It’s big news around town – Susanville is one of 50 towns in rural America to have been selected as a quarterfinalist in the $10 million ‘America’s Best Communities’ competition, and the Lassen County applicant team, led by the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce, will be celebrating their first-round success at a celebration dinner on Wednesday, August 5th.
The event, hosted by Frontier Communications, will be held at Lassen Ale Works from 5:30-7:30p.m. and will feature hosted hors d’oeuvres and a no host-bar. The community is invited to join in the celebration!
Each of the 50 communities selected as quarterfinalists has been awarded $50,000 to develop comprehensive revitalization plans and a GoPro camera to document events and progress along the way.
The competition is spearheaded by Frontier Communications, DISH Network, CoBank and the Weather Channel. Each semifinalist community has been partnered with one of 50 companies – the Susanville Team has been partnered with GoPro, who will serve as strategic mentor to support community leaders as they build plans to revive the local economy and enhance our quality of life.
An additional requirement of the quarterfinalist award was for the team to collect $15,000 in community matching funds to show that the initiative has the support of the community as they proceed into the next round. A list of community minded businesses, organizations and individuals made financial contributions; Historic Uptown Susanville Association, County Cleaners, BEE Enterprises, Diamond Mountain Casino and Hotel, Kiwanis Club of Susanville, Lassen Association of Realtors, Soroptimist International of Susanville, Rotary Club of Susanville, Sunrise Rotary Club of Susanville, the City of Susanville, County of Lassen, Tonya Peddicord, Melanie Westbrook, Don Kirkpatrick, Noreen Frieling and Tony Suggs.
The Lassen County team is hard at work preparing the application for the next round of the competition.
America’s Best Communities is a multi-stage, three-year competition, which will provide $4 million in seed money and other support to assist communities as they develop their revitalization plans. The top three communities will receive a total of $6 million in prize money.
The 50 quarterfinalist communities have until November 2015 to refine, sharpen and submit their comprehensive plans to be considered for additional investment, working with their sponsor company on improving their plans and implementation.
In early 2016, 15 semifinalists will be selected to attend the America’s Best Communities Summit to present their strategies, with eight finalists awarded $100,000 to continue implementation of their plans.
In April 2017, America’s Best Communities will name its three competition winners – those with the most innovative proposals being implemented effectively. The winning community will be awarded $3 million. The second and third place communities will receive $2 million and $1 million, respectively.
Maggie Wilderotter, chairman and CEO of Frontier Communications, talked about the commitment the sponsoring organizations have to supporting sustained economic success in rural communities, “This contest is designed to challenge a community’s brightest and most innovative thinkers to develop meaningful strategies and plans that will transform their town or city.”
“Whether ideas come from an individual or a group, visionaries in a community can effect powerful transformations. And the $10 million in support from the contest sponsors is just the tip of the iceberg. As businesses join together to support their local community through the America’s Best Communities Contest, there will be a multiplier effect that will expand the size and impact of the prize. Frontier is offering qualified applicants the resources they need to be their own agents for positive change.”
For more information contact the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce at 257-4323.
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