Ready to work with Deb?
Keynotes
Keynote presentations are designed to inspire and motivate your community to take action. They are typically one hour in length, but can be customized to fit your needs. Each presentation is tailored to your specific community, so you can be sure that you are getting the most relevant and valuable information.
There are a variety of keynote topics to choose from, including:
- How to revitalize your downtown: Learn strategies for attracting new businesses, improving public spaces, and fostering a vibrant local culture.
- Methodology for attracting new businesses from entrepreneurs in your small town
- Actions to take for fostering community involvement to create a more vibrant small town
- Strategies for promoting community involvement among young adults aged 25 to 40 in small towns
- Survey of Rural Challenges 10 year results and actions to take
Deb also offers customized keynotes, so you can tell her what you are specifically looking for and she will create a presentation that is tailored to your needs.
With over 20 years of experience in community development, Deb has helped over 100 small towns revitalize their communities, attracting new businesses and fostering a stronger sense of community. She is passionate about helping communities thrive and will leave you with a action steps to make a difference in your community.
Contact us
Contact Deb today to learn more about keynote presentations or to book a speaker. You can reach her at 641-580-0103 or deb@buildingpossibility.com.
We invited Deb to speak at the first Southwest Iowa Economic and Community Development Forum hosted by TS Bank at East of Omaha in Griswold, Iowa, in February 2020. Our goal for this event was to rally around all of the great towns that make up southwest Iowa, share success stories, and learn from one another about we can improve our communities and southwest Iowa as a whole. Deb was the perfect keynote speaker for this event. She was engaging, entertaining, and full of so many inspiring stories and examples. All throughout her presentation, attendees were busy scribbling down ideas. Her information was relevant, attainable and actionable, which is exactly what we were hoping for! Thank you, Deb, for captivating our audience and kicking off this inaugural event with the wow-factor we were going for!
Workshops
These are done in groups you design – who do you want at the workshop? What topics do you want to cover? How can Deb be of the most assistance to you and your group(s)? Generally workshops range in length from one hour to half a day. Do you want to do two one hour workshops in one morning with two different groups? That can be arranged.
Deb worked with the Dubuque Community Foundation Leadership group and shared the Idea Friendly Method. Then they worked on creating solutions for challenges in their community. Imagine – a workshop where you learn a new method you can take home and put into action right away. And you go home with the tools to make it happen!
Webinars
Webinars vary in topics covered, and can be customized to your organization.
Kansas State Research and Extension has had Deb present on Filling Empty Buildings, Marketing in a Small Town, Supporting Farm Entrepreneurs and Grow Your Own Entrepreneurs.
I wanted to thank you so much for your presentation last week. The information was very valuable and was very well received.
Susan Bater
Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Program , ManagerCommunity Futures Manitoba and Saskatchewan
Onsite Action Visit
This is a four day stay in your community, county or region. Deb visits with lots of businesses, nonprofits and people to find out what it is they want. On the last evening there is a public presentation where she shares how to get what you want and examples of other communities already doing it. This presentation can also be given via Zoom one week later.
Executive Director
Limestone Bluffs RC & D
I am available to speak in person in all US and Canada states and territories and any other international locations.
Could this be your town?
Reach out and contact Deb!
Cell phone: 641-580-0103
email: deb@buildingpossibility.com
Facebook: /buildingpossibility
Instagram: @Debra.Travels and @SaveYourTown
Deb Brown – Speaker & Rural Strategist
Champion for Small Towns Who Want to Take Action
Who Deb Is
Deb Brown is a rural economic development strategist, speaker, author, and cofounder of SaveYour.Town. She helps small towns turn possibility into practical progress by focusing on what local people can actually do next, with the resources they have right now. With deep roots in rural life and decades of community work, she is known for being real, hopeful, and action-oriented.
Signature Focus Areas
- Small-town revitalization and idea friendly communities
- Practical steps for rural economic development
- Engaging everyday residents as doers, not just “leaders”
- Tourism, storytelling, and making the most of what you already have
- How to move from complaining to creating in small towns
Why Audiences Connect
Deb is conversational, funny, and grounded. She speaks from lived experience, not theory, and gives audiences specific steps they can take the day they get home. Her style is encouraging and honest, with plenty of real examples from small towns that look and feel like the places in your audience.
Deb’s Work
Deb is cofounder of SaveYour.Town and has built a recognized body of work around rural challenges and opportunities, including the 10-year Survey of Rural Challenges hosted by SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com and the book From Possibilities to Reality: Save Your Small Town. She has delivered keynotes, workshops, and trainings for rural conferences, state and regional organizations, chambers, and small communities who are tired of hearing “no” and ready to try something new.
What Deb Delivers on Stage, in Webinars, Workshops and Onsite Visits
- Clear, practical frameworks for taking action in small towns
- Stories that sound like your audience’s reality, not a big-city fantasy
- Simple tools that local people can use without extra funding or staff
- Permission to start small, experiment, and build momentum over time
What Hosts Can Expect
Deb is easy to work with: prepared, flexible, and focused on making the event a success. She tailors examples and stories to the audience, stays accessible before and after sessions, and can support your event with Q&As, informal conversations, or add-on workshops. She prefers promotional copy and introductions that sound human and approachable, not overly formal.
One-Paragraph Intro
“Deb Brown is a rural economic development strategist, speaker, author, and cofounder of SaveYour.Town. She helps small towns turn possibility into practical progress with real-world stories and simple, doable steps. Deb has spent years working alongside rural leaders, volunteers, and everyday residents who are determined to make their communities better. Today she’ll share practical ideas you can start using right away in your own town.”
Local sponsors and regional partners
The place to start is with local sponsors. As you already know, your banks, utility companies and local development organizations are a good place to start looking for sponsors. They know you and are most likely to say yes to a community-developing request like this.
You might also cooperate with neighboring towns or county-wide groups to share costs. You might do a single event and invite everyone, or we can arrange a bit of a tour stopping at multiple towns.
You can try these resources:
You’ll have to dig to find any local-only sources, like community foundations, local economic development funds, tax set-asides designated for community or economic development or your local utility companies. Electric companies especially may have some economic development funds or know where to find some.
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
EQT Grants for Eastern Ohio, Southwestern Pennsylvania, and Northern West Virginia
Zion Bank grants for Idaho, Utah and Wyoming
Small grants (up to $7000) from Clif Bar Foundation
https://www.frs.org/programs/grant-program
Once or twice a year I take on a community and project at a reduced cost. Are you doing something ridiculously cool and I want to be involved? Small towns are my passion, and I want to help. Don’t hesitate to ask for what you want, and let’s talk! … Deb
USA Nationwide:
- Make sure you get the USDA Rural Development “Innovation Matters” emails. They list dozens of funding opportunities each month.
- Rural LISC’s Rural eNews covers lots of US funding opportunities and publications.
- USDA Rural Development Rural Business Development Grants
- Any community served by NTCA (rural broadband) members: Foundation for Rural Service Community Grants
Regional:
- Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho: Innovia (formerly Inland Nortwest Partners Foundation)
- Appalachian region (13 states): Appalachian Regional Commission
- Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and 23 Native Nations: Bush Foundation (especially Community Innovation Grants)
- Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming: Black Hills Energy
- Delta region (8 states): Delta Regional Authority (especially SEDAP)
Keywords to use in grants
On your application, you can fit me in using keywords like these:
- community vitality, resilience
- economic, business or community development
- entrepreneurship, small business
- jobs creation
- filling empty buildings
How we fit into United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
Goal 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Goal 10 Reduced Inequalities
Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities