Resource Database

The American Planning Association's (APA) policy guides represent the collective thinking of our members on positions of both principle and practice. They represent APA's official position on issues central to building communities of lasting value. Topics include: Climate Change, Energy, Hazard Mitigation, Sustainability, Housing, and more.

Bear Paw Development provides professional planning and project management. ent services the following geographic areas in the State of Montana. Services include small business development, brownfields program, community development, loan department, and value added agriculture programs.

Butte CPR provides grants to improve buildings, educational tours, lectures, preservation workshops, and other events, liaison with local government, business, and civic organizations, and the labor to restore, renovate and salvage historical buildings in the nation's largest National Historic Landmark District.

Community Builders colloaborates with communitys in "community assistance projects". Areas of assistance include: redevelopment and revitalization, transportation, transportation issues, housing issues, community and regional planning, and economic and policy analysis.

Wyoming is given broad authority to design and structure a program to meet local community and economic development needs. However, any project funded with CDBG funds must meet one of three U.S. Housing and Urban Development-imposed national objectives. 1 .Benefit to low- and moderate-income families; 2. Elimination of slums and blight; 3. Projects which meet an urgent community development need that pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community.

In partnership with local governments and a host of stakeholders, the Montana Department of Commerce administers CDBG funds on behalf of the State of Montana. Under the State CDBG Program, states award grants to cities, towns, and counties to develop and preserve decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create and retain jobs.

The program is administered by Idaho Commerce with funds received annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. ICDBG funds are used to construct projects that benefit low and moderate-income persons, help prevent or eliminate slum and blight conditions, or solve catastrophic health and safety threats in local areas.

The USDA: Downtown Revitalization guide links to full-text handbooks, planning tools, case studies, funding resources, organizations, revitalization strategies, and more to assist a community considering a downtown revitalization project.

Through strategic investments that foster job creation and attract private investment, EDA supports development in economically distressed areas of the U.S.. EDA works directly with local economic development officials to make grant investments that are well-defined, timely, and linked to a long-term, sustainable economic development strategy.

This report examines case studies of small towns and cities that have complemented thier recruitment of major employers, manufacturers, and large retailers by successfully emphasizing their existing assets and distinctive resources. Topics discussed in the report include: identifying and building on existing assets, engaging all members of the community to plan for the future, taking advantage of outside funding, creating incentives for community redevelopment and investment, encouraging cooperation within the community and across the region, and supporting a clean and healthy enviornment.