Congratulations to the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments for receiving a 2012 Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations Research Foundation for the Northern Michigan Community Placemaking Guidebook.

The guidebook was released earlier this year to provide information and resources to help communities implement placemaking. It includes case studies of placemaking projects in six Northern Michigan communities.

The NWMCOG is also a facilitator for the Grand Vision Project in Northwest Michigan. 

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail

The National Endowment for the Arts is making available grants of $25,000 to $200,000 for creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities through the arts.

Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to improve their quality of life, encourage creative activity, create community identity and a sense of place, and revitalize local economies. 

Eligible applicants must be in the form of a partnership between a local unit of government and a nonprofit organization which must be a cultural (arts or design) organization. Michigan projects that have been awarded in the past include Dearborn, Greater Flint Arts Council, University Cultural Center Association and ArtPrize.

Applications must be submitted no later than January 14, 2013

The "Our Town"program is aligned with the cultural economic development asset of the League's "Center for 21st Century Communities" program.

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail

The Michigan Chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism is unveiling its meetup series in Grand Rapids this week.  The meetups are a networking and educational opportunity for people passionate about the built environment.

The West Michigan Meetup will be held on Wednesday, October 10th in Grand Rapids beginning at 7 pm at the Harmony Brewing Company located at 1551 Lake Drive, SE.  Lee Hardy, Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College will be the featured speaker presenting on bicycling in Amsterdam.

MiCNU has been holding similar Meetups in Lansing and Birmingham since 2010. For more information on MiCNU visit their facebook page. For more information on how various organizations such as the League are working together with the state of Michigan to further place-based strategies, visit miplace.org.

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail

The Michigan Vacant Property Campaign, will be holding a regional roundtable for community stakeholders in Royal Oak on October 24th. The event will take place at Sahara Restaurant from 2-4 pm. Sahara is located at 24770 Coolidge Hwy in Oak Park.

The Michigan Vacant Property Campaign is a collaboration between the MML, Center for Community Progress, Community Economic Development Association of Michigan, and Michigan Community Resources.  The goal of the campaign is to serve as a statewide resource for addressing the issue of vacant properties in communities across the state through education and outreach, community and partner technical assistance, local campaign formation and policy and systems development.

The roundtable will include an introduction to the campaign and the strategies and tools that can be made available to community leaders in readying sites for redevelopment and reinvestment.

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail.