Coincidentally, I wrote about Stanhope for the Indy this week as a case study of attempted placemaking in Raleigh gone awry. (Here’s the story link.I’ll add a link to it when it goes online.)
Then this morning, I see a press release from the Beehive Collective (they’re another good story). They make grants for good works in Raleigh, and they’ve chosen placemaking as their theme for 2012.
They’re offering one grant of up to $25,000, for which they’re taking applications through September 4:
Placemaking means making the built and social environment that surrounds us positive, healthy, and restorative for individuals and communities. In choosing this giving theme for 2012, The Beehive Collective seeks to fund work in Raleigh that focuses on improving our physical and/or social environment to have a positive impact on ourselves and our community. One grant of up to $25,000 will be awarded. If you or your organization has or is thinking about undertaking a project that fits our theme, please consider submitting an application by our deadline on September 4, 2012.
There’s a little more about the Collective’s concept of placemaking on their website.
These types of places may vary from community and healing gardens to teen centers, arts venues, crisis centers, or shelters. These could be organizations that work on advocacy for positive places, such as bicycle advocacy, environmental activism, or community groups that focus on making Raleigh neighborhoods safe, vibrant and healthy. Successful grantees will focus on improving our physical or social environment to enable people living in it to flourish and to be of service to their community.
If you go to enough planning meetings, you’ll begin to think that everyone’s into placemaking and everyone knows what it means. The auto-correct function for this blog has obviously never heard of it, however. Because every time I write placemaking — and don’t stop to change it back — it turns into platemaking.