project leader
Kerry H
location
Various sites across the country
(Nationwide)
latest update rss
Happy Holidays and thanks so much!

the project

Applications for the inaugural Tommy Pacello Placemaking Fellowship are now open! Click here to apply. Applications will remain open until July 31, 2023. 

Thank you to the many incredibly donors who helped us exceed our fundraising goal for this year!

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Tommy Pacello loved great public spaces. He loved great cities. He loved people who worked together to improve their communities. He was a planner but he believed in action. He was a lawyer but he wasn’t afraid to bend the rules. He loved good music, good beer, good food, and good people. 

Tommy introduced the notion of tactical urbanism to Memphis - thinking big and building small - because he knew that design could be both intentional and iterative. He believed that city-building was a process, not an outcome. He inspired us to “do better” and “make cool stuff.” Tommy Pacello believed in community.

The Tommy Pacello Placemaking Fellowship will be a cash prize awarded annually to an individual or team that is making cool stuff -- specifically, design projects, public realm improvements, or other activities that celebrate Tommy’s approach to catalytic placemaking and city building. This award will be made annually by a committee of Tommy’s friends and colleagues.

Recipients will also benefit from technical assistance and professional guidance provided by members of the committee in the sectors of law, project design and management, communications and stakeholder engagement, and fundraising. 

Recipients of the award will be asked to document their work through a video, photo slideshow, slide deck, white paper, or other media. They will present this work publicly within one year after receiving their award, and their presentations will be shared and archived online.

For more information on Tommy's life and work, please visit TommyPacello.com.

the steps

Applicants who wish to be considered for a Pacello Fellowship should provide the committee with:

  • An idea for a project or series of projects that will improve your community by addressing a clear need or challenge. We define “community” as a block, neighborhood, district, city, or region.
    • The scale of the idea is less important than how well it addresses the following questions:
      • Is it innovative? What is new and different about your idea?
      • Is it catalytic? Will it help make additional “good things” in your community? How do you know?
      • Is it connective? Will it build new partnerships ones among businesses, neighbors, local government, and/or other stakeholders?
      • Does it put people at the center -- particularly the ones who may already live in the community? 
  • Proof that you live and work full time in the community where they are applying.
  • Proof that you have capacity to complete your project within one year of receiving the award
  • Documentation of your project in a way that can be shared and archived online within one year of the Fellowship grant being made. 

Applications will be scored by a subset of the organizing committee (see below) using a rubric that favors innovation, diversity, equity, and work in traditionally underserved communities. Fellowship awards will be made annually every autumn in the amount and quantity allowed by available funds at that time. 

Additional information about our process for application submissions will be provided soon.

 

why we're doing it

Less than a year before he died, Pacello described his work by saying “Our job is to serve as a catalyst for the good things.... Cities evolve and change. We are a catalyst and an effort to turbo charge the development.” That’s the spirit -- fearless, curious, hopeful, welcoming, and fun -- that we want to celebrate and pass forward through the creation of the Tommy Pacello Placemaking Fellowship.

Our goal of the fellowship is to honor Tommy’s memory by supporting people who are doing innovative, catalytic work in the communities they love, and to grow a strong nationwide network of these leaders over time. The value of this work will compound and amplify over time, as recipients share and learn from each other.

The committee intends for these awards to be used in the development or implementation of a specific project or projects, but will not require an onerous accounting of funds spent. Generally, utilizing the award to further Tommy’s unique approach to placemaking, wherever and however possible, will be in keeping with the spirit of the award and its intended purpose.

Tommy may have been a localist, but he wasn’t a nativist. He knew that great ideas flowed within and between cities, and cherished the opportunity to visit his friends in great cities around the country to see what they were doing. One of the most important outcomes of the Fellowship will be the documentation and sharing of awardees’ work, which is meant to inspire more great placemaking work everywhere. That’s why we put such a big emphasis on documenting your projects in a way that can be easily archived and shared digitally.

In addition to the cash prize, recipients will be given up to 20 hours of professional advice and technical assistance from members of the committee, via one-on-one in-person, video chat, or phone meetings, over the course of one year from the date of the award.

budget

 

$35,000 in awards disbursed to the first round of Pacello Fellows in January 2024

$16,789 to be disbursed to additional awardees or local community foundation for continued stewardship in February 2024. 



TOTAL RAISED $58,200.00
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (8%) $4,656
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $1,746
TOTAL TO RAISE= $51,798 

 

The Tommy Pacello Placemaking Fellowship will be a cash prize awarded annually to an individual or team that making cool stuff -- specifically, design projects, public realm improvements, or other activities that celebrate Tommy’s approach to catalytic placemaking and city building. This award will be made annually by a committee of Tommy’s friends and colleagues.

Recipients will also benefit from technical assistance and professional guidance provided by members of the committee in the sectors of law, project design and management, communications and stakeholder engagement, and fundraising. 

If you would like to be considered for a Pacello Fellowship, you should:

  • Show us an idea for a project or series of projects that will improve your community by addressing a clear need or challenge. We define “community” as a block, neighborhood, district, city, or region.
    • The scale of the idea is less important than how well it addresses the following questions:
      • Is it innovative? What is new and different about your idea?
      • Is it catalytic? Will it help make additional “good things” in your community? How do you know?
      • Is it connective? Will it build new partnerships ones among businesses, neighbors, local government, and/or other stakeholders?
      • Does it put people at the center -- particularly the ones who may already live in the community? 
  • Live and work full time in the community where they are applying.
  • Be prepared to complete your project within one year of receiving the award
  • Document your project in a way that can be shared and archived online. 
    • Documentation may take the form of a video, photo slideshow, slide deck, or other media that shows what was achieved, what was learned, and how your work can inform other city-building and placemaking improvements in other communities. 

 



TOTAL PROJECT FUNDING NEEDED $46,000.00
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $2,500
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%)
(Donation processing fee does not apply to match funding.)
$1,500
TOTAL TO RAISE= $50,000

updates

Happy Holidays and thanks so much!

Friends, 

Wherever this message reaches you, I'm sure that it's very cold and maybe even a little snowy. I hope you're staying safe and warm and getting ready for a restful holiday break.

Before everyone goes completely off the grid until 2023, I just wanted to say thank you! As of today, the day before Christmas Eve and less than two months since we kicked off our fundraising, we've raised $41,116 from 135 separate contributions. The average individual gift size (that is, not counting a couple of big foundation grants), is less than $200. That's awesome and such a powerful demonstration of how lots of people coming together to pitch in can make a massive difference -- which sounds a lot like the way Tommy thought about building neighborhoods and cities. 

Next year, we're going to be working hard on preparing the actual Fellowship application and looking for people all across the country who we want to support with these dollars. Together, in Tommy's honor, we're going to find, empower, and connect the next generation of great placemakers and city-builders. We're planning on having more details to share about that at the Congress for New Urbanism convening in Charlotte, NC in early May. Stay tuned!

For now, we've got a little more fundraising to do, so if you know anyone who you think might want to make tax-deductible gift to support the future of great cities, now is the time to ask them for their support

Thank you again and have a wonderful rest of 2022.

- Kerry

Thankful for y'all

I hope everyone is enjoying a safe, peaceful, and happy Thanksgiving with the people and in the places you love the most.

As I type this, "Tommy's Choice Notes" -- our recent two-hour variety show-pledge drive-memorial-hootenany to raise awareness for the #Pacellowship -- is the top item on WYXR-FM's Special Programming page. I encourage you to visit https://wyxr.org/special-programming/ and check it out. Special thanks to everyone who sent us a memory of Tommy to share or a song recommendation, and endless gratitude to Robby, JB, Shelby, Todd, and everyone at WYXR for making this happen. It was, in every definition of the word, a special program.

During the broadcast, the Hyde Family Foundation announced a $10,000 challenge grant for the Fellowship fund, which thanks to our huge (and growing) roster of donors, we more than smashed through. Amazing! Less than a month after we launched this initiative, we've raised $32,866 to support great place-makers and city-builders around the country in Tommy's memory. Only a little more than $17,000 remains before we hit our goal. The generosity and enthusiasm of everyone who has contributed so far is amazing -- thank you.

- Kerry

A successful first week!

What an incredible first week of fundraising for the Tommy Pacello Placemaking Fellowship! THANK YOU to everyone who has supported this effort so far. Thanks to you, we've raised more than $11,000 to support the next generation of imaginative, collaborative city-builders across the country - and we're just getting started. 

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Shannons
  • Patrick Hendricks
  • Marija and Jonathan
  • David L.
  • Anonymous
  • Sarah N.
  • Rob Clark
  • Fran and Phil Shannon
  • Emily T.
  • Melissa S.
  • Michael T.
  • Joseph M.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Douglas L. McDonald
  • Shep Fargotstein
  • YARD & Company
  • Kerry H.
  • William Murray and April Holm
  • Anne Havard
  • Madeline F.
  • LRK
  • Anonymous
  • Frank Ricks
  • Brooke M.
  • Lauren Edmonds
  • Rory T.
  • Zoe K.
  • Mike T.
  • Anna McQuiston
  • Ernie & Christine Nichols
  • Meagan N.
  • James A.
  • Hyde Family Foundations
  • Justin B.
  • Margot McNeeley and Gary Backaus
  • Maeghan jones
  • Margaret Craddock
  • The Kerleys
  • Nic V.
  • Nate and Sally Helms
  • Doug Carpenter
  • Eric Barnes
  • Betsy P.
  • KR Arnold
  • Sutton M.
  • Katie A.
  • Lizzie B.
  • Russell S.
  • Matt P.
  • Brackin Burch family
  • Sydney Sepulveda
  • Vera
  • Morgan Blue & Bryan Robison
  • NB
  • Adam d.
  • Andrew & Maggie Phillips
  • Todd Richardson
  • Elizabeth Pagano
  • Kerri Pacello & Jon
  • Stacey G.
  • stephanie wexler
  • McKee family
  • Jessica Otwell
  • Catfish Claude M.
  • Ashley Matejka
  • Jo Ann and Denny Moss
  • Sam P.
  • Kevin Wright
  • Emily H.
  • The Johnston Variant
  • Ashley Harper
  • Laura N.
  • Diana Lopez
  • Roshun A.
  • Becky Marchiel and Peter Thilly
  • Mary Williamson
  • Amy and Cameron Mann
  • Lurene K.
  • Sarah O.
  • Anna Bishop
  • Laretha Randolph Sargent
  • Katie McWeeney
  • Nathanial O.
  • Maura Black Sullivan
  • Tom & Elaine Pacello
  • Kevin R.
  • Olivia d.
  • Rebecca K.
  • Trey T.
  • Libby and Andy King
  • Anonymous
  • John and Elizabeth Scruggs
  • Kim Halyak/Bill Schosser
  • Juli D.
  • Tricee and Steve Fuson
  • Tina & Pete Sullivan
  • Anne Frassinelli & Bill Ferguson
  • Bert Ferguson
  • Cat and Nick Peña
  • Macky
  • Meredith T.
  • Mary & Bob Loeb
  • Mike Ritz
  • ♥️Margot + Gary
  • George L.
  • Perry S.
  • Anthony S.
  • Kyle V.
  • U3 Advisors Inc
  • Bianca P.
  • Pat Mitchell Worley
  • Mariko K.
  • Logan M.
  • Gabrion Properties
  • Liz
  • John & Jennifer S.
  • Paul and Ruthie McLain
  • Andrew & Emily A.
  • John Carroll
  • Code Studio
  • Bill G.
  • Sandra W.
  • Russell B.
  • Mike Lydon
  • Abby S.
  • Mitchell J.
  • Alex Feldman
  • Beth Wiedower Jackson
  • Cary Tyson
  • Pat and Tom
  • Maria F.
  • Petya & Kyle Grady
  • John G.
  • Scott and Julie Fleming
  • Ginger & Josh S
  • David R.
  • Greg and Kelli de Witt
  • Kerri P.
  • Sutton M.
  • Lauren T.
  • Alix H.
  • Ben S.
  • Ian + Kaci
  • Jennifer Krouse
  • JT Malasri
  • Courtney S.
  • Abby + Stephen
  • Kerry H.
  • friend of Tommy
  • Anonymous
  • Erin B.