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Sometimes, YOU just need to make your town a good place to live!

By Paula Jensen

Paula Jensen

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. […]

August 24, 2020 Filed Under: community, mistakes, POV, rural Tagged With: guest post, negativity, Paula Jensen, stereotypes

The Stop Doing List for Communities

By Paula Jensen

Paula Jensen

By Paula Jensen Have you ever experienced a time when you could envision what needs to happen but had no idea what to stop doing in order to reach the point of success? Here is a simple example: This year at Santa Day in my community someone asked, “Why do we give away turkeys to […]

January 20, 2020 Filed Under: community, economic development, mistakes, rural Tagged With: community, economic development, guest post, idea friendly, innovation, jobs, Paula Jensen, rural, small towns, tradition

How Parents are Keeping Children from Becoming the Next Generation of Leaders

By Paula Jensen

A girl smiles while eating a meal at Eagle Butte, South Dakota.

  By Paula Jensen It seems I have almost always been interested in leadership.  My parents modeled leadership as I was growing up through their active roles in community, church, and school.  I joined 4-H at the age of eight, was called a “ring-leader” as an elementary student (which I don’t think this was a […]

December 28, 2019 Filed Under: community, failure, rural, youth Tagged With: guest post, kids, leadership, Paula Jensen, rural, youth

Gathering the Doers

By Paula Jensen

Paula Jensen

The first vision board presented by the design:SD team to the community of Webster, South Dakota, on Sept. 27, 2014, stated the following phrase in bold lettering:  GATHERING THE DOERS.  There were approximately 50 people in the room that day and surprisingly none of them got up and ran out in fear upon seeing the design:SD team’s […]

November 22, 2019 Filed Under: community, economic development, rural Tagged With: #Iamrural, doers, engaged, gather your crowd, guest post, idea friendly, Paula Jensen, rural, starting, take small steps

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