By Paula Jensen My husband is a mechanic. The tools of his trade are important to his work. He has a large toolbox with many drawers lined in soft black padding. His tools lay clean and organized inside each drawer for easy access when he needs the right tool for a job. Yet, when things […]
Community engagement planning: old way vs. Idea Friendly way
You’re familiar with the traditional way of handling community engagement. Once every few years, an outside consultant comes in and leads a community engagement planning meeting. There are lots of flip charts and post it notes. Most of the people who attend hold official titles or formal leadership roles. Almost all are professional middle class […]
Survey of Rural Challenges 2021 results, analysis of themes from 2015 through today
Rural communities were not immune to the chaos of 2020, but remained more concerned with ongoing challenges. To find out what rural people felt were their biggest challenges, SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com surveyed over 280 rural people in the fourth quarter of 2020. The results make up this fourth edition of the Survey of Rural Challenges. Challenges […]
Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case
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 […]
