Polk County local government was recently awarded a Bradley Planning & Education Breakthrough grant from the Polk County Community Foundation.
This grant enabled the county to send three people to the tenth annual New Partners for Smart Growth national conference held in Charlotte, N.C. on Feb. 3 – 5, 2011.
The strength of the conference comes from the diversity of participants. Close to 1,400 local officials, health professionals and community leaders from across the country converged on Charlotte to discuss the latest research, tools and strategies, successful case studies, revitalization and economic development.
The three-day schedule featured 400 speakers with more than 100 sessions and workshops. They included a mix of breakouts, implementation workshops and peer-to-peer learning opportunities on topics such as local food systems, sustainability strategies for small towns and rural communities and regional partnerships, to name a few.