National Association of Counties (NACo) - in partnership with Americans for the Arts - has launched a national initiative to train local leaders from rural and mid-sized counties on how to advance arts-based economic and community development. Supported by the NEA, the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge mission is supporting counties as they work to identify and strengthen ways to integrate arts into solutions to local challenges. NACo invites counties with populations of less than 250,000 to form multidisciplinary teams to apply. Teams that submit winning applications will attend an in-person, 2 ½-day training and peer exchange workshop on March 28-30, 2018 in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. The application deadline is October 17.