www.iowagreatplaces.gov

Greater Cedar Valley Alliance, Iowa City/Coralville/North Liberty, Marion, Tama County, Turkey River Corridor and Villages of Van Buren County

DES MOINES – Governor Chet Culver signed agreements yesterday with Iowa’s six new Great Places, creating work plans designed to make each a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Iowa Great Places is an initiative of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs that combines state resources and local assets to help communities cultivate the unique qualities that make them special. The Memorandums of Understanding signed today bring the state into partnership with each of the following communities: Greater Cedar Valley Alliance, Iowa City/Coralville/North Liberty, Marion, Tama County, Turkey River Corridor, and Villages of Van Buren County.

“I am proud to sign these agreements and officially welcome these communities to the Iowa Great Places program,” Governor Culver said. “These communities have proposed projects that build our cultural infrastructure, create jobs, and enhance quality of life opportunities that retain Iowa’s young people and attract new residents of all ages. I look forward to working with them to fulfill the projects to move Iowa forward.”

The program asks Iowans to develop proposals that address seven unique and authentic dimensions that make places special: engaging experiences; rich, diverse populations and cultures; a vital, creative economy; clean and accessible natural and built environments; well-designed infrastructure; a shared attitude of optimism that welcomes new ideas; and based on a diverse and inclusive cultural mosaic.

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Governor Culver will attend the Memorandum of Understanding for the new six 2009 Great Places on:

Cultural Advocacy Day
Wednesday, February 17th at 1:00pm
State Historical Building Atrium
600 East Locust Street, Des Moines.

Please review our website for more details of this and other activities on the 17th and the 18th.

Cedar Falls, part of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance, has received a significant recognition recently.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has nominated Cedar Falls as one of 12 places that made the list of this year’s distinctive destinations.

For ten years the National Trust has used the Dozen Distinctive Destinations program to highlight how historic preservation helps communities create a sustainable future and a strong economy through heritage tourism.

Part of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance’s Great Places proposal is the restoration of the Ice house Museum, in historic downtown Cedar Falls.

And this year, for the first time, the public vote will determine which of the destinations will be the 2010 Fan Favorite.

Other places nominated are as diverse as St. Louis, Mo, Provincetown, MA and Rockland, ME. and Chestnut Hill, PA. You can vote as many times as you like.

Vote for Cedar Falls here.

Congratulations on a job well done!