A federal program works with rural communities to develop their assets and resources and build a sense of place.
As part of a program called the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Housing Assistance Council, Spring Grove, Minnesota used resident input to create plans for a new community center, focusing on facilities that would help local youth and keep them anchored in the community.
As Kristi Eaton explains in The Daily Yonder, “CIRD focuses on communities with populations of 50,000 or less, and the goal is to enhance the quality of life and economic vitality of rural America through planning, design, and placemaking.”
According to Shonterria Charleston, the director of Technical Assistance and Training at the Housing Assistance Council, “It really is intended to empower local citizens to capitalize on the unique local and regional assets in order to guide the civic development as well as future design of their communities.”
These efforts, said Charleston, are “working towards preparing communities to be ready and competitive for arts and design-related state and federal funding opportunities,” explaining that “resources and partnerships are…two things that will either make or break any development initiative.”
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