development that creates lasting wealth in rural communities. WWNW recognizes that, generally, building wealth is the goal of economic development. But building wealth is a lot more than growing the amount of money in a community. Simply creating jobs and generating income, however appealing as those goals may be, are never enough to build lasting wealth. WealthWorks aims to advance a region’s overall prosperity and Page 1 of 5
self-reliance, strengthen existing and emerging sectors, and increase jobs and incomes for lowerincome residents and firms. The goal is to build wealth that can benefit community residents today and for generations to come while rooting value in local people, places, and businesses. The rural Pacific Northwest, with its abundance of both natural and human resources, is primed to take advantage of the WealthWorks approach. Adopted and adapted by RDI, WealthWorks Northwest is not a cookie-cutter or a recipe; it is a framework that is intended to be strategically flexible for our region. To learn more about the WealthWorks approach, click here. 3. THINK GLOBALLY, EAT GLOCALLY!! Can heritage Mexican, African or Chinese foods be grown in a cold North American or European climate — enough food at a good enough price to meet food security, multicultural, sustainable and affordability needs of a modern cosmopolitan city? Or do we need to import such world crops, just as we import most of our foods, from around the world? Debate has raged since the 1990s about the downsides of globalization. The global corporate foods on offer at supermarkets may have too much sugar, fat, salt, and packaging, but the price is low — or at least the entrance fee is low. Is this the best we can do or imagine in a world flattened by modern communication and transportation technologies? Then along comes a sleeper in the Great Globalization Debate — glocalization. What’s that? Glocal foods are locally-grown foods with breeding and heritage that comes from all four corners of the earth. To access the full story, click here. 4. The Forest Service Faces a Century-Old Call for Equality The third applicant was “no gentleman,” the U.S. Forest Service ranger wrote to his boss, but would still make a first-class fire lookout on the remote Klamath National Forest. He thought little of the first applicant’s abilities, and the second had poor eyesight, though that didn’t prevent him from frequently violating the local game laws. Yet the third candidate was so unusual, ranger M.H. McCarthy cautioned, “I hope your heart is strong enough to stand the shock.” For the shocking third applicant was a woman, Hallie Morse Daggett, though McCarthy added that she “is absolutely devoid of the timidity which is ordinarily associated with her sex.” McCarthy told his supervisor not to worry about being overrun by female applicants in the future “since we can hardly expect these positions to ever become very popular with the Fair Sex.” What is telling in light of recent news about the systemic problem of discrimination throughout the Forest Service is that this was written 105 years ago. To access the full story, click here. 5. Webinar: Aiming for Walkable, Inclusive Communities – May 30th, 10-11am PST Walking is a crucial part of living in any urban setting. It facilitates access to the places and things people need to live their lives (employment, services, social networks, transit, etc.). Walking also improves individual and population level health. Walking is the primary source of physical activity for most Americans and is associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and Page 2 of 5
some types of cancer. In many urban areas, however, people must walk in environments that are not supportive. This prevents many people from walking and puts those who do walk in uncomfortable, unpleasant, stressful, and often dangerous situations. This is especially true for low-income and pedestrians of color who, nationally, face higher pedestrian fatality rates. In this webinar, we will: 1. Review the evidence-base of the many intersecting characteristics of social and built environments that contribute to the overall walkability of a place; 2. Highlight recent research on differences in conceptions of walkability across neighborhood contexts; and 3. Share a data collection toolkit developed by the Arizona Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN) that can be used by researchers, practitioners, and community groups to establish more holistic, context-specific walkability metrics and objectives based on the lived experiences of pedestrians. To register for this webinar, click here. 6. Webinar: Neighborhood Effects: How Small Towns Give Poor Youth a Head Start – May 17th, 11am-12pm PST New research shows that children from poor families in rural communities earn more by their mid20s than their urban peers, contrary to stereotypes about the disadvantages of growing up rural. A major study of individual incomes found that poor children who grow up in three-quarters of rural counties earn more than the national average by their mid-20s. Find out about what researchers call “neighborhood effects” in rural communities and the lifelong advantages of growing up in places with less income disparity, good schools, and strong civic life. Hear about newly released research on how community matters to poor youth. To register for this webinar, click here. 7. Building “Buy Local” Campaigns that Shift Culture and Spending The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) has developed a guide to help independent business owners, localist advocates, and local officials promote local business and community wealth building. The guide outlines strategies to build successful “Buy Local” campaigns that encourage consumers to shop at locally owned stores. It includes tips and resources for campaign content development, message framing, targeted marketing, and execution. To access the guide, click here. 8. Rural Gateway The Rural Gateway is an information clearinghouse providing technical assistance, training workshops, and peer learning and resource sharing to support rural housing and economic development. One-on-One Technical Assistance Ask your technical assistance questions: 1-877-RURAL-26. A bilingual operator is available from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM (Eastern Time), Monday to Friday, to answer your housing, infrastructure, and economic development questions. Questions can also be submitted via email to rhed@hud.gov. Peer Learning and Resource Sharing Access funding alerts and learn more about innovative strategies. Page 3 of 5
Rural Gateway resources include: • • •
Mailing lists that connect you to others engaged in rural community development across the country Conference Calls highlight model programs and provide an opportunity to ask questions and interact with your peers Case Studies illustrating common challenges and innovative strategies
For more information, click here. 9. The Ultimate Guide to Creating Walkable Streets Here at Strong Towns, we're advocates for a simple concept we like to call "slow the cars" because we've seen in city after city that slowing down cars makes our communities more prosperous and resilient — not to mention safer. But, while this concept is simple, the reasoning behind it and the path to get to safer streets is, by no means, easy. Today, we're sharing our ultimate guide to building slower, more walkable streets, filled with helpful articles and resources you can use to #slowthecars in your town. We've broken it down into 4 key sections that will explain why we need walkable streets, how to tell if your streets aren't walkable, and resources for building walkable streets, plus inspiring stories that will demonstrate how to build safer streets. For more information, click here 10. USDA Rural Development Innovation Center Launches Interactive Webpage to Share Best Practices for Rural Economic Development Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett today (April 25) unveiled a new interactive webpage to identify best practices for building rural prosperity. The webpage highlights effective strategies that have been used to create jobs, build infrastructure, strengthen partnerships and promote economic development in rural America. An interactive feature allows webpage visitors to submit comments on ways USDA can improve Rural Development program delivery. Innovation Center staff will review these recommendations and direct customers to resources, services and expertise that will help their communities create transformative solutions to complex rural challenges. The webpage also highlights USDA resources that can be used for investments in infrastructure and innovation. These resources include USDA’s Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grant Program, Community Connect Grant Program, and Community Facilities Programs. USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and highspeed internet access in rural areas. For more information, click here
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11. USDA Funding Available for FY2018 Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI). Qualified private, nonprofit and public including tribal intermediary organizations proposing to carry out financial and technical assistance programs will be eligible to receive the funding. The Intermediary will be required to provide matching funds in an amount at least equal to the RCDI grant. The respective minimum and maximum grant amount per Intermediary is $50,000 and $250,000. The Intermediary must provide a program of financial and technical assistance to recipients to develop their capacity and ability to undertake projects related to housing, community facilities, or community and economic development that will support the community. Applicants are encouraged to consider projects that provide measurable results in helping rural communities build robust and sustainable economies through strategic investments in infrastructure, partnerships, and innovation. Key strategies include: • Achieving e-Connectivity for Rural America • Developing the Rural Economy • Harnessing Technological Innovation • Supporting a Rural Workforce • Improving Quality of Life For more information, click here.
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