Why does downtown matter? I’ve been asked why downtowns matter to small towns. Why should you invest your time and money into revitalizing your downtown? What makes it more important than any other area of town? What about that highway frontage? Or the edge of town where the discounters locate? In our Survey of Rural […]
Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns
People have been saying for years that they would prefer to live in rural areas. Trulia research in 2014 showed 7% more people wanted to live in rural places than did then. In 2018, Gallup asked people where they preferred to live. Rural came out on top for all age groups except for 18-29 year olds. With the 18-29 […]
Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13
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 […]
Why “Small Town” Might Become the Sexiest Brand In the World
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 […]