With unemployment rates on the rise and the economy in a slump, one local organization is reminding people to “accentuate the positive” by nominating people and businesses that contribute to the betterment of the Truckee Meadows region.

Thursday is the last day Truckee Meadows Tomorrow will be accepting nominations for this year’s Accentuate the Positive celebration.

“This program, just like its name, does a great job of accentuating the positivity in our community,” Nevadaworks CEO Tom Fitzgerald did.

Nevadaworks was recognized for its involvement in the community in 2007. Nevadaworks allocates federal money to other community service providers for various purposes, such as equipment and job training.

“We were quite surprised when we got nominated,” Fitzgerald said. “We have a small staff and the award made the entire staff feel great. It was a public pat on the back for the entire staff.”

The Larry D. Johnson Community Center in Sparks was also recognized in 2007 for its contributions to the community.

“It (receiving an award in 2007) lent some legitimacy in the early days,” Sparks director of Parks and Recreation Stan Sherer said. “Now, though, we need good news and we need to let everybody know that positive things are going on in our community.”

Accentuate the Positive, or ATP, is a community-wide celebration to salute the positive aspects of life in the region, as well as the people and organizations that make a measurable difference in the community.

“We are looking to honor and recognize individuals, organizations or groups who have really improved this area’s quality of life,” Truckee Meadows Tomorrow President Steve Mulvenon said. “There are all kinds of categories in the award program available to recognize different groups or people in the area.”

TMT is a non-profit organization made up entirely of volunteers that sets out to “gather together all of the data that reflects on this area’s quality of life.”

“We encourage people to personally adopt one of the quality of life indicators we’ve created and in the past, we’ve also taken it to the next level by developing compacts between different organizations with similar goals,” Mulvenon said.

“ATP shows the community the upside of life,” Fitzgerald said. “Too often, people et bogged down in problems and negative aspects of their community.”

Log on to TMT's Web site at www.truckeemeadowstomorrow.org to nominate an individual or group for the Accentuate the Positive celebration. Only online nominations will be accepted.