. Years ago, a town near me won a grant to improve their downtown. They hired an architect, who drew up 3 alternative plans. The council looked them over, debated which one would work best, then sat on those plans with no further action for a couple of years. They couldn’t come to an agreement on which…
Ben Winchester Interview Part 1 Ben Winchester has a positive view of rural for good reason: he’s done the research. The media loves to talk about the brain drain of young people leaving rural communities. Ben’s research says there’s another trend, maybe more powerful. Adults age 30-44 are returning to rural communities, bringing higher incomes,…
Recently I was fortunate enough to catch a webinar with Luther Snow talking about the asset approach and positive development. Urban Bias Snow started by addressing the prevalent “urban bias”: assuming that the way things happen in the concentrated center is what matters everywhere. Urban bias is evident in: centralized meetings traditional land economics (high price…
Because we rural people like to stay connected, local community websites are common projects. But how do you make a good one? That’s what your fellow reader S. wants to know: I am looking into creating a web site for our small town. My goal is to have a central place to highlight the local…
The fact that small businesses are at the core of our economic system probably does not come as a surprise. Estimates on the number of small businesses suggest that they make up 90 percent or more of the total number of businesses in the U.S. In small communities, the number and importance of small businesses…
An immediate request from a fellow rural reader: Becky, Thank you so much for organizing this wonderful newsletter – its contents are of great benefit to me, and I appreciate the effort that goes into its creation. My small town of Waldport, OR has a population of about 2,200 folks. We’ve taken a hard hit…
In many communities, the small-business owner is the cornerstone of support for various charitable functions and events. Small-business owners don’t just provide dollars, products and services; they often take on leadership and volunteer roles that allow the community to maintain itself and grow. The support of small-business owners to their community should be applauded. Their…
A few weeks ago, we had an interesting discussion about “Copy and Paste Towns” in our weekly newsletter. I mentioned how national chains want to “copy and paste” their standard template on your town. No one wants their small town to end up looking just like every other town and suburb. And we don’t…
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