The Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) and the Georgia Cities Foundation (GCF) recently named Thomasville as one of the freshman communities in the Georgia Placemaking Collaborative’s 2022 program.
GMA and GCF joined the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, Georgia Conservancy, Electric Cities of Georgia and Georgia Power to help selected cities develop durable, local partnerships to address their most important economic and quality of life issues. Each city team is comprised of representatives from city and/or county government and a broad group of key stakeholders from the public and private sectors in their immediate community.
“Attracting and retaining talent is critical for Georgia to prosper in a knowledge-based economy, and placemaking can serve as an effective economic development tool to draw talented workers and entrepreneurs,” said GMA Executive Director Larry Hanson.
Largely modeled after the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing program, the collaborative consists of a two-year program with two retreats per year. These retreats are a critical component of the Georgia Placemaking Collaborative. During the retreats, participants will receive training from expert presenters, along with facilitated work sessions and networking opportunities with other communities.
This collaborative seeks to bring or restore prosperity through the creation of a community and economic development strategy. These strategies will capitalize on local assets to create healthy, appealing, and unique places for people to live, work and play.
“The reputation of our historic downtown district demonstrates that we understand the economic power of placemaking,” said Kenny Thompson, City Planner for the City of Thomasville. “But we also acknowledge that this success is largely due to decades of focused effort, investment, and collaboration between the private and public sectors. Participation in the GEPC will allow us to build upon the placemaking model and promote city-wide efforts to improve Thomasville’s social, physical and economic well-being. We want Thomasville to be more than a great place to visit – we want Thomasville to be a great place to live.”
For more information about the Georgia Placemaking Collaborative, please contact Sadie Krawczyk at 678-528-0938 or skrawczyk@gacities.com.