Community Achievement Award

The City of Tye was honored with the Community Achievement Award at the 13th Annual Texas Midwest Conference in Abilene on Oct. 15th, 2006.  Mayor Butch Schuman, TEDCO President Robert Yeager and TEDCO/TIDCO Executive Director Connie Selden accepted the award on behalf of the city. The regional organization initiated the award program at the 2002 conference and Tye received this award in 2003 fiirst year the award was presented. Only 8 out of the 43 member cities in the regional organization qualified for the distinction of "Community of Achievement".

Newly named TMCN President Lorie Dodd said, "The leaders in each city receiving the Community Achievement Award are to be commended for their efforts in completing the requirements and submitting the information by deadline."

To qualify, cities completed requirements in the 5 categories of Vision, Pride, Assessment, Youth Involvement and Connectivity.

• Vision - a city had to conduct a community wide planning session to establish prioritized goals and to determine which group in the community was responsible for addressing the goal. (city, economic development, chamber of commerce or civic club)
• Pride - a city must have an active beautification program or city cleanup ordinances established and being enforced.
• Assessment - a city must receive an unannounced visit by an outside team of volunteers that accesses the city’s positive and negative aspect and produces a report for the city.
• Youth Involvement - at least six students must be involved in a community project in which they work side by side with adults.
• Connectivity - a city must have an up-to-date web site that represents the entire community and is linked to the Texas Midwest site.

"Citizens in the award winning communities have much to be proud of," according to TMCN Executive Director Nicki Harle. "Many of our rural communities are working hard to prepare for challenges of the future. The 8 communities honored are leaders in the effort."

Texas Midwest Community Network is a regional organization focused on economic development, tourism development, regional awareness & promotion, education and legislative awareness. For more information see the organization's web site www.texasmidwest.org.