There have been too many years of disinterest and disinvestment in rural America and at times I grow weary of defending the value of the rural place I call home to a national audience. I have read multiple articles about the rural underclass and the poverty that plagues our landscape from Bloomberg Business, NY…
How to set up a community fruit and vegetable stand in your neighborhood Reprinted from Love Food, Hate Waste by permission Community fruit and vegetable stands are popping up all around New Zealand, giving people a place where they can leave their excess produce for others to help themselves to. These little roadside structures are…
You do some events that are open to the public, right? Here’s the tip to get more locals to attend. When you hold an event that is open to the public, put up a sign that says, “Open to everyone! Come on in!” Of course you know it’s open to the public, and of…
Guest post by Paula Jensen The Langford Area High School boys’ basketball team made it to the State B tournament for the fifth time in the past six years. As I travel across South Dakota for my job people ask me, “How can Langford (being such a small school) continue producing winning teams year-after-year?” My…
Many small towns have a challenge of too many empty buildings or too many buildings used only for storage. In one small town, the problem was an existing store that was using a neighboring building for storage, but had nothing in the windows. In another town, it was a building used for storage by…
I often hear jovial stories and stereotypes, in and out of rural places, about how small-town people are stuck in the 1960s and refuse to accept change. They joke that we nostalgically hang on to our traditions, our history, our ways of doing things, and our small-town values. Personally, I choose to live in a…
Note: This is the second guest post by Whitney Hoffman. She’s sharing some thoughts about being ready for and recovering from disasters. -Becky Guest Post by Whitney Hoffman, Township Supervisor in Kennett Township PA Small towns across the Country are facing a Communications Crisis. We’re seeing contracting media markets, where hometown newspapers fold or go digital. TV…
Note: This week and next week, I’m pleased to share these guest posts by Whitney Hoffman. She’s sharing some thoughts about being ready for and recovering from disasters. -Becky Guest post by Whitney Hoffman I’ve been a Township Supervisor in Kennett Township PA for over three years now. We’re located in what some people call…
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