Friday, January 27, 2012

How the Creative Placemaking Certificate can help you get more grants and contracts

We're doing something in the Creative Placemaking Master Practitioner Certificate that you rarely see in a continuing education program -- teaching business development and client relations skills.

In addition to the six deep learning courses that explore creative placemaking, we will hold 10 videoconference sessions on skills that will help you be more successful with decisionmakers, clients and funders.

Why?  Because we're working to build a new field and community.  And we know that one of the best ways to do that is to help our colleagues be in stronger positions to influence decisionmakers and communities.

And we know how to do that.  Our instructors have had a great deal of success in their fields, and have been selected for this program because they practice the kind of ethical strategic communications promoted in the "Leading from the Middle" model of leadership. (Leading from the Middle skills are good business development and client relations skills.)

Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP, who will lead the client/business development sessions, has raised more than $1 million in grants and contracts from a wide variety of sources, developed continuing education programs that have served more than 1,500 people around the world, helped to create the national Latinos and Planning Division, and became one of the few people without a PhD to hold a full-time faculty position at the prestigious Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University. When he was a private sector planning consultant, he beat several more heavily favored competitors for large contracts.

We understand that for the Creative Placemaking program to meet your personal goals and mission, it should  help you in your work and career.  We offer that opportunity.

The Creative Placemaking Master Practitioner Certificate Program begins in March.  Learn more or register.


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ABC's work with communities featured in Camden Courier-Post

There was a good write-up about Arts Build Communities' work with towns on creative placemaking in the January 27 edition of the Camden Courier-Post

Center offers towns guidance
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20120127/NEWS01/301270021/Center-offers-towns-guidance

We provide a number of services to communities that want to enhance their quality of life and local economies with and through the arts.  These include community coaching, practical research, consulting, and continuing education for leaders.

Learn more about Arts Build Communities here.

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Friday, January 13, 2012

ABC Director receives national planning award for commitment to social justice, diversity and opportunity


Leonardo Vazquez,AICP/PP, a champion of social justice and diversity from Rutgers University, will receive the American Planning Association’s 2012 National Planning Achievement Award for Advancing Diversity & Social Change in Honor of Paul Davidoff.


For more than 15 years Vazquez has been influencing planners to be more culturally competent as well as encouraging Latinos to enter the planning profession. The Davidoff award honors a project, group, or individual for promoting diversity or demonstrating a sustained social commitment to advocacy within the planning field.


As a leader, educator and author, Leo Vazquez has positively influenced hundreds of planners, helping them to analyze and plan diverse and dynamic communities,” said Marie L. York, FAICP, APA Board Director and 2012 Awards Jury Co-Chair. “He is a champion of diversity, and inspires and energizes everyone he meets.”


"Leo's strong leadership and vision for APA's Latinos and Planning Division was instrumental in bringing in experts, leaders and passionate planners together to create the Dialogo series and in turn the Division itself. He led the Division with his humbleness and patience, bringing out the best in others for leadership and engagement in Division activities. He continues to serve as a great mentor to me and to the Division,” said Vicky Carrasco, Chair of APA’s Latinos and Planning Division.


Vazquez directs Arts Build Communities, a center for creative placemaking, based at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy.  He also developed three other major initiatives there, including Bloustein Online Continuing Education Program, Professional Development Institute and The Leading.  All the initiatives he has developed incorporated elements of diversity and collaborative leadership practices. His book Leading from the Middle: Strategic Thinking for Planning and Community Development Professionals aims to build culturally competent leadership skills. He also is coeditor of the forthcoming Dialogos: Placemaking in Latino Communities and was the principal author of Lagging Behind, a comprehensive quantitative study of ethnic diversity in the planning profession.


Within APA, Vazquez was instrumental in the founding of the Latinos and Planning Division, which focuses exclusively on urban planning challenges facing Latino communities in the United States. He is co-founder of the Planners for Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee for APA’s New York Metro Chapter, which led to other state chapters developing diversity committees.


Vazquez is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a licensed New Jersey Professional Planner.  He is also on the board of the Center for Non-Profits, a statewide advocacy and technical assistance organization for nonprofit organizations in New Jersey.


Vazquez will receive the Advancing Diversity & Social Change Award in Honor of Paul Davidoff at a special awards luncheon held during APA’s National Planning Conference in Los Angeles on April 16, 2012. His work also will be featured in an upcoming issue of Planning magazine, APA’s flagship publication.


To view all of the APA 2012 National Planning Excellence, Achievement, and Leadership Award recipients, visit www.planning.org/awards/2012. APA’s national awards program, the profession’s highest honor, is a proud tradition established more than 50 years ago to recognize outstanding community plans, planning programs and initiatives, public education efforts, and individuals for their leadership on planning issues.


The American Planning Association is an independent, not-for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities. APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science and profession of good planning -- physical, economic and social -- so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. Members of APA help create communities of lasting value and encourage civic leaders, business interests and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives. APA has offices in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Ill. For more information, visit www.planning.org.
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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Creative Placemaking Master Practitioner Certificate can help you learn urban planning and leadership skills

We're excited to report that there's significant interest in the Creative Placemaking Master Practitioner Certificate program from people outside of the urban planning field.  To make it easier for them to meet the standards of the program, we're going to develop video tutorials and provide primers on urban planning by the time the program starts.

So if you want to become a Creative Placemaker, but don't have training or experience in urban planning -- no worries.  We'll help you.

Want to get started now?  See some videos that provide an overview of planning.  Then you can learn more through the Certificate Program.

Learn more or register for the Master Practitioner Certificate Program.

Learn more about Arts Build Communities

Questions?  Contact ABC Director Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

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Thursday, January 5, 2012

ArtPlace Director Carol Coletta to keynote ABC creative placemaking conference in April


A leading voice for urban transformation, now the director of one of the nation's major funders of art-based community and economic development, will highlight the next Arts Build Communities creative placemaking conference on April 4 at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ.

Carol Coletta, Director of ArtPlace, will be the keynote speaker at Create A Place: Arts Build Communities, the second annual creative placemaking conference produced by Rutgers University's Arts Build Communities center.  The conference will be April 4, 8 am to 4 pm, at the Paul Robeson Center at Rutgers University's Newark campus.

The conference focuses on building, growing and sustaining creative communities and creative economies.  It is the only event in New Jersey that brings together elected and appointed officials, artists and cultural leaders, community and economic development professionals, and urban planners and public affairs professionals to learn and exchange ideas about creative placemaking.

This year, the conference is designed to help municipalities build points toward a Sustainable Jersey certification.  Registration is open.  It is $75, which includes breakfast, lunch and an after-conference reception. Register now or send me updates by email or Twitter.

Carol Coletta specializes in developing cities and creative communities. She leads ArtPlace, a new national initiative to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S. ArtPlace is a collaboration of the nation’s top foundations, leading banks, federal agencies and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Prior to joining ArtPlace, Carol was president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, a national
network of urban leaders building and sustaining the next generation of great
American cities.

For ten years, she hosted and produced a nationally syndicated public radio show,
Smart City.

She also served as executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, a
partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Conference of Mayors and
American Architectural Foundation.

Carol is a passionate advocate for cities, and she has devoted her life to answering
the question: What makes cities succeed?

Carol was a Knight Fellow in Community Building at the University of Miami School of
Architecture and was named one of the world’s 50 most important urban experts by a
leading European think tank. She is a Senior Fellow with the Design Futures Council
and completed graduate work in future studies and design.

ArtPlace is a collaboration of top national foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts and various federal agencies to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S.

Participating foundations include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Robina Foundation and an anonymous donor. In addition to the NEA, federal partners are the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council.

Arts Build Communities helps communities and arts-related organizations make better and more cost-effective decisions about community and economic development related to creative industries.  To this end, ABC provides continuing education, capacity building services, thought leadership and practical research.  ABC is a partnership of Rutgers University's Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic and Public Partnerships in the Arts and Humanities and the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.

Register for the conference.

Arts Build Communities is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.


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