Press/Media

The efforts of the City Leaders Institute team in Memphis, Tennessee were featured in the latest publication of Bridges, a quarterly journal of the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

The Plough Foundation and their program associate, Katie Midgley, have been leading the way to prepare Memphis for the increase in the number and share of older adults in the population. After researching the availability and quality of existing services as well as commissioning a survey of 500 older adults within the county, Plough identified home modifications supportive of the ability to age in place as its top priority within its aging agenda.

Memphis is participating in Partners for Livable Communities and MetLife Foundation’s City Leaders Institute on Aging in Place. The program is in its second year and has worked in fifteen communities across the country.

The Memphis team is working to develop a resource for older adults in Shelby County that will determine an individual’s home modification needs, direct the individual to services that can perform the modifications, and provide funding for those older adults unable to afford the modificiations needed to allow them to remain in their home for as long as possible.

Read more about the efforts in Memphis and the City Leaders Institute: The Graying of America: Preparing for What Comes Next (Bridges Fall 2013).

Learn more about the City Leaders Institute.

Check out the Plough Foundation website.

Partners President Bob McNulty authored an article in Community Investments, the journal of the San Francisco Federal Reserve. In the article, titled The Partnership for a Green Dividend, McNulty makes the case for an integrated, comprehensive and place-based approach to the two imperatives of economic development and climate action, through a partnership between Partners for Livable Communities and Climate Prosperity Project.

Drawing on the complementary skill sets and experiences of the two organizations, The Partnership would help communities assess and align those regional assets so important for success in the green economy and would focus efforts on four key constituencies: 1) low-income areas; 2) small business; 3) labor force; and 4) minority communities. The key, overarching objective of The Partership is to help communities maximize their opportunities in the green economy in a way that maximizes social equity and increases regional prosperity.

Read the article in full below, or click here for a direct link to the PDF.

Partners president Robert McNulty spoke with Idaho Public Television's Marcia Franklin for her "Dialogue" program in a segment that aired on September 20th. McNulty spoke in depth about livability, the reason for his presence in Boise, and about the success of public-private partnerships in promoting the principles of livability. He shared what makes a community "livable", how to attain livability, and how to sustain those values.

The two continued their conversation in a "Web Extra" segment that focused on the concept of aging in place. McNulty spoke about home modifications as well as inter-generational housing and communities. He discussed the political, cultural, and regulatory obstacles that impede the development of a robust infrastructure supportive of aging in place, and the importance of building diverse, broad-based community coalitions to provide services and improve outcomes.

 

Times Free Press reported on the Bridge Builders Award presented to Volkswagen on February 22, 2013. Volkswagen's Chattanooga operation base has been honored for its eco-friendly engagement with Chattanooga community. Partners for Livable Communities awarded them for their impressive work on the livability of community including economic development and sustainability. Here is the press release on Volkswagen Chattanooga regarding the award.  

 
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The Associated Press reported on Partners for Livable Communities' recognition of Louisville, Kentucky with the 55,000 Degrees award on February 21, 2013 at its annual award ceremony. Spearheaded by the efforts of Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, the city is working with a public-private partnership to add 55,000 more college graduates in Louisville by 2020.

Click here to read the full story.

University of Pennsylvania gave a press release on the William H. Whyte Award Jonathan Barnett received by Partners for Livable Communities on February 21, 2013 at its annual award ceremony, A Celebration of Vision & Community Spirit. Jonathan Barnett who is currently the director of the City and Regional Planning program at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Design has been recognized as a pioneer of educating and planning in urban city design. His work has influenced countless cities across America and the world at large. Here is the press release on the University of Pennsylvania School of Design website regarding his award.

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By Diana Nash of the Pink Line Project on July 12, 2012

There is a buzzword circulating in the DC arts scene that I had not heard about until I returned to the city two months ago. While the concept of using the arts to spur economic and community development is not new, DC is getting attention for the success of its “Arts and Culture Temporiums” since the first one launched along the H Street NE corridor in 2010. Temporiums fall under the larger category of the Temporary Urbanism Initiative, a project undertaken by the DC Office of Planning. The goal behind the initiative, and more specifically, temporiums, is to activate vacant or underutilized spaces by using them to showcase the talent of local artists and other creative entrepreneurs, along with the retail potential that lies within emerging neighborhoods. Think of them as “Pop Ups” that stay around a little longer and have greater potential benefits for the communities where they take place. Jessica Scheuerman, of Partners for Livable Communities, explains that temporiums allow people to “take risks, explore partnerships, and to commit to something” without the burden of a long-term commitment.  Temporiums connect creative people seeking affordable space in their neighborhoods with landlords who have the available space that they haven’t been able to lease. It is a smart and increasingly popular concept that lays the groundwork for longer-term collaboration between property owners and neighborhood entrepreneurs.

Building on the success of earlier temporiums, the Office of Planning is targeting four emerging creative neighborhoods to benefit from a $250,000 grant to the city from ArtPlace, an unprecedented new private-public organization. ArtPlace is part of a national “creative place-making” movement that aims to drive revitalization across the country with arts at the center of economic development. The launch of DeanwoodxDesign marks the next step in the OP/ArtPlace grant initiative.

Columnist Neal Pierce reports on the success of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the new federal collaboration of DOT, EPA, and HUD that has awarded a series of grants to communities "for roads and housing and environmental protection."

President of Partners for Livable Communities, Robert McNulty, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal article “Artists vs. Blight ,” discussing artist occupations of blighted homes and neighborhoods in transitioning communities such as Cleveland and Detroit.

The American Society of Landscape Architect’s weekly blog, “The Dirt: Connecting the Built and Natural Environments,” posts detailed highlights from “Building Livable Communities: Creating a Common Agenda,” Partner’s recent Forum in collaboration with the Hirshhorn Museum.  Recapping the panel of Federal officials including HUD, DOT, and their overlapping agendas to create an “infrastructure for livability” through “interdependencies,” the blog also includes highlights from the speakers representing local government, non for profit agencies, and corporate entities. The Dirt showcases some of the newest ideas and agendas surrounding the national livability framework presented at the forum. Read about it here