 The
Dunn Foundation is concerned with the quality of the visual
environment. The Foundation’s major emphasis is educational
programs to increase public awareness of and appreciation for
community appearance and community identity. We challenge children
and adults to discover links between the natural and man-made
world, and the appearance of the communities in which they live.
Through this exploration, people are encouraged to become active
stewards for the protection and enhancement of their community’s
visual assets.
Unfortunately, the unique and individual physical character
of America’s cities, towns and countryside, which is
a product of history, culture, and geography, is being eroded.
Numerous economic and social factors are contributing to the
decline in community appearance including the proliferation
of standardized architecture, automobile-dominated commercial
development, and insensitive development of natural and rural
areas for housing, offices and retail space. The Dunn Foundation
is committed to reversing this trend through educational initiatives,
community-based research, and philanthropy.
 While
we are aware of the need to preserve and enhance the natural
environment, our society has been slow to recognize the benefits
of a visually appealing built environment.
We think the degree to which our community’s physical
appearance is varied, monotonous, complex, simple, harmonious,
disordered, ugly or attractive has a major impact on how we
feel about that community. We call this “curb”
appeal.
A major factor in the decline in the appearance of America’s
communities is widespread illiteracy on the visual environment.
We believe that an understanding of the visual environment
and the forces that shape it will strengthen the connections
young people and families will have to places and reinforce
the civic values vital to healthy communities.
 Although
we support protection of the natural world and its health,
our niche is developing awareness of how we, as inhabitants
and stewards of our communities, have affected community character
and scenic areas in a damaging way through visual pollution
– obtrusive signage, visual clutter, excessive pavement
and street widening, overhead utilities and poles, incongruous
architecture, billboards, strip commercial zones and urban
blight. Our concern is that young people do not see how their
communities are affected, nor do they have a healthy sense
of place. Our society used to value how our communities looked
– both built and natural. What happened to the places
we liked to call home?
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