Carl Small Town Center at MSU receives public outreach, design honors for âMarking the Muleâ project
Contact: Sasha Steinberg
Mississippi ´ķĪķAPPâs Carl Small Town Center is receiving two statewide awards for its âMarking the Muleâ project focused on advancing citizen engagement in the Marks community.
On the universityâs behalf, CSTC Director Leah F. Kemp recently accepted a 2017 Public Outreach Award from the Mississippi Chapter of the American Planning Association at its joint conference with the national APA organization in Birmingham, Alabama. The award recognizes an individual or program that uses information and education to raise awareness about the value of planning among communities and locales. Award criteria include innovation, comprehensiveness, holistic approach, transferability, quality, implementation and technology use.
The project also received an AIA Design Award from the Mississippi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects during the organizationâs recent Public, Design, Community and Membership Awards Celebration at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.
In July 2015, MSUâs Carl Small Town Center was awarded a $25,000 Our Town grant by the National Endowment for the Arts to create a trail and make plans for an interpretive center that tells the story of a 1968 Mule Train, a program of Martin Luther King Jr.âs âPoor Peopleâs Campaign.â
The yearlong public outreach campaign project engaged local residents, historians, architects, planners and state tourism and historic preservation officials. The integrated planning process created a vision for a cultural trail and interpretive center focused on events surrounding the Mule Train.
Documentation of oral histories, outreach at a local blues festival, a hands-on design charrette and multiple feedback loops culminated in the design of an interpretive center and trail, as well as construction of a trailhead marker doubling as a welcome sign at the intersection of Mississippi Highway 6/U.S. Highway 278 and M.L.K. Jr. Drive in Marks.
Kemp said the âMarking the Muleâ project gave the Carl Small Town Center and Marks residents the opportunity to have a meaningful impact through the development of a tangible project in the Quitman County community.
âAt the Carl Small Town Center, we truly enjoy engaging with communities to find the best solutions to their challenges,â Kemp said. âIn the form of multimodal trails, we were able to address tourism and health and wellness, promote historical significance, and provide entryway signage for the Marks community. The resulting awards our center has received are a reflection of this successful project and partnership.â
Fred E. Carl Jr., a major Mississippi ´ķĪķAPP benefactor and the Carl Small Town Centerâs namesake, is a Greenwood resident who founded and served as the first president and CEO of nationally recognized Viking Range Corp. A one-time architecture major at MSU, he endowed the universityâs statewide community design outreach program in 2004.
For more on the College of Architecture, Art and Design, visit ; its Carl Small Town Center, at or .
MSU is Mississippiâs leading university, available online at .