Special recognition for Newton County community: March 6, 2012

The Newton Fund held a special reception at The Center for Community Preservation and Planning (The Center) on February 27 to award nearly $18,000 in grants to five Newton County nonprofits, as well as announced the recipient of its fourth annual Pat Patrick Big Heart Award. Grant recipients were Newton County Trail – Path Foundation, Project ReNeWal Domestic Violence Intervention Program, The Salvation Army, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul – St. Augustine Conference, and Washington Street Community Center. Local resident Doug Bolton was recognized as this year’s Pat Patrick Big Heart Award recipient.

Click here to view photos from the event.

Bolton’s community involvement is extensive and includes service to the Newton County Community Partnership, Rotary Club of Covington, Hands on Newton, Habitat for Humanity and the Miracle League of Newton County. In addition to the recognition, Bolton received a cash award of $2,000, which he designated to the Miracle League.

Newton County has received national recognition for its state-of-the-art community planning practices. The Center, where the reception was held, was recently recognized by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. This past fall, Newton County-raised and MIT-educated Ruth Miller won a grant from MIT to produce a video series on Newton County’s comprehensive planning process.  The four-part series is now online (available here), and has already received acclaim from the National Resource Defense Council and the Atlantic Magazine’s Cities Blog.

The series features members of the Newton County Leadership Collaborative, discussing their experiences with comprehensive planning, and sharing advice for planners, residents, and representatives in other communities.

“When given the opportunity to highlight any community or project in the world, I didn’t hesitate to use this opportunity to bring the spotlight to the Center”, said Ruth. The globe-trotting Newton County-native is working towards a masters degree in urban planning at UC Berkeley, but she’s quick to praise Newton County for the ability of its leaders to commit to an enjoyable and sustainable future with the 2050 plan. “Sometimes it feels like academic planning is quick to write off small towns as unplannable and irrational. I love being from such a strong counterexample. Newton County and its cities are pioneering this field, and it was a real treat to have this excuse to talk to people about it.”

Ruth and the generation to follow her will reap the rewards of the Center’s 2050 Plan. Watch these videos and read the blogs from your computer now:
https://colabradio.mit.edu/category/citizen-planning-in-newton-county-georgia/

Since 2003, The Community Foundation has distributed more than $1 million in grants to The Center through competitive and donor-advised grants.