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99% of the best things you can do for your town don’t require anyone’s permission

By Becky McCray

Building community in your small town sounds like a daunting task. It’s easy to get bogged down, thinking there’s too much to do, that you’d need too many permissions or it would take too much money. The reality of building community is it’s a change of mindset to Take Small Steps. 99% of the best […]

January 2, 2024 Filed Under: Best of, community, rural Tagged With: community development, idea friendly, rural

Book review: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

By Becky McCray

Cover of the book "Supercommunicators" by Charles Duhigg. "How to Unlock the Secret Langauge of Connection"

Get better at connecting with people. Charles Duhigg’s new book Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection offers practical ways to hold deeper, more meaningful, less conflict-driven conversations. Given the divisiveness in small towns and rural communities today, these are essential community-building skills. It’s also relevant for rural small business owners who face a […]

December 13, 2023 Filed Under: community, entrepreneurship, rural Tagged With: book review, communication, community building, diversity

How might we put ‘unity’ back in community?

By Paula Jensen

Paula Jensen

Communities are the foundation of our society, and their strength and success lie in the unity of its members. Yet, often at the heart of so many communities is disunity. As a community coach, I collaborate with rural leaders to build local capacity and engage community members in working on local priorities so their community […]

December 11, 2023 Filed Under: community, rural Tagged With: community building

Solve Rural Community Challenges the Idea Friendly Way – stories from IEDC

By Deb Brown

Guest post by Deb Brown What attendees learned from attending the Idea Friendly Session by SaveYour.Town at the International Economic Development Council Conference — Big Ideas you can copy in your town  Becky McCray and I were excited to lead an interactive Idea Friendly workshop at the International Economic Development Council Conference in Dallas in […]

November 9, 2023 Filed Under: community, economic development, ideas, rural, youth Tagged With: downtown, housing, idea friendly, youth

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