Small towns lose too many of their high school graduates: they drop out, they move away, they leave for college, they get involved in drugs, they vandalize, or they are just lost. What can you do?
Read “This small town nurtures its teenagers,” a success story from Canada. Here’s the end of the story:
The moral is pretty clear. Rural communities that want to survive must put the development of their young people at the very top of their agendas. The heart of that development is respect and responsibility. The pimply teens soon emerge as scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs, doctors — adult citizens with a major contribution to make. If they have grown up believing that the community truly belongs to them, that they are respected and trusted as well as loved, that the community provides the soil in which they personally can flower, then they will probably want to raise their own children in that same place, in that same way.
What are you doing to engage young people in your business and your community?
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- Check your small business website for outdated pandemic changes, missing info - January 31, 2023
- Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors - January 15, 2023
- 2023 trends for rural and small town businesses - December 26, 2022
- Local reviews on Google Maps drive enduring value - December 17, 2022
- Extra agritourism revenue from camping, cabins and RVs with HipCamp - December 12, 2022
- Harvest Hosts attract vanlifers and RV tourists, Boondockers Welcome - December 2, 2022
- Holiday 2022 marketing: Tell your founding story - December 1, 2022
- Holiday 2022 Marketing: Tell your customers’ stories - November 30, 2022
- Holiday 2022 Marketing: Introduce your people - November 29, 2022
- Holiday 2022 Marketing: Share your holiday traditions - November 28, 2022
Becky,
This is one of the best links I’ve seen anywhere in months. Thank you.
Having been a middle school cross-country coach for the past few years, I’ve recognized intuitively the truth in this article.
You are a busy person and I haven’t blogged on my old site for many months due to pending organizational change (poor excuse, I know), but if you have a few minutes over your coffee, I’d be honored if you’d browse a few of the old posts at http://www.homerunevents.blogspot.com. It may give you a better feel for why I find your content so valuable in the small town non-profit arena.
From this brand new, baby boomer tweeter…you’re making this fun, Becky. Very refreshing for those trying to make a difference in small communities.
Bobbie, thank you for all the work you are doing to make change and make a difference. I’m honored to think anything we offer is useful to you. And I’m glad to see you chose to start posting again today.