Guest post by Laura Girty “Get back to the basics.” How many times have you heard that? Sometimes the basics are the best place to start. In the late 1990’s under the helm of Executive Director Leo Presley, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce (ODOC) developed a model for community development that worked especially well for…
Coworking is like shared office space, except it’s more than that. Coworking works best when it’s a community, too. If you’re trying to build more entrepreneurship in your town, coworking is a smart place to focus. A new study from Emergent Research and partners showed that coworking spaces are human spaces. “The key finding…
Can something as mundane as a bike rack be art? Sure! Hey, if power and light poles can be art, anything is up for grabs! Norman, Oklahoma, is admittedly not a small town, with a population of over 110,000 and the home to a major university. But, I love their back racks. Any small…
Businesspeople want to know why they ought to pay dues to a business association. The association wants to know why businesses that don’t pay should reap any benefits. When an association helps produce events, advertises, puts up signs, produces brochures or maps, all the businesses profit from the betterment of the town whether they…
Over on our Facebook page, Michelle K. Sholund asked: “Hey! I have an issue I want to propose. I am an owner of a small business – a gift shop that happens to handmake our own candles in the shop – in Maryland. We are getting bombarded with requests for donations anywhere from 2-5 a…
Cities and towns, urban and rural, face a lot of the same challenges. We share the same basic issues in trying to build prosperity: support businesses, maintain infrastructure, provide basic services, improve the quality of life, build a sense of place, support the arts, promote health, and all the other to-do items you can…
Want to promote your local businesses? Use a social list-making site to collect the websites and social profiles of businesses in your area. I first heard this idea from Dave Shideler, back when delicio.us was the social bookmarking tool of choice. Today’s social list-making tools offer some key advantages. Why use social list-making tools? 1….
Now that we have research showing that people are wanting to move to small towns, how do you let people know your doors are open? You can use these frameworks for thinking and online tools to help people find out that they will love your town. What matters in a town? “What makes a community a desirable…
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