Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation Awards $150,000-Grant To University Of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—The UACDC, an outreach unit of the School of Architecture, will receive a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (WRF), whose intent is to "build and sustain strong communities for Arkansans by supporting and strengthening organizations that serve them."

The grant, totaling $150,000 in second-year bridge funding, will be added to $50,000 previously awarded. This $200,000 grant will support UACDC community planning efforts during the 2002-03 fiscal year.

Of last year's $346,000 WRF grant, $250,000 was designated to provide bridge operations to the UACDC until the next legislative biennium. The remaining $96,000 was used to establish an outreach center in eastern Arkansas, now called the Delta Research and Design Center, which is also supported by funding from the WRF.

"Communities are necessary for survival, especially during a time when people feel as apprehensive as they do today," says UACDC staff member Jill Anthes. "With Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation support, UACDC can continue outreach programs providing the framework for socially viable towns and cities. This grant comes at a time when funds are short and need is great, so we are extremely appreciative."

Founded in 1995, the UACDC provides opportunities for undergraduates in architecture and landscape architecture to perform valuable public service throughout Arkansas, including proposals for affordable housing, ways to strengthen community and neighborhood identity and promotion of commercial redevelopment.

Graduate students in public policy assist these students in the preparation of community plans and recommendations for civic improvements. Their assistance provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to work directly with state and local citizens and leaders to gain a firsthand understanding of real-world situations and conditions.

Recent projects include a neighborhood revitalization study for Philander Smith neighborhood in Little Rock, a physical planning study for El Dorado and summer workshops in Marianna and Clarendon where students and faculty spend up to eight weeks downtown preparing proposals for civic improvements and community planning.

Many of the projects undertaken by UACDC have resulted in practical outcomes. In the City of Hot Springs, for example, the year-long study of downtown parking conditions resulted in a Federal grant of $5,000,000 for a new parking structure. A downtown study carried out for the City of Fayetteville also resulted in a $4.5 million transportation allocation for street improvements.

Initially funded by the Harvey and Bernice Jones Charitable Trust, UACDC later received grants from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation as well as the WRF. As a participant in the University of Arkansas' doctoral program in public policy and a partner with the UA Center for Business and Economic Research, the UACDC also combines interdisciplinary programs with community outreach. Its principal mission includes:

Preservation and enhancement of existing downtown districts and historic structures
Resistance to suburban patterns of dispersal and resulting horizontal sprawl
Recommendations for improved zoning mechanisms to re-establish traditional neighborhood development
Encouragement of mixed-use development in city centers, particularly with respect to residential units
Introduction of policies and procedures to ensure managed growth of cites and towns of Arkansas
Preservation of open space and encouragement for urban landscape.
Dean Jeff Shannon of the School of Architecture is grateful to the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation for providing additional support to the UACDC this year.

" Because of the loss of the state funding originally planned to begin this July, we were in danger of having to radically reduce the services offered by the UACDC," says Shannon. "We are extremely grateful for the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation's continued support."

WRF is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to improving the economic and social well being of Arkansas and its people. Created in 1974 by an endowment from the estate of Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, the Foundation has made gifts and grants of more than $62,000,000 to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions.

For more information about how the UACDC can help your community, visit the UACDC online at http://www.uark.edu/depts/uacdc/ or call 479-575-5772