Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design

2016-2018 
An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts
in partnership with Project for Public Spaces 

Between 2016-2018 I served as assistant manager of the Citizen’s Institute on Rural Design (CIRD). CIRD is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, at the time parnered with Project for Public Spaces. Focusing on communities with populations of 50,000 or less, CIRD’s goal is to enhance the quality of life and economic vitality of rural America through planning, design, and creative placemaking.

CIRD provides access to the resources that communities need to convert their own good ideas into reality. The program offers competitive funding to small towns and rural and tribal communities to host a local design workshop. With support from a wide range of design, planning, and creative placemaking professionals, the workshops bring together local residents and local leaders from non-profits, community organizations, and government to develop actionable solutions to the community's pressing design challenges. The community receives additional support through webinars, web-based resources, and customized follow-up support after the workshop.

In my capacity as assisant manager I was responsible for grant budget, timeline, and interviews; community workshop and design charrette coordination; and liason with local architects and planners. I had the pleasure of collaborating with Jenn Hughes, Cynthia Nikitin, David Leyzerovsky, Kurt Wheeler and the communities of:

︎Limon, CO
︎Thomasville, GA
︎Akwesasne, Mohawk Territory, NY
︎Red Lodge, MT 
︎Salmon, ID
︎Las Vegas, NM