Help Middlesboro Win $500 in the CommunityMatters Listening Party, Aug 22, 3pm

Downtown Middlesboro will be among a handful of communities nationally to participate in the CommunityMatters Listening Party next Thursday, August 22, 2013, at 3pm. Community leaders and our partners will come together at that time to discuss how we can translate all of our ideas for our community into real and concrete action.

The timing for this national event could not be better. Middlesboro is just finishing a Strategic Plan to guide improvements in the downtown area for the next five years. Similarly, a Historic Preservation Plan is being completed. Finally, through the Appalachian Rural Development Philanthropy Initiative work is being done to encourage community philanthropy in Bell County. The CommunityMatters Listening Party will help to bring all of these ideas into focus as we go about translating our vision into real improvements downtown.

Ed McMahon, Urban Land Institute

Ed McMahon will be the featured speaker for the event. He is an attorney, community planner, lecturer and author. McMahon is currently Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C., where he holds the Charles Fraser Chair on Sustainable Development. During the past 25 years Ed has helped communities in all 50 states with a wide variety of community planning and economic development issues. Also joining us will be leaders from the University of Kentucky Landscape Architecture Department and the Community & Leadership Development Program; and faculty and students from Lincoln Memorial University.

Ed has found that every successful community shares some common characteristics – these are the secrets he’ll share on the CommunityMatters call. Ed’s secrets aren’t quick fixes or silver bullets, but instead recommendations for how every city and town can capitalize on distinctive assets to be successful.

1. Have a vision for the future
2. Inventory community assets and build on them
3. Use education and incentives, not just regulation
4. Pick and choose among development projects
5. Cooperate with neighbors for mutual benefit
6. Pay attention to community aesthetics
7. Have strong leaders and committed citizens

Following the Listening Party we will have just over a week to submit a photograph of our Listening Party and a one-page drawing illustrating the vision we have for downtown. This will make Middlesboro eligible to compete for a $500 prize against more than a dozen other communities across the U.S.

Mike Lydon, Principal,
Street Plans Collaborative

Later that night at 7pm, Middlesboro will be participating in a conference call with Mike Lydon from Street Plans Collaborative based in New York and Miami. Mike will guide us through the planning for a Build a Better Block event in October. This event will transform a single block in downtown Middlesboro through performing two dozen improvements for $1,000 in a 48 hour period. These short-term improvements are hoped to plant the seeds for long-term change.

The location for both the Listening Party and the later Conference Call will be in the Distance Learning Lab in the J. Frank White Academy of Lincoln Memorial University. This is right behind the President's House. Please leave adequate time before the event to find parking on campus.

For those who want to participate in either call, please contact Discover Downtown Middlesboro at (606) 248-6155 or via our website at www.downtownmiddlesboro.org. We are also on Facebook and Twitter at "DDMBoro."

About CommunityMatters
CommunityMatters® equips cities and towns to strengthen their places and inspire change. As an alliance of leaders in the community building field, CommunityMatters champions the notion that people have the power to solve their community’s problems and shape its future. We facilitate  connections, provide education and infuse inspiration at the local level.