Delta Creative Place-Making Pilot Initiative

The Delta Regional Authority is an independent federal agency created by Congress in the "Delta Regional Authority Act of 2000" that serves 252 counties and parishes in an eight-state region: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. DRA operates as a federal-state partnership and works with its local development districts by utilizing market-proven processes to improve economic outcomes and enhance the quality of life for the people in the region. DRA makes strategic investments of federal appropriations into projects supporting basic public infrastructure, transportation improvements, business development with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, and workforce development.

The Delta Creative Place-making Initiative is designed to help communities enhance the quality of place and quality of life by investing in the distinctive local character of Delta places, for positive economic and community outcomes.

For more information, please visit the Delta Regional Authority website at www.dra.gov

The National Endowment of the Arts suggests that, "Creative place-making is when artists, arts organizations, and community development practitioners deliberately integrate arts and culture into community revitalization work - placing arts at the table with land use, transportation, economic development, education, housing, infrastructure, and public safety strategies." The DRA is poised to support the region's cultural and creative economies by providing a platform for the arts and cultural sectors to align their efforts with the public sector to assure the rural way of life will continue, as we build more creative, entrepreneurial and inclusive communities.

DRA funding and technical assistance provided for DCPI projects will commence on or after September 1, 2017, for a period of up to 24 months. Applicants should allow sufficient time for asset mapping, partnership dialogue and collaboration building, planning, execution, internal evaluation, and project completion/close-out.

1. Does the application address the specific stated goals of the DCPI program? 2. Do the submitted materials clearly indicate the commitment of the primary applicant and other primary partner to this proposal? 3. Do these organizations, and other partners identified in the application, have the capacity, technical expertise, community support and artistic/cultural competencies necessary to design, develop and execute the proposed project? 4. Is there sufficient competence within the cultural/art/design organizations to achieve artistic excellence and project completion? 5. Does the vision for this project, and the stated outcomes, enhance the quality of life, social and economic diversity, community inclusiveness and overall cohesion? 6. Does the proposal reflect creative approaches which address future community plans, priorities, and challenges? 7. Where appropriate, does the proposal address the needs of the under-served populations, including those who experience of the arts have been limited by geography, ethnicity, disability, class or poverty? 8. Is the scale and scope of the proposed project feasible, appropriately funded, and capable of on-time completion? 9. Will the community at large be adequately engaged, to assure the longer term sustainability of the enterprise? 10. Were appropriate evaluations metrics, documentation, and dissemination processes identified, and can they be executed by the partner organizations.

As a component of the DCPI application, all applicants are required to upload the following documents in to the DRA Funding Portal (funding.dra.gov) -Map/Photos -Letters of Support -Corporation Annual Report -IRS 990/Audit -Bylaws

Notices of Intent to Apply are due Friday, July 31, 2017 @ 5:00PM. Central Standard Time. To submit a Notice of Intent, please see the DRA Website: www.dra.gov/creativeplacemaking Applications are due Monday, July 31, 2017 @ 5:00PM. Partial application submissions will not be accepted Applications will undergo an internal and external four week review process. Awards will be made in September 2017.