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COMMUNITY ABC Team: Quality of life critical to community’s future success

Advancing into America’s Best Communities quarterfinals an endorsement of local quality of life and opportunity to further improve it

America’s Best Communities, sponsored by Frontier, DISH, CoBank and The Weather Channel, aims to help small towns and cities become even better places to live

INSERT COMMUNITY, STATEOCTOBERXX, 2015 – To help strengthen the local economy, area leaders intend to take steps to make COMMUNITY an even better place to live. The team driving local efforts in the America’s Best Communities (ABC) competition is developing a Community Revitalization Plan that will rely on the region’s quality of life to help attract new visitors, business and residents to COMMUNITY.

“Winning in the first round of the America’s Best Communities competition was an endorsement of COMMUNITY as a great place to live, work and raise a family,” said COMMUNITY LEADER. “At the same time, making the quarterfinals presented us with an opportunityto do even more to enhance our quality of life.”

Sponsored by Frontier Communications, DISH Network, CoBank and The Weather Channel, America’s Best Communitiesis challenging small towns and cities to compete for revitalization grants that total $10 million. The competition celebrates the high quality of life available in rural communities, while also providing financial support to bolster the vitality of small cities and towns.

“In this global economy, we are competing against major cities and big destinations around the world. People have more opportunities than ever to choose where and how they want to live,” said COMMUNITY LEADER. “That’s why we need to do everything in our power to promote and improve our quality of life.”

As a quarterfinalist in the nationwide ABC competition, COMMUNITYwas awarded $50,000 to construct a comprehensive strategy to achieve economic revitalization and enhanced quality of life.Area leaders and community members,who are working on the plan, have considered a diverse array of innovative ideas and have selected several inventive proposals to help improve key aspects of life in COMMUNITY.

INSERT SPECIFIC DETAILS ABOUT PROJECTS THE COMMUNITY IS INCORPORATING INTO THE COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION PLAN THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE. FOR EXAMPLE, A DOWNTOWN INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT THAT WILL MAKE THE DISTRICT MORE WALKABLE AND SAFER WHILE ENCOURAGING MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT DOWTOWN.

“Improving our already high quality of life — and letting people know about it — will be critical to our community’s future success,” said LOCAL MAYOR/COUNCIL PERSON/LEADER.“Our Community Revitalization Plan will help us prove there’s no reason an entrepreneur couldn’t locate a business — or a local resident couldn’t start a business — here in COMMUNITY and grow it across the national and international marketplace.”

Across the country, only 50 communities advanced into the quarterfinals of the America’s Best Communities competition. For every quarterfinalist, the Community Revitalization Plan they develop will serve as a roadmap to a stronger community for generations to come. The best plans will be awarded additional funding in the next rounds of the competition.

Local residents also have a role to play in developing the community’s plan.

“We’re encouraging our neighbors to share ideas to help COMMUNITYsecure the America’s Best Community title and the millions of dollars in investment that come with it,” COMMUNITY LEADER said.

COMMUNITY residents can connect with the ABC team through social media and in person. Get involved on social media by connecting on Facebook at INSERT LINK and on Twitter at INSERT LINK. Learn more at the team’s website at INSERT LINK.

The team’s next meeting is scheduled for INSERT TIMEINSERT DATE at INSERT LOCATION, and local leaders are inviting residents to attend.

America’s Best Communities is a multi-stage, three-year competition that is providing $4 million in seed money and other support to assist communitiesas they developnew economic growth strategies. The top three communities — those with the most innovative proposals being effectively implemented — will share a total of $6 million in grand prize money. The winning community will be awarded $3 million, with $2 million for second place and $1 million for third. To learn more, visit americasbestcommunities.com.

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