FEBRUARY 2, 2012 (LINCOLN, NEB.)—The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) is accepting nominations through March 20 for the 2012 Showcase Community Awards. Up to three communities may ultimately be designated Showcase Communities.

A community may nominate itself or another community. Designated Showcase Communities must either wait five years to resubmit their own nomination, or be nominated again by another community for the Awards. Development professionals may submit nominations. The form is available at www.neded.org/community/community-info/community-improvement/community-development-week.

Presented by Governor Dave Heineman in conjunction with National Community Development Week, the Award recognizes those communities that have demonstrated an exceptional capacity to identify development goals and strategies; combined local, state and federal resources to achieve goals; and accomplished positive impact projects during the past 5-10 years.

Last year's Showcase winners were Cambridge, Plattsmouth, and Kearney.

National Community Development Week was started in 1986 to emphasize the value of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. For more than 30 years, state projects have received substantial financing assistance from the program. For example, during the past five years, $62.7 million CDBG funding was invested in 374 projects statewide, leveraging an additional $151 million in state, local and private investment. This breaks down to a yearly average in the following categories:

This year, National Community Development Week will be celebrated April 8-14, and the awards will be presented during a press conference with the Governor on April 9 at 10:30 a.m. (CST).

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