Webinar Series | Brownfield Redevelopment Program
Brownfield Redevelopment Webinar Series
ABOUT THE SERIES
This monthly webinar series focuses on Brownfield redevelopment and downtown revitalization in Kentucky. The series features a variety of presentations and panels intended to help communities learn about the resources available for brownfield redevelopment and downtown revitalization more broadly. The webinars are intended to connect underserved communities throughout the commonwealth with redevelopment resources, technical assistance, new funding opportunities and inspirational stories of successful brownfield redevelopment efforts in Kentucky. We encourage you to attend the webinars live, however for those who cannot, the webinar recordings are posted below (linked through our YouTube channel).
This series is one of many new opportunities planned as part of a partnership between the University of Kentucky’s Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky (CEDIK) and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’s (EEC) Department of Environmental Protection Brownfield Program. Learn more about this exciting partnership: Ag News Release.
UPCOMING WEBINAR:
Progress Beyond Profit: Measuring Success of Your Redevelopment Efforts
May 15th, 2024 at 1pm EST
Successful brownfield and downtown revitalization projects can be measured by more than profits. This webinar will introduce attendees to a variety of ways to approach and measure indicators of success for your next redevelopment project. Let's broaden the way you conceptualize success and reimagine how your community measures it.
Presenter:
Shane Barton, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator with CEDIK
PAST WEBINARS
WEBINAR | Brownfields for Beginners
Recorded June 28th, 2023
Ready to learn the nuts and bolts of the Kentucky Brownfield Program from the staff that lead the program? This webinar features Lynn True, Brownfield Coordinator and Kiersten O’Leary, Brownfield Outreach and Education Specialist at the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’s (EEC) Department of Environmental Protection Brownfield Program. Lynn and Kiersten share the basics of the state’s Brownfield program.
Besides introducing the Kentucky Brownfield program, this webinar also helps attendees better understand the benefits of Brownfield program, outline the typical redevelopment process, as well as identify opportunities to leverage state resources and technical assistance. If your community is interested in bringing vacant, abandoned or potentially contaminated properties back into productive use, the Kentucky Brownfield Program is one of the key tools to help you achieve your goals.
Presenters:
Lynn True, KY Brownfield Coordinator (lynn.true@ky.gov)
Kiersten O’Leary, KY Brownfield Outreach and Education Specialist (kierstenm.oleary@ky.gov)
WEBINAR | Blight to Bright – Brownfield Redevelopment Success in Kentucky
Recorded July 12th, 2023
Ready to learn how to move buildings from blight to bright with the help of the Brownfield program and your local area development district? This virtual panel features staff members from area development districts as they discuss their history with the program and ways communities can be best prepared to achieve success.
Discover what goes into a successful brownfield project and get inspired by their real-world stories. Learn about best practices, strategies, and the innovative approaches that can help you uncover the untapped potential of blighted brownfield sites in your community. Hear firsthand accounts of how collaboration with stakeholders transformed contaminated sites into community assets.
Presenters:
Brendon Kearney, with Lake Cumberland ADD (brendon@lcadd.org)
Susanna Cornett, with Cumberland Valley ADD (scornett@cvadd.org)
Blake Edge, with Green River ADD (blakeedge@gradd.com)
WEBINAR | The Long Game to Revitalization
Recorded August 23rd, 2023
In this webinar, we learn how Beattyville, KY has played the downtown revitalization long game. Located at the confluence of the North and South forks of the Kentucky River, the county seat of Lee County, has long been defined by its terrain and unique landscape. Flooding in 2021 devastated the County, and left Beattyville under water but they didn't let the flooding stop their efforts. Recently, the city and its leaders have been getting attention for their vision and plan for the future.
Over the course of 15 years Beattyville expanded their tourism effort and grew lodging and restaurant capacity. Those successes spurred investments in infrastructure and outdoor amenities. And now, Beattyville is working on a renovation of their Main Street, including their recently announced $499,939 EPA Cleanup Grant to remediate a two-story downtown building fits within their long-term vision for downtown Beattyville.
Presenters:
Teresa May, Beattyville Main Street Director
Dedra Brandenburg, Beattyville/Lee County Tourism Director
WEBINAR | Is Your Community Revitalization Ready?
Recorded September 20th, 2023
This webinar focuses on the early stages of community readiness and help attendees better understand exploring your community’s needs and collecting impactful information to inform redevelopment and reuse strategies for brownfield sites and properties. Shane shares key elements from the EPA’s Revitalization Ready Guidebook.
Presenter:
Shane Barton, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator with CEDIK
WEBINAR | Finding the Right Data to Tell Your Story
Recorded October 25th, 2023
This webinar focuses on sorting through and locating the most appropriate data to help you tell your community’s story and define its need for one of the many open EPA Brownfield grants announced September 2023.
Presenters:
Shane Barton, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator with CEDIK
Simona Balazs, Research Director with CEDIK
Kiersten O’Leary, KY Brownfield Outreach and Education Specialist with Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet
WEBINAR | After the Grant Cycle - What's Next?
Recorded November 29th, 2023
In this webinar we explore how to think beyond this year’s brownfield grant solicitation cycle, whether you just submitted an application or recently began thinking about one. Learn strategies to leverage the value of your recently submitted application, and what to expect if your funding request is approved in the spring. We also cover how to prepare for a FY ’25 application if you’re just getting started.
Presenters:
Shane Barton, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator with CEDIK
Kiersten O'Leary, KY Brownfield Outreach and Education Specialist with Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet
WEBINAR | Ready, Set, Redevelop: Assessing Your Community's Preparedness
Recorded February 7th, 2024
Is your community prepared/ready for the early stages of brownfield redevelopment? This webinar will help your community better understand your starting point. Attendees learn what community readiness entails and explore two free community readiness assessments designed to give immediate feedback on steps forward that align with community capacity; the Rural Placemaking Toolkit and the Downtown Revitalization Playbook’s community assessments.Throughout the presentation attendees have the opportunity to respond to questions pulled directly from both assessments.
Presenter:
Shane Barton, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator with CEDIK
WEBINAR | Behind the Scenes: Exploring Team Member Roles and Interests
Recorded March 6th, 2024
Downtown revitalization and brownfield redevelopment requires more than a single person’s best intentions and is often predicated on having a diverse and committed team working together to achieve a community’s collective goals. While revitalization efforts may start with a single person investing their time addressing an issue, it cannot be emphasized enough that cultivating shared ownership and impactful results requires a deeper commitment by individuals on the team. This webinar explores the types of team members often engaged in redevelopment projects, what interests bring them to the table, and what roles they often play.
Presenter:
Shane Barton, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator with CEDIK
WEBINAR | Building Bridges: Engaging Communities in Brownfield Redevelopment Assessments
Recorded March 20th, 2024
This webinar will explore and share resources to help you think broader about the ways we can engage our communities to collectively gather information and develop shared insights to help frame downtown revitalization and brownfield redevelopment projects. Attendees will be equipped with a number of low cost, high impact engagement options to get your redevelopment project moving forward.
Presenter:
Shane Barton, Downtown Revitalization Coordinator with CEDIK
WEBINAR | Voices for the Future: Including Youth in Downtown Revitalization
Recorded April 17th, 2024
Is your community trying to reactivate your downtown? Join Mercedes Fraser with CEDIK to learn three easy ways to include and engage youth in the revitalization process! We will discuss placemaking and share tips, projects, and activity sheets that can help your community activate its most important asset: its future residents.
Presenter:
Mercedes Fraser, Extension Associate with CEDIK
