Joe Borgstrom is the Director of Downtown and Community Services Division at the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. That’s a big title, but the short version is that Joe is a smart guy about small towns.
Joe and I don’t always agree. That’s good, because our conversations always challenge each of us in our thinking.
One of the first people I ever heard mention Placemaking, and proponent of one of the smartest approaches to Placemaking I’ve heard. Beyond the trendy idea, what’s the meat?
- How Main Street works with Placemaking
- Business want talent, talent wants place, places want businesses
- Talent isn’t about attracting hip young people. It’s developing talent from within.
- How a water grant matters to place
- How to get beyond silos whether in state government or a small town
- Coffee and calendars – do this!
- Can really small towns even survive?
- Which communities are the ones that actually get things done?
- Is there hope for communities that are fighting to ever get their act together?
- Retaining youth, more than just mailboxes
Connect with Joe Borgstrom and the Michigan smart resources:
We talked about towns giving graduating high school students mailboxes to show they are always welcome to return. I found a couple of examples:
You can subscribe in iTunes through this link.
Or you can subscribe in any podcast tool, RSS reader or music manager. While each tool has a different setup, usually you’ll just need to copy this link and paste it where you add your podcast feeds: http://smallbizsurvival.com/?feed=podcast
You can view all the Positive View of Rural Podcast episodes here.
