Interested in learning more about strategies and ideas for promoting your downtown as the center of community life? The following organizations and resources provide a host of innovative solutions and inspiring ideas:

Click on one of the following topics:

o Outstanding General Community Life Resources
o Public Art Funding Resources
o Community Reading Programs
o Outdoor Activities to bring to your Downtown
o Third Places
o Community Volunteer Programs

Outstanding Sites featuring Community Life Concepts

Cool Town Studios
www.cooltownstudios.com

Pittsburgh Neighborhood Tours
Examples of the types of tours you could establish for your community
http://pittsburghneighborhoodtours.com/pr13/

Imagine Pittsburgh
Promotions and Grants for celebrating the Pittsburgh Region for its
250th Anniversary
http://www.imaginepittsburgh.com/

Project for Public Spaces
www.pps.org

The Clue Group
Articles and links to a variety of innovative ideas for downtown
activities and creative programming
http://cluegroup.com/Pages/Clues.html

Public Art Funding Resources

Heinz Endowments (regional)
Arts & Culture Program
http://www.heinz.org/programs_cms.aspx?SectionID=1&ParentID=38

Richard King Mellon Foundation (regional)
Arts and Culture, emphasizing economic development, Grant Opportunities
http://foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/rkmellon/policy.html

Sprout Fund (regional)
Public Art & Mural Program
http://www.sproutfund.org/publicart/

National Endowment for the Arts
Grant Opportunities
http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/index.html

sample artists/public art program:

Downtown Mural Program
Eric Grohe Mural Arts & Design
http://www.ericgrohemurals.com/

Painted Traffic Signal Boxes
From Brisbane, through Flickr
www.flickr.com/groups/brisbane_tsbs/pool/

Community Reading Programs

Community Reads Program
Public Broadcasting Service
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/learningresources/bfc_community.html

“One Book” Reading Promotion Project
Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html

sample programs:

“Mansfield Reads! One City, One Book”
Mansfield, TX
http://www.mansfield-tx.gov/departments/library/programs/reads/

New York Reads Together
http://www.nywa.org/nyreadstogether/

Outdoor Activities to Bring to Your Downtown

regional:

Bike Pittsburgh
www.bike-pgh.org

Venture Outdoors
www.ventureoutdoors.org

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
www.paconserve.org

national:

American Volkssport Association
Walking Clubs
www.ava.org

Walkable Communities
www.walkable.org

Third Places

Americans for Libraries Council
www.llf.org

Conversation Café
www.conversationcafe.org

The Creative Change Center (aka C3)
Examples of Third Places
www.creativechangecenter.org

White Dog Café
www.whitedog.com

Community Volunteer Programs

Amizade
Leads international service learning experiences for groups and communities
www.amizade.org/

Bread for the Journey
Start your own group of local citizen philanthropists
www.breadforthejourney.org

Kaboom!
Works with community volunteers to create community playgrounds
www.kaboom.org

Pittsburgh Cares
Offers volunteer opportunities for groups in the Pittsburgh area
www.pittsburghcares.org

Sister Cities International
Develops partnerships between US and international communities
www.sister-cities.org

Article: Sample Criteria for Evaluating the Sustainability of Community
Ideas and Projects
http://proteus.pca.state.mn.us/oea/sc/criteria.cfm