Community Design Practitioners from around the country will gather for 4 days in Rochester, New York for a series of panel discussions, workshops, tours and presentations addressing critical environmental and land use issues as well as economic and social challenges facing our communities. The changing forms of our communities will require innovative, and sometimes untried strategies and interventions. The 2009 National ACD Conference will feature topics that include Community Food Supply, Environmental Justice and Shrinking Cities. Participants will examine the impact of declining investment in core areas of villages, neighborhoods and cities and explore design concepts and successful models of collaboration. We urge you to attend this important and valuable exchange of ideas and perspectives by visiting community designers, who offer insight from their experience, and those who live, work and care about the communities in the Western New York Region.