economic development
Clean ups don’t need to be hard – Natchez, Mississippi
Having an idea, bringing people together, and taking small steps gets things done. Joe Smith, executive director of Black Natchez, wanted a clean-up of his street, MLK Street. Joe told me, “I took a page from your playbook and worked to build a coalition and gather allies.” Anyone can host a clean-up. In Natchez, clean-up…
Read MoreStart your own beautification project
I’ll be traveling to a small county in Nevada to help with a beautification project. So will Becky later on – it’s an Intensive, Idea Friendly Package. Back in my chamber days, this kind of thing would scare the bejesus out of me. It would involve endless meetings with boring, important-feeling people. No talking to the…
Read MoreBikes on Bell
The owners of Bell Street Tattoo in Shawnee, OK, had this idea for an event – Bikes on Bell. They wanted to close the street in front of their shop downtown and invite bikers and anyone else to come and meet each other, eat from the food trucks, listen to live music, and have some…
Read MoreJust get started – take small steps
Memorial Day weekend of 2024, a block-long building in Alpine, Texas, burned to the ground. In a small town, that’s just horrible. There was a cooperative art gallery, bakery and cafe, hair salon, antique shop, and jewelry store located in the historic structure. As you can imagine, the store owners were in shock. Some said…
Read MoreCan your downtown make a difference in bringing youth home?
I didn’t think about how a vibrant downtown could make a big difference to our current students. I know that involving youth in community activities like building benches, having their ideas used for events, hearing what they want, and helping them try their idea out makes a difference. Rik Adamski, the President of ASH+LIME shared…
Read MoreMy grocery store left town, now what?
It sure seems like many grocery stores in small towns are leaving. When that happens, it creates strife for local townspeople. They need to travel further to buy their groceries. Or they have to order online from big companies they don’t trust. Retailers have lost another store in their midst. Folks would stop by their…
Read MoreMoney for Ideas
On my onsite visits to small towns, I sometimes get asked about small grants to help get a project off the ground, to get an idea started, or to help entrepreneurs. The biggest dilemmas are: You have to be a 501c3 to apply, which most businesses are not. The application process requires days of work,…
Read MoreEmerging Trend Webinar: Connecting Community Partners March 27, 2024
Building Bridges Instead of Silos On March 27, 2024, at 11 am (Central time) join Dell Gines, the Chief Innovation Officer at the International Economic Development Council, and Becky McCray and Deb Brown from SaveYour.Town for a no-charge webinar about connecting community partners. They will help you understand the power of collaboration when you build…
Read MoreBuild a Library of Things
I like the idea of organizations coming together and collaborating, instead of always working in silos. How could you test out this idea in a practical way in your small town? Build a Library of Things. A library of things is a location where things you use rarely can be located, the community donates the…
Read MoreBuild Community
Just what is community? It’s a feeling of fellowship with others, because of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. It’s a place where we can belong. For me, small-town people are a community. We have many similar interests: knowing our neighbors and looking out for them, shopping at our local businesses to support our friends,…
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