BRADD receives National Association of Development Organizations 2023 Impact Award

PRESS RELEASE
Glasgow News 1

BRADD based in Bowling Green, KY has received a 2023 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the BRADD Inaugural CEDS Summit project.

In 2022, BRADD created two websites that serve as the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. Over the course of 18 months at 129 local planning workshops, 20 public outreach meetings, 49 city council/commission meetings, 20 county fiscal court meetings, and 6 regional planning committee meetings, BRADD staff and local steering committee members developed and prioritized more than 1,000 local objectives in eleven overarching categories.

These categories included: Affordable, Quality Housing; Civic & Leadership Development; Downtown Development; Economic Development; Infrastructure; Public Facilities & Services; Public Health & Safety; Sense of Place; Tourism & Cultural Development; Transportation; and Workforce Development. As a follow-up to this planning effort, and to kick off implementation of the region’s CEDS objectives and each county’s local strategic objectives, BRADD hosted a regional CEDS Summit in January of 2023.

The Summit had 118 attendees across 10 sectors encompassing local and regional elected officials, tourism commissioners, emergency managers, interested community members, industrial board members, and planning commissioners. Every county within the BRADD footprint was represented in some manner. In total, the Summit featured 11 distinct breakout sessions (with popular ones repeated to give maximum exposure) and included: Funding Local Transit, Getting to Know Your Area Development District, Emergency Response Grants, Affordable Housing Best Practices, An Introduction to the Kentucky League of Cities, Tourism Impacts in the Local Community, A Look at Regional Transportation, Workforce Development in the Region, Mapping 101: What You Need to Know & How Mapping Helps, Main Streets in Kentucky, Planning & Zoning Primer, and Community Media Relations. BRADD also brought in Kentucky’s Secretary of the Cabinet for Economic Development, Jeff Noel, to give the keynote address.

NADO is a Washington, DC-based membership association of regional development organizations that promotes programs and policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional cooperation, program delivery, and comprehensive strategies. The Impact Awards program recognizes regional development organizations and their partners for improving the economic and community competitiveness of our nation’s regions and local communities.

Award-winning projects were recognized during NADO’s 2023 Annual Training Conference held in Cleveland, Ohio on November 7-10. The 2023 class of award recipients consists of 107 projects from 71 organizations spanning 28 states. These projects are presented in an interactive story map developed by NADO that includes project summaries, partners, and images. The map is available online at nado.org/2023-impact-award-recipients.

“NADO’s Impact Awards program provides a yearly opportunity for us to publicly commend the indispensable services delivered by our members to their local communities,” said 2022-2023 NADO President Chris Fetzer, executive director of the Northern Arizona Council of Governments, located in Flagstaff, AZ. “These projects not only made positive impacts in their respective regions, but also underscore the incredible diversity of programs and resources offered by regional development organizations that promote vibrant, resilient, and thriving communities.”

The NADO Impact Awards are presented in honor of the late Aliceann Wohlbruck who served as NADO’s first executive director for 24 years as a tireless champion for regional approaches to economic development in rural communities.