Developed in partnership with Americans for the Arts and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Creative Counties Placemaking Initiative equips county leaders with tools and resources to identify and strengthen ways to integrate the arts into solutions to local challenges.

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Innovating Solutions Together: Turning Ideas into Results  

NACo CEO Matt Chase: "Every one of these counties started in the same place: a local vision, followed by a search for ideas. NACo builds the networks that connect county officials and other experts." 

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Loan fund helps counties support entrepreneurs

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Are we building tomorrow’s infrastructure or yesterday’s data centers?

Counties can still welcome data center development, but they need to understand what the landscape is becoming. The machinery, the efficiency, the location, the cooling technology, the entire computing model will all be different.

NACo Associate Legislative Director Emma Conover shows Wake County, N.C. Commissioner Shinica Thomas and her husband, Raymond, the inside of a server rack at a Digital Realty data center in Loudoun County, Va., in October 2025. Photo by Charlie Ban
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The "Backslash Backlash:" Counties pivot in the data center buildout

Data center development across the country has put a new focus on county policies, how they regulate land use and more for local residents and how they could shape the path for economic growth built around artificial intelligence and information technology.

Cumberland County, Ky. “Retired and Inspired” volunteers gather for a photo. Photo courtesy of County Judge/Executive Luke King
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County benefits from teens and retirees working together

When Cumberland County, Ky.'s staff was spread thin, a program aimed at retiree and teen volunteers helped fill the gap and became its own reward.

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Americans for the Arts
Americans for the Arts
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National Association of Counties
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National Endowment for the Arts

Program Contact

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Patrick Spence

Program Manager, Economic Mobility