The Dunn Foundation has funded a guidebook to help middle and high school students make the connection between choices to plan or not plan and their impact on the visual appearance of a community. The guidebook, Design Guidelines to Enhance Community Appearance and Protect Natural Resources, provides a platform for youth involvement in community decision making. Modeled after a "real life" planning tool used by communities in their planning process, the guidebook is an easy-to-use resource that teachers can use in the classroom as a teaching tool to galvanize students.

Included are color photographs and line drawings to help students visually compare traditional approaches to development with more visually pleasing choices. Some of the 20 most common development issues addressed are lighting, parking lot design, pedestrian accessibility, historic preservation, signage, visual corridors, and underground utilities. The guidebook may be purchased from the Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics & Environmental Education at Michigan Tech University.

Contact: Joan Schumaker Chadde at 906-487-3341 or jchadde[at]mtu.edu.