National Providers
American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association
Type: National Resource
AIANTA’s priorities are to provide technical assistance and training, research and publications to American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities. Provide assistance on cultural tourism, agritourism, recreation, arts and culture.
American Planning Association
Type: Professional Organization
The goal of planning is to maximize the health, safety, and economic well-being of all people living in our communities. This involves thinking about how we can move around our community, how we can attract and retain thriving businesses, where we want to live, and opportunities for recreation. Planning helps create communities of lasting value. While architects often focus on a single building, a planner's job is to work with residents and elected officials to guide the layout of an entire community or region. Planners take a broad view and look at how the pieces of a community — buildings, roads, and parks — fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Planners then make recommendations on how the community should proceed. One of the greatest challenges for planners is to imagine what can and should happen to a community: how it should grow and change, and what it should offer residents 10, 15, or even 20 years into the future.
American Society of Landscape Architects
Type: Professional Organization
The American Society of Landscape Architects is a professional organization for United States Landscape Architects. Their website has several resources about landscape architecture, as well as a map to find organization members within your state. Contact your state’s chapter to learn more about landscape architect providers in your area.
American Society of Civil Engineers
Type: Professional Organization
The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional organization for United States Civil Engineers. Their website has several resources as well as a map to find organization members within your state. Visit https://www.asce.org/communities/institutes-and-technical-groups to see 9 institutes on topics ranging from structural engineering, environmental and water resources, coasts, oceans, ports, and rivers, and more. Each institute’s individual page will provide a chapter list to find contact information for the chapter in your area.
Aspire Grant & Development
Type: consultancy; grant writing
Aspire Grant & Development Partner’s mission is to assist corporations and non-for-profit organizations win competitive public funding awards, at the state, federal and local levels. Aspire is a nationally certified diverse vendor, accredited by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design
Type: revitalization strategies, design
The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Housing Assistance Council. 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. 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.
Community Heart and Soul
Type: National Resource, Regional Resource
Community Heart & Soul is a resident-driven process that engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it. Developed and field-tested over a decade in partnership with over 100 small cities and towns across America, Community Heart & Soul is a proven process for engaging a community in shaping its future.
Community Heart & Soul is an ongoing practice that provides municipal officials with a clear understanding of what matters most to their constituents–all the residents–and forges a partnership that builds on the first thing everyone has in common: they all live here. It’s not a report that sits on a shelf; it’s a way of coming together to make your town a better place to live in and visit. Community Heart & Soul begins with a four-phase, step-by-step process that brings residents together to identify and honor the unique character of their town and the emotional connection of the people who live there.
Downtown Strategies
Type: Strategic Planning
Downtown Strategies specializes in technical assistance for rural communities, including: collaborative in-market Strategic Visioning Workshops; 5 year strategic plans/work plans; market analysis; retail and real estate analysis; property owner training; and small business support training.
Energy Systems Group
Type: National Resource, energy/infrastructure modernization, project development
As one of the nation’s leading energy service providers, the ESG team is comprised of certified and licensed professional engineers, project managers, energy and operations specialists, and leaders that bring exceptional expertise and proven results in developing and implementing comprehensive design, construction, and infrastructure modernization solutions. ESG’s comprehensive suite of services includes engineering and design, construction and project development, operations and maintenance, investment grade audits, measurement and verification of savings, and facilitation of project financing.
Type: National Resource, Sustainable Communities, Planning, Smart-Growth Development, Equitable Resilience, Local Foods, Local Places, Recreation Economy, Rural Communities, Main Streets
Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities helps communities develop and implement smart growth development approaches on a range of available topics. Eligible applicants are tribal, county, and local governments, and nonprofit organizations that have the support of the local government on whose behalf they are applying.
Community Change Equitable Resilience helps communities develop and design projects for climate resilience in disaster-prone areas, in support of an application for EPA's Community Change Grants.
Local Foods, Local Places helps communities develop and implement action plans that promote local foods and downtown revitalization. Eligible applicants include representatives of communities anywhere in the United States.
Recreation Economy for Rural Communities helps communities develop strategies and an action plan to revitalize their Main Street through outdoor recreation. Eligible applicants include local governments, Indian Tribes, and nonprofit institutions and organizations representing any community in the United States.
Evolve: Environment Architecture
Type: National Resource, Northeast Resource, International Resource, architecture, planning
evolveEA is a nimble multidisciplinary practice situated at the intersection of sustainability and the built environment. They help individuals, communities, and organizations take strategic action, looking through three lenses of sustainability: People, Process, and Place.
evolveEA creates compelling and thought provoking landscapes, buildings, experiences, and objects to reexamine our relationship to our environment. They strive to enable communities to create more livable places, systems and economies by addressing the ecological, social and economic issues.
Forecast Public Art
Type: National Resource, Midwest Resource, public art
Forecast is a non-profit arts organization founded in 1978 by and for artists working in public space. Based in Saint Paul, MN and working both locally and nationally, Forecast connects artists with cities, institutions and communities to courageously tackle the vital issues of our time. We partner with decision-makers and stakeholders on arts and cultural planning efforts, and support public artists with funding, training and opportunities to create partnerships and advance their public art careers. We also help others find, select, curate, fund and commission public artists.
Forecast emphasizes access for artists of color, Indigenous and/or Native artists, and groups that are traditionally excluded.
Housing Assistance Council
Type: National Resource, housing
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) is a national nonprofit that supports affordable housing efforts throughout rural America. Since 1971, HAC has provided below-market financing for affordable housing and community development, technical assistance and training, research and information, and policy formulation to enable solutions for rural communities.
National Cooperative Extension System (CES)
Type: National Resource, State Resource
CES is operated through the nation’s Land-Grant University System in partnership with the federal and state and local governments. CES is a nationwide, non-credit educational network that addresses public needs by providing non-formal higher education and learning activities to farmers, ranchers, communities, youth, and families throughout the nation. University faculty members, who are disciplinary experts, translate science-based research results into language — written, verbal, and electronic — appropriate for targeted audiences. County-based educators work with local citizens and interest groups to solve problems, evaluate the effectiveness of learning tools, and collect grassroots input to prioritize future research. By living and working in communities, county educators are able to rely on existing relationships to respond to local needs, build trust, and engage effectively with citizens.
Follow the link to search for the Extension system in your state to discover the types of planning, arts, design, and placemaking resources available to you.
The National Endowment for the Arts
Type: National Resource
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States.
Visit https://www.arts.gov/grants for funding announcements and opportunities around arts, design, culture, and placemaking, and https://www.arts.gov/impact/research/publications for links to over 200 publications related to arts, culture, and design.
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
Type: National Resource
As local leaders embrace creative placemaking as a tool to strengthen and transform communities across the country, the Creative Placemaking team at LISC has worked to create the resources and peer networks needed to empower practitioners across this unique field. With the support and partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Design & Creative Placemaking team, LISC established the Creative Placemaking Technical Assistance (CPTA) Program to assess and respond to the unique needs of Our Town Grantees. Now accessible to the general public, the videos, toolkit, and resources hosted here promise to bring these critical opportunities for skill building, reflection, and professional connection to placemakers on a national scale, as they collaborate with residents to develop arts, culture, and design projects that aim to strengthen communities.
Resources specific to rural communities can be found at https://www.lisc.org/rural/.
Browse the Program Areas tab of the LISC website to find resources in housing, childcare, community leadership, placemaking, economic development, education, financial stability, health, safety and justice, small businesses, and sports and recreation.
Main Street America
Type: National Resource
Main Street America is a program of the National Main Street Center. The National Main Street Center was established as a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1980 as a way to address issues facing older and historic downtowns during that time. The National Main Street Center leads a movement committed to strengthening communities through preservation-based economic development in older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.
Project for Public Spaces
Type: National Resource
The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) brings public spaces to life by planning and designing them with the people who use them every day. Their goal is to equip people with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to fuel lasting change. Their groundbreaking approach helps communities transform their public spaces into vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation, and serve common needs.
Rails to Trails Conservancy
Type: National Resource, eco-tourism
Since 1986, RTC has worked to bring the power of trails to more communities across the country, serving as the national voice for the rail-trail movement. For three decades, RTC has served as the national voice for trails, setting the precedent that rail-trails are need-to-have community assets and establishing policies and practices that ensure these trails are built. Rails to Trails Conservancy mobilizes communities through advocacy, capacity and partnership-building, planning and technical support.
Their Great American Rail Project and Trail Nation Projects expand transportation options, fuel strong economies, promote social equality, protect the environment and improve health and wellness.
U.S. Small Business Administration
Type: National Resource
Created in 1953, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) continues to help small business owners and entrepreneurs pursue the American dream. SBA is the only cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise as the nation’s only go-to resource and voice for small businesses.
Stewards Individual Placements
Type: Capacity Building
Stewards Individual Placement Program provides individuals with service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural resources. Participants work with federal agencies, tribal governments, and nonprofits building institutional capacity, developing community relationships, and supporting ecosystem health.
Vita Nuova
Type: Environmental Redevelopment
We are an environmental redevelopment firm, focused on revitalizing underutilized sites, areas and downtowns. We combine environmental, planning, design, market analysis, economic feasibility, stakeholder communications & engagement, disposition services, and other real-estate and planning focused services in combination or individually, depending on the client’s need.
Winrock International
Type: Capacity Building
Winrock International's community development programs help towns determine what they need to thrive — from sidewalks to broadband — and making them happen. We do this by offering technical assistance and capacity building, and by training leaders to access funding. We conduct feasibility studies and implement placemaking projects. We tailor our programs to meet the unique needs of each community.