Ace Gardendale

Gardendale will join the Alabama Communities of Excellence program this year, the program announced this week.

ACE communities include Alexander City, Arab, Atmore, Bay Minette, Brewton, Childersburg, Demopolis, Elba, Eufaula, Evergreen, Fairhope, Fayette, Foley, Geneva, Graysville, Guin, Gulf Shores, Guntersville, Haleyville, Hanceville, Hartselle, Headland, Heflin, Helena, Jackson, Jacksonville, Jasper, Leeds, Livingston, Millbrook, Monroeville, Montevallo, Oneonta, Rainsville, Saraland, Spanish Fort, Tallassee, Thomasville, and Valley. The communities currently in the program are: Abbeville, Boaz, Center Point, Chelsea, Florala, Gardendale and Red Bay.

As the newest members of the group, Florala and Gardendale will begin the process this summer. According to the program, the main criteria for selecting ACE participants are the level of local commitment to the prom and the community capacity to support the program.

According to a press release from ACE, the program is three-tiered and “offers a systematic three-phase approach with technical resources and the tools needed to help Alabama’s small towns foster growth and prosperity by focusing on their distinctive assets and resources.”

Those tiers are:

•Phase I, known as the assessment phase. During this time, a comprehensive report card detailing community assets and weaknesses will be prepared by an ACE Team and presented to the community along with recommended strategies and actions.

•Phase II, the Leadership Development and Strategic Planning component, each community must establish a leadership development program, prepare an up-to-date strategic plan, and identify a local nonprofit development organization.

•Phase III is the Implementation and Comprehensive Planning segment. Issues addressed during Phase III include comprehensive planning, commercial business development, education enhancement, infrastructure, health and human services, retiree attraction, tourism, economic development, and quality of life.