Placemaking And Rural Design Archives Housing Assistance Council

Leo Migdal

-Dec 14, 2025, 1:20 PM

placemaking and rural design archives housing assistance council

The National Endowment for the Arts funds and oversees the CIRD program. The NEA was established by Congress in 1961 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, NEA has awarded over $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation to the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through the partnership with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. The Housing Assistance Council is a national nonprofit that strengthens communities across rural America through investment and assistance with affordable housing and community and economic development. Based in Washington, DC, HAC is actively involved in shaping federal policy and the affordable housing industry with its research, lending and conferences.

We also deliver technical assistance, training and affordable loans to local organizations that help rural communities prosper. TBD (To Be Done Studio) harnesses the inherent goodness in people and the power of design to create sustainable solutions to the endemic problems that our world faces. We seek a relevant practice, one which is accessible to all rather than the few. To do so, we design and build spaces that uplift, inspire and support power within the communities we work. Sierra Mack-Erb is a comprehensive designer, cultural anthropologist, and Applied Community and Economic Development (ACED) Fellow with the Stevenson Center at Illinois State University researching the intersection of design and social impact. Sierra's research primarily concerns the utility of design methods in community development contexts to create positive social change and is informed by her 5 years of professional experience as a designer and product developer...

Sierra holds a B.A from the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, + Design at Indiana University and is currently earning her M.S in Cultural Anthropology from Illinois State University. Born and raised in Michigan, on the ancestral lands of the Potawatomi peoples, Hillary earned a bachelor's degree in Art History from Kendall College of Art and Design before serving in the Peace Corps... Following her Peace Corps service, Hillary completed a Coverdell Fellowship at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), where she earned a M.S. in Rural Development. Hillary also holds a M.A. certificate in nonprofit management.

For more than a decade in the nonprofit sector, Hillary has worked nationwide with indigenous communities in the arts and tribal public health fields, focusing on program management and technical assistance. Hillary continues to volunteer to for several organizations supporting rural and tribal arts. Uploaded by John Hauser on November 12, 2023 The Rural America Placemaking Toolkit is a resource guide to showcase a variety of placemaking activities, projects, and success stories across rural America. USDA Rural Development has made investments in placemaking since 2020, and entered into a cooperative agreement with University of Kentucky’s Community & Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK) in 2022 to host the first... CEDIK developed this website as a way to highlight the importance of placemaking in rural communities, as well as provide comprehensive resource that will be regularly updated to feature new projects, activities and successes...

The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) was a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts. in partnership with the Housing Assistance Council. Focusing on communities with populations of 50,000 or less, CIRD’s goal was to enhance the quality of life and economic viability of rural America through planning, design, and creative placemaking. CIRD was 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. The CIRD program goals included: Learn more on CIRD’s 2022 webinar, CIRD’s Local Design Workshops: Lessons Learned

Design Learning Cohort members discuss their unique design challenges with experts and peers. Photo by Isabella Green CIRD provided access to the resources that communities need to convert their own good ideas into reality. The program offered competitive funding to small towns and rural and tribal communities to host a local design workshop. With support from a wide range of design, planning, and creative placemaking professionals, the workshops brought together local residents and local leaders from non-profits, community organizations, and government to develop actionable solutions to the... The community received additional support through webinars, web-based resources, and customized follow-up support after the workshop.

HAC visits communities to assess local assets and challenges, delivering actionable reports, funding options, and real-world case studies. We help communities craft compelling narratives that attract attention, partnerships, and funding. HAC provides expertise in refining fundraising strategies and connecting communities with national and regional funders. Customized learning programs bring placemaking and rural design best practices directly to the community level. For communities facing opportunities or challenges, HAC offers targeted coaching to identify next steps, including funding pursuits. Creative placemaking is not just an urban activity.

Many leaders and practitioners in rural social and economic development have also embraced the practice. The Housing Assistance Council collaborated with the National Endowment for the Arts and buildingcommunityWORKSHOP to bring resources to support creative placemaking to rural partners. Creative placemaking in rural communities has been used to amplify a sense of home and heritage, to engage marginalized community members, and as a tool for economic development. The publication Rural Voices examines creative placemaking as it is practiced in rural communities. Though the term “creative placemaking” is only about a decade old, these articles recognize that rural community organizations have long taken on community-building endeavors that have included the arts. Source:http://www.ruralhome.org/sct-information/rural-voices/1493-rvsummer2017

Tagged: Economic Development, Rural Governments The Housing Assistance Council (HAC), under Cooperative Agreement with USDA Rural Development as part of its Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge Initiative (RPIC), is excited to announce the Request for Applications (RFA) to the HAC... Rural communities are invited to submit applications to receive support and technical assistance to host a virtual and on-site local Placemaking Workshop (if local public health guidelines allow) or participate in the Placemaking Learning... Specifically, the CPR Initiative will focus on improving rural prosperity and building the capacity of rural organizations to create and implement innovative placemaking strategies into their larger community development planning goals and activities. Under USDA, Rural Development, Placemaking is defined as a collaborative process among public, private, philanthropic and community partners to strategically improve the social, cultural, and economic structure of a community. This work is based on a sense of place with qualitative and quantitative outcomes.

Objective: Improve rural prosperity and build the capacity of rural organizations and communities to create and implement innovative placemaking strategies into their larger community development planning goals and activities. We recommend that applicants prepare their answers prior to starting the application process, as you do not have the ability to save your progress while submitting. Your responses can be copied and pasted into the application form. Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about the application submission process One-month federal funding extension in process • Housing discrimination and hate crimes rose in 2018 • HUD announces veteran homelessness decline continues • Grants offered for community infrastrcuture for homeless individuals and families •...

Placemaking And Rural Design Archives Housing Assistance Council

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