It’s a new year and it’s time to think about what you can to make your community a better place to live and to reflect back on how REALTORS® did just that.
“REALTORS® don’t only sell homes; they sell neighborhoods and communities. REALTORS® aid in improving and revitalizing neighborhoods with smart growth initiatives, helping create walkable, urban centers, which...
More and more organizations are seeing the value of placemaking and integrating it into their business models. The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has undertaken a placemaking project as part of their Building Healthy Places Initiative. ULI has helped advance the notion that placemaking adds value to real estate and urban environments.
ULI’s...
Written by Rick Capelli, Staff Liaison, St. Louis REALTORS® Foundation
In sports it’s often spelled out like this: “If you talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk.”
REALTORS® in St. Louis have made sure the spirit of this popular phrase is alive and well in 2018 and beyond when it comes to their profession. As builders of communities, and not just “home sellers”, St...
The National Association of REALTORS® encourages our state and local REALTOR® Associations to partner with others to make their communities better places to live. Our Placemaking Grant is available to our REALTOR® Associations to help fund the creation of new public spaces and destinations in a community. Since the launch of the grant in 2014, we have approved over almost $1 million in...
Written by Rachel Banner, Senior Program Manager at the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA)
As we all know, parks are essential to a vibrant community and research shows that when people have a park within a 10-minute walk of home, they and their surrounding communities have improved physical, mental, social, environmental, and economic health. Yet, one third of people in...
Written by Zachary Churney, Economic and Community Development Liaison, MIBOR REALTOR® Association
The fundamental idea behind placemaking is that we build communities in which people want to live, work and thrive. These spaces become places where we make memories, engage with our neighbors and take pride in where we live. MIBOR REALTOR® Association believes that a home is not just a...
Written by Courtney Rudat, Community Outreach Coordinator, Greater Lansing Association of REALTORS® (GLAR)
REALTORS® don’t just sell homes, they help build communities. And Greater Lansing agents are proving this right one park at a time.
The Greater Lansing Association of REALTORS® is driving its placemaking initiative with an Adopt-A-Park program. As part of...
This index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most.
Written by: Ida Seitter, Director of Development, Columbus REALTORS®
It is easy to overlook the Milo-Grogan (MG) neighborhood in downtown Columbus (OH). With its seemingly deserted post-industrial landscape and aging homes, it stands in stark contrast to the unprecedented development happening across the city.
...
Although PARK(ing) Day isn’t until September, specifically the third Friday in September, now is the perfect time to start planning. So first, what is PARK(ing) Day? PARK(ing) Day is an annual worldwide one-day event where citizens convert metered parking spaces into public parks and open spaces, sometimes referred to as...
Community Outreach Programs
Housing Opportunity Grant
Housing Opportunity Grants support state and local REALTOR® Associations’ affordable housing activities. The goal of the program is to position REALTORS® as leaders in improving their communities by creating affordable housing
opportunities.
Smart Growth Grant
Smart growth is an approach to development that encourages a mix of building types and uses, diverse housing and transportation options, development within existing neighborhoods, and community engagement. The Smart Growth Program offers state and local REALTOR® Associations to way to engage with government officials, community partners and the general public in planning and designing community’s future.
Diversity
Planned diversity initiatives makes good business sense. REALTOR® Associations with well-planned diversity programs create a stronger sense of community, particularly in neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreign-born and minority residents who are moving up the socioeconomic ladder and are buying homes.
NAR Placemaking Resources
Placemaking Guide: A Guide to Transform a Public Space into a Community Place
REALTORS® and state and local association staff can learn the details of Placemaking, the kinds of projects placemaking entails, how to organize them, and where to go for assistance and resources.
Placemaking Webinar Series
Our Placemaking Webinar Series will provide more in depth information on the various types of Placemaking and how REALTORS® were involved in Placemaking activities in their communities.
Placemaking Grant
The Placemaking Grant funds the creation of new public spaces, like pocket parks, trails & gardens, in a community. The grant focuses on “lighter, cheaper, quicker” placemaking projects, which can be built under a year and cost less than $200,000.
