Investment Ready Places is a new description of small towns and mid sized cities, from the team at Street Sense: Atul Sharma, Kevin Lavelle and Joseph Nickol.
Small towns and cities have lots of potential. Mid-tier towns and cities are our most dynamic urban settlements and have the largest untapped potential for fostering economic growth. They vary in size from a town of a few thousand people to small cities with a couple hundred thousands residents. They are small enough to be affected by incremental change and large enough to afford opportunities to create substantial impact. They provide us the stimulus of direct action followed by relatively quick, tangible change.
They’ve put together a report introducing the concept of Investment Ready Places. They also have a checklist that guides you in evaluating your small town’s potential, and a map of places that have completed the IRP checklist.
The checklist divides towns into four categories, from good enough to attract other investors all the way down to “look elsewhere.” (I agree that Not every small town can be saved.)
If you evaluate your small town using the checklist, you might want to list it on their map that they call the IRP Locator.
Want to learn more? Head to the Investment Ready Places page.
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
What a great resource here! “They are small enough to be affected by incremental change and large enough to afford opportunities to create substantial impact.” What a perfect description.
Thanks for this guys!
Hi Becky,
Small towns and medium sized cities are definitely diamonds in the rough. Opportunities abound and often costs are considerably lower for a really great lifestyle. In fact, I’ve often been of the opinion that small towns or medium sized cities make great incubators for startups assuming there is sufficient talent available.