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Posts by tag

Big Little Ideas

44 posts
Three people lift a solar panel.
View Post
  • Environment & Sustainability

Carbon offset pact will put solar on dozens of Habitat for Humanity homes

  • Elizabeth McGowan, Energy News Network
  • March 17, 2023
The District of Columbia-based American Institute of Architects is offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from a major renovation with a $500,000 donation that will cover the cost of solar panels on an estimated 72 homes.
Seven people sitting on stage for a panel discussion.
View Post
  • Civic Life

‘Change is in the Air – in Redlands!’

  • Ben Speggen
  • March 15, 2023
A panel of residents, business owners, and community stakeholders discuss the southern California city then, and now.
Community members holding rakes and shovels pose in front of Fort Lawn, South Carolina town sign.
View Post
  • Local Institutions

How a Community Center Helps a Town Rise Again

  • Ben Speggen
  • February 24, 2023
Residents of Fort Lawn, South Carolina used a community development model to identify 51 actionable goals to improve their town. Today, they’re checking off the list, one by one.
An Eastern Kentucky family anticipates life in their new home (Photo courtesy of Housing Development Alliance).
View Post
  • Environment & Sustainability

Finding ‘Higher Ground’: Locally-led Movement Works Toward a Just Housing Recovery in Eastern Kentucky

  • Kim Kobersmith, The Daily Yonder
  • February 9, 2023
The urgent need for housing assistance in flood stricken Appalachian communities reveals the severe limitations of the nation’s response and support systems. Community groups are stepping up to help.
Genoa, Italy from the street.
View Post
  • Civic Life

Discovering ‘Cultural Debris’: Making a Big World Small by Paying Attention to Permanent Things

  • Tom Ruby
  • January 30, 2023
Sharing what we experience when we travel can open communities to themselves and others.
Josh Landry installs fiber-optic cable in Dedham, Maine, as part of a broadband project that is putting in 60 miles of cable in the town of 1,600. (Photo by Carolyn Campbell)
View Post
  • Economic Development

Running Fiber-Optic Cable to Rural Communities Is Part of Maine’s Ambitious Broadband Plan

  • Carolyn Campbell, The Daily Yonder
  • January 26, 2023
Maine’s governor has pledged that everyone in the state who wants high-speed internet will be able to get it by the end of 2024. In just one small, Down East town, that means installing 60 miles of fiber-optic cable.
A loose crowd of people walking around the inside of Detroit's Eastern Market.
View Post
  • Economic Development

What Midwest Industrial Communities can Teach about Managing Economic Change

  • John C. Austin
  • January 20, 2023
With a great convergence on both sides of the Atlantic around the urgent need to diminish geographic economic disparities and opportunity gaps — particularly those between thriving global city regions and struggling communities in industrial heartlands – there are growing efforts to learn from each other.
View Post
  • Education

‘Uniting Americans through Service: How California is Leading’

  • Ben Speggen
  • January 19, 2023
California's Chief Service Officer discusses the California Volunteers' initiatives -- the impact CalVols is having in the state, and how it serves as a model nationwide at Jefferson Educational Society Global Summit event at the University of Redlands.
The Impact Code Podcast logo.
View Post
  • Media

‘America is the most interesting place in the world at this moment’

  • Deborah Fallows
  • January 10, 2023
Deb and Jim Fallows discuss the Our Towns journey with Brett Hollenbeck on 'The Impact Code' podcast.
Students rally for fossil fuel-free energy at the University of California, San Diego. Erik Jepsen/UCSD
View Post
  • Environment & Sustainability

3 Reasons Local Climate Activism is More Powerful than People Realize

  • Adam Aron, The Conversation
  • January 9, 2023
Research and history suggest that local action is more powerful than many people believe.
“How America’s Towns are Writing the Future of the Country,” Jefferson Educational Society Global Summit 2022 event featuring (from left) Heidi and Isaac Tucker, Alice Trowbridge, Jason Neises, Ben Speggen, and James Fallows. Photo by Pierre Bellicini, courtesy of JES.
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

‘How America’s Towns are Writing the Future of the Country’

  • Ben Speggen
  • January 5, 2023
Residents, coaches, reporters discuss local-level community revitalization initiative at Jefferson Educational Society Global Summit event.
The Allen family at an official switch-throwing ceremony at their home in Cleveland on Dec. 16. Credit: Kathiann M. Kowalski
View Post
  • Environment & Sustainability

Cleveland Pilot Project Provides Rooftop Solar for Low-Income Residents

  • Kathiann M. Kowalski, Energy News Network
  • January 3, 2023
Data from the project will document savings and could help get more funding for solar energy in neighborhoods that have historically been left behind.
Master Garderner’s Nate Picken, Frank Amaro along with Pembroke Kentucky Mayor, Judy Peterson help Avery Grace select trees to be planted at Pembroke School. (Photo by Toni Riley)
View Post
  • Trees

Trees Bring Hope, Healing, and a Look to the Future for Western Kentucky Tornado Victims

  • Toni Riley, The Daily Yonder
  • December 27, 2022
A tree grower joins forces with a local organization to replant some of the trees lost in Kentucky during tornadoes of late 2021.
A field of solar panels
View Post
  • Environment & Sustainability

That empty space next to highways? Put solar panels on it.

  • Emily Jones, Grist
  • December 20, 2022
Roadside solar fields across the country could power up to 12 million electric vehicles.
Youth in Dillsburg share their voices through drawings. Photo courtesy of Dillsburg Heart & Soul.
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

How Local Governments Can Engage Residents of All Ages

  • Jordan Sandman
  • December 14, 2022
When community members can't, or don't, or won't, go to town halls to attend local government meetings, some local elected officials have found a way to go to their constituents.
Logo for "Inside Our Towns" with black background.
View Post
  • Civic Life

Inside Our Towns: Josh Fryday, California’s Chief Service Officer

  • Ben Speggen and Evan Sanford
  • December 7, 2022
National division might grab headlines, but the story of uniting citizens through service in California is growing.

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