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When I toured the picopolitan small town of Rosalia, Washington, I met a painter who had a big corner building downtown. She said that she had moved to town anticipating that an arts scene would develop, and then she could be part of it. Since the arts scene hadn’t really developed, she felt fairly lonely as an…
Your town has some crafters, makers, artisans or small manufacturers. The perfect time to celebrate them is during October for MFG Day, aka Manufacturing Day: Creators Wanted! Officially MFG Day is October 1 this year, but you can celebrate anytime in October. The goal is to build our workforce of future creators. Here’s how even the smallest of…
Let’s make one, #IdeaFriendly style Howdy I think every small town wishes they had a public food market or food hall. You know the kind: a big building with lots of small food related businesses from cafes to farm stands to bakeries to jams and jellies. We’ve visited them in big towns, and we…
Convincing other people to try your ideas is hard. It’s easier to entice people instead. I’m not sure what kind of ideas you have, but there’s some way to do a tiny or temporary version of that idea that entices others to join you. There’s a woman in Elkhart, Kansas, who told me she dreams…
The Idea Friendly Method sounds easy, but what’s the next step? How do I actually use it? Well, Deb and I have been working on the answer to that for 5 years. So we boiled it down into a 30 minute video for you. We called it “Idea Friendly Next Steps” and we just released…
We interrupt this newsletter for breaking news!I’ll be on AARP Live on RFD-TV tonight (US)7pm Pacific, 8pm Mountain, 9pm Central, 10pm Eastern Check your streaming or cable line up for RFD-TV or catch it on AARP Live or Sirius XM Channel 147. Bonus: They’re giving Yeti coolers to 5 people who call in. Secretly, I’m hoping you’ll…
The very first time I ran the Survey of Rural Challenges, I was only asking people what topics they wanted me to write about on my site Small Biz Survival. I never expected to share the results as a public report. Once I read what people told me about their towns, the challenges they were…
Each town I visit that has had any success with housing has it’s own special way they did it. Some places have special resources. South Dakota has a governor’s houses program. Kansas just changed their state housing bond initiative to make second story lofts eligible. But that doesn’t help you if you’re not in those states. Tionesta,…
Whether your town is growing fast or in a decline, keep renewing your core. No one likes a mushy core, in an apple or a small town. Make the most of your existing water and sewer and street. Build more in the center, less on the outside. Draw your community closer together. People who live…
When I spoke to the Oklahoma State University’s rural economic development course again this year, the students had great questions as usual. One student asked how the small town they were studying could stop people from going to the nearby big city to spend money at stores and restaurants. It’s a question I think many…
When the next crisis hits, where will your community turn for food? It doesn’t matter if it’s a disaster, a pandemic, an economic crunch, or some other variation of catastrophe. We all have been reminded that there will be a next one. Right now, a lot of work is going into being better prepared and…
Just a few months ago, some anonymous good neighbors noticed a dangerously dilapidated footbridge on a city park walking trail, so they replaced it with a new safe footbridge. The city didn’t take it well. The city posted on Facebook asking people to turn in the bridge builders, as though they had committed a crime. Of…
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