Author: Melissa Bond
Major Program: Community Design/Creative Placemaking
The Community & Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK) launched a cooperative agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA-RD) to create a free digital toolkit to help rural leaders build placemaking plans in small towns and communities across America. In March 2022, USDA announced a $260,000 cooperative agreement with CEDIK to expand access to placemaking resources that will create more livable and vibrant communities for people in rur
Author: Jeff Fugate
The community was engaged to participate in the opening of a design exhibition exploring concepts for reclaimed mine land and downtown interventions in the face of climate change. Members of the public and community leaders attended the event. This is part of a multi-year community design project in Hazard.
Studio Louisville presented design concepts for the Preston Highway corridor to community members through a public exhibition at the Brown Envirome Institute in downtown Louisville. The event was attended by multiple local officials, including Mayor Fischer and members of Metro Council. The exhibition was supplemented by a radio interview with WFMP for Sustainability Now!.
Author: Nicole Breazeale
Creative placemaking “integrates arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities” (National Endowment for the Humanities, n.d.). Youth podcasting is one strategy for injecting new energy into rural Kentucky communities and elevating voices and local perspectives of place that are seldom heard. The Appalachian Young’Uns podcast is the brainchild of Haley Simpkins, a recent UK graduate with a major in Journalism and a minor in Community &am
Author: Kristy Porter
On Saturday, June 18th, Pike County Extension Fine Arts joined with local community organization Pikeville Pride for a fun, colorful day together. A “Pride Picnic” was held that drew over 300 people to Pikeville City Park from around the region, including West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and beyond. Entire families and people of all ages and backgrounds gathered to feel accepted and to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.At the Pride Picnic, Pike County Extension Fine Arts set up a
Author: Anne Stephens
Discover Greenup and Kite DayThe Greenup County Tourism Commission (GCTC) has undergone drastic changes over the past year. Because the former director left abruptly, leaving behind some complication, there was a need for someone to take the helm and establish procedures for communication, recordkeeping, grants, programming, marketing, and ethical practices of community development. As an Extension Agent working in the area of community arts and development, I was asked to take on the role of Ch
Author: Cameron Correll
After securing a State GEER grant in partnership with the local school system, a program enhancing community engagement and mental health has been planned for Clark County. Part of this program is a Youth Civic Design program. The first 5-week segment of this program introduced design thinking principles centered around designing a painted crosswalk. Youth first identified what things important to different community sectors based on age or ability. After considering different viewpoints, the yo
Author: Jayoung Koo
The Department of Landscape Architecture and the Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK) developed and launched “SPARK! Extension Creative Placemaking Toolkit” which was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for the project titled “To Support Integration of Creative Placemaking into Cooperative Extension Programming: a Knowledge Building Project.” The toolkit aims to disseminate successful creative placemaking program activities to
Huntertown was once a thriving, close-knit African-American community where descendants of freed African-Americans lived in Woodford County, Kentucky. While many residents left the area for various reasons over the years, more than a century after its establishment, in 2001 the county received federal funding to purchase the 38-acre site to mitigate environmental issues and relocate the remaining residents. The Huntertown Community Interpretive Park (HCIP) Committee and the local government envi
The Greenup County Quilt Guild took on a volunteer project to create and donate unique quilt blocks that represent our local community for the purpose of an installation in the large meeting room at the Greenup County Extension Office. Greenup County Quilt Guild2022 Extension Office Project Block &nb
