Empty buildings during the holidays are a drag on local shopping Who wants to shop downtown when it looks so empty? Car dealerships are an especially tough type of building to fill. Not many businesses need such a large space, and the layout of the space can make it tough to find a good fit….
Seems like there have been a lot of coronavirus-related surveys this year. This survey is different: we’ve been asking for and listening to your rural challenges since 2015. Of course rural challenges are different this year with COVID-19. That doesn’t mean all your other challenges disappeared, but it might mean your priorities have changed. We’d like your…
Small towns have endured boom and bust cycles, commodity crashes, mill and factory closures, environmental disasters and losing their economic reason for existing. Rural communities have reinvented themselves before, and rural businesses are re-inventing the way they do things. How Holyoke Hummus stays Idea Friendly through a crisis John is the owner of Holyoke Hummus…
Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium hosted by Oklahoma State University. It’s an online event on October 13, 2020. What is the Symposium about? The Symposium is meant to raise awareness, attract resources and stimulate research toward solving grand challenges facing rural communities. And goodness knows we have some grand challenges. I’ll be facilitating…
2020 has taken a toll on downtown shopping and placemaking. There’s no time to waste on big master plans and no money for expensive consultants. Start taking action now to show life and new activity with small inexpensive steps. Murals add life and color to a downtown and are highly visible even to people driving…
Guest post by Paula Jensen I watched Jon Stewart’s Political Comedy ‘Irresistible’. The story is set in small-town Wisconsin. The community has recently suffered a devastating loss of their main employer. In response, a failed political consultant from Washington, D.C. lands himself a gig helping a local veteran run for Mayor against the long-time incumbent….
Guest Post by Chris Brogan The COVID-19 quarantine has crushed so many small businesses and the economy at large. It’s truly been the worst financial crisis unfurling in this country since the 1930s. And while some measures are in place to help this not reach that level of despair, many people are finding themselves out…
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash Guest post by Chris Brogan The whole quarantine and COVID-19 situation has impacted small businesses even more than the big guys because it’s not like anyone has massive reserves of cash around so that you could deal with shutting down for months at a time. And now, as different…
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