Waynoka, Oklahoma, had a lot of vacant run-down buildings in their downtown. In a town of 900 people, the prospects didn’t look great. At an all-class reunion, a group of alumni got together and decided to change that. They called themselves Project Waynoka, our friend and early contributor Jeanne Cole said. They started raising money….
A reader wrote to me about an influx of low-income people into his town, using subsidized housing and other community services. He said a town council member had talked about them as “a drain on resources” and “dead weight.” I got angry when I read that. But it took me awhile to figure out…
One of the towns I visited recently has a dirty sidewalk problem. It looks like every time it rained, dirt and leaves and stuff wash out of the streets and onto the sidewalks. Pretty messy. “We did a cleanup project once,” someone said. But dirt, like life, keeps happening. You’ll have a cleaner town…
One of the top issues named in our recent Survey of Rural Challenges was how to retain young people. It ranked the number one concern in 2015, and number 2 in 2017. One participant commented, “We have already identified that to survive, we will need entrepreneurial millennials who want to be rural by choice. The…
Guest post by Deb Brown We had filmmakers from San Francisco in our town this month making a movie about us. They are telling the story of Webster City, Iowa, and how we’ve bounced back from the loss of a major manufacturer and the hundreds of jobs they took with them. It’s a big deal…
Guest Post by Stuart Langley This tidbit turned up in an Atlantic newsletter email this morning. If you’re a resident of California or another state that’s dealt with drought these last few years, we’d love to see (and possibly share) any photos you’ve got that show the impact on your local landscape. Please send…
In a world driven by frenetic change, which small towns are going to thrive? We know rural people play a key role in our society, so some small towns will have a future. Some small towns are innovative and progressive. Other small towns are stuck in the past. Is there anything that tells us…
I operate with a set of beliefs about rural places and small towns. I want to share them with you so you’ll know what I’m assuming whenever I talk with you. When I tell you that I help you shape a better future for your small town, that includes my beliefs that small towns in general have a…
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