Two houses are shown in the framing stage. In the foreground, one house has the stud walls up. A stack of lumber and a real estate sight sit in front of it. In the background, another house has rafters up and the side walls are wrapped in greenboard.

How Fairview stopped talking about housing and started building houses

At the Teeny Tiny Town Summit last week, JaNae Barnard from Fairview, Oklahoma, shared how they jump started their new housing project. “We stopped settling for talking,” she said. She loaded up the key folks from Major County Economic Development, and they drove past every single house in Fairview. That gave everyone a much clearer…

The silhouette of a small rural house against an orange sunset background

How housing went from a rural advantage to a top challenge

You’ve probably noticed, but housing is a top challenge in most rural communities and small towns. That makes it hard to remember that back around 2013, cheap housing was a key draw of new residents to rural places, according to Ben Winchester from University of Minnesota and others. But by 2019, lack of housing was…

An empty shell where a downtown building once stood

What to do with kids’ ideas – even the ones that will “never work”

The other day, I told you about how the kids’ Photovoice project stopped me in my tracks and why we made a video for those kids.  Today, I want to share one of the photo ideas the kids made and what Deb Brown and I said to those kids. It’s also part of the video…

A collage of pictures of young people and people taking photos with their phones

From photos to action: The power of following up with kids’ voices

At the Rural Renewal Symposium last year, I was stopped in my tracks by a research poster presentation by Rural Scholar Stephanie Harvey on a youth photovoice project.  Why did it strike me? It featured photos taken by kids ages 7 to 17 about what they wanted in their towns. I think you’d recognize their…

A diverse group of people playing human foosball, read ahead for detailed description

Breaking through liability fears that hold volunteers back – Idea Friendly answers

When we were talking about finding more volunteers in a virtual session with Radically Rural, some people brought up liability as a barrier to all kinds of volunteer projects and events.  I get why this came up. Somebody in your town probably brought up liability when you shared an idea, too.  “You want to let…

Two volunteers in colorful shirts pause for a selfie

What if you flipped volunteer recruitment? An Idea Friendly story from Ontario

It’s not just you. Every small town struggles to find enough volunteers to do all the projects and events and ideas.  Cassandra Boniface with the Township of Stirling-Rawdon, Ontario, told us how they flipped the volunteer recruiting process.  “We created the Active Community Expo (A.C.E.). It’s held at our local arena, and is essentially a…

A family fishing from a canoe

Grow your own outfitters, take advantage of your natural resources

Our latest Survey of Rural Challenges said natural resources are our best rural assets, but you don’t have enough outfitters to take advantage of them as tourism development. Here’s how you can grow your own outfitters.  Both Deb and I visited Eastern Kentucky last year. I visited Estill County, and Deb was in Jackson County….

Fluid design mural says Laundromat

The Idea Friendly Method works for any idea, including starting a laundromat on a budget

Emily Karsjens Perry asked, “Has anyone seen an example of an Idea Friendly laundromat? My brain is mulling over how to start one very small, possibly in combination with other 24 hour machines.” An Idea Friendly approach to Emily’s laundry ideas would be to: Here’s what Building Connections could look like: Here are some extra…

Old fashioned 1950s style walk up ice cream place with picnic tables out front and a diverse group of women customers. An older woman enjoys an ice cream cone covered in cherry red dip. Two younger women are waiting for their order. Another woman is seated to one side.

“I’m just a random person with no local position or clout”

As a random person with no office or title, you’re in the best position to make good things happen. You don’t have to follow complicated rules of office. You’re not limited by the scope of your title. You don’t have to worry about naysayers crowding your public meetings. You’re you, and you get to decide…

Colorful modern mural of wildflowers, a pollinator insect in front of a huge sun setting in the background.

If you’re tired of “Nothing good happens here!” complaints, make a success list

It’s pretty common to hear rural people say something like, “There’s nothing here!” That’s because they aren’t remembering all the new business activity or they maybe aren’t paying attention. Or maybe they’re only thinking of big new employers, the kind that come with visiting dignitaries for the ribbon cutting and announcement. Most small towns don’t…

Chart showing answers to “Do you think your community will be better off in 10 years?” More than twice as many people gave a positive response (119) than were negative (50) about their communities’ future. Almost as many were positive (119) as were neutral (136).

Survey Results: Rural people are optimistic about their towns’ future

This is my favorite finding from our latest Survey of Rural Challenges: rural people are optimistic about the future of their community. In fact, they were twice as likely to say they were optimistic than negative about their community’s future! Over 300 rural people answered the question, Do you think your community will be better…