ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

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

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.

BIG LITTLE IDEAS

'Uniting Americans through Service: How California is Leading'

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.

COMMUNITIES THAT WORK

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

Residents, coaches, reporters discuss local-level community revitalization initiative at Jefferson Educational Society Global Summit event.

Big Little Ideas

How Local Governments Can Engage Residents of All Ages

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.

PODCAST

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

National division might grab headlines, but the story of uniting citizens through service in California is growing.

COMMUNITIES THAT WORK

Kershaw invests in community with new ideas in old spaces

A train depot that’s a museum. A bank branch building that’s become a library. Another former bank that is serving as an early education center. Here is how this South Carolina town is repurposing buildings of the past to build up its future.

PODCAST

Inside Our Towns: Tighe Bullock

Evan Sanford catches up with Tighe Bullock, the accountant, lawyer, downtown developer, and construction contractor, on his latest work in Charleston, West Virginia.

CIVIC LIFE

To Both See and Tell the Country: From the Road through North Carolina to South Carolina

Why seeing more of America matters.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

Turning the Tides

Turtles, and people — a connected story, with an outcome you might not have guessed.

LIBRARIES

A Library Garden Celebrates Reading, Art, and Nature

In 2015, Dillsburg, Pennsylvania relocated the town's library to a bigger space to better serve its growing population. A year later, when tragedy struck, the community stepped up to grow the library to include a reading garden.

EDUCATION

‘When Gown Embraces Town’: Two Stories from Indiana

What is happening in the 'Middletown' of Muncie, and why it matters.

ARTS

An Outsider Works with Insiders: Examples from Akron and Cleveland

Mac Love, who has spent much of his life outside Ohio, uses new technologies to bring community residents and college students together. That collaborative approach is now helping citizens’ voices be heard and is driving meaningful change in their neighborhoods.   

BIG LITTLE IDEAS

Inside Our Towns: Project Fighting Chance

Evan Sanford and James Fallows talk with Ian Franklin and Terry Boykins about Project Fighting Chance -- a boxing gym that is more than a boxing gym in San Bernardino. They discuss how it got started, how it has grown, and an immediate challenge it faces today.

RURAL & REGIONAL

A Dining-room Meeting Begins a New Chapter in One Town’s Story

As Isaac and Heidi Tucker saw it, there was no use in waiting for their town to improve itself. Instead, they took action, and are rallying renewal efforts in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania today.

WATER

Past, Present, and Future on the Water: Using StoryMaps to Explore Bucksport, Maine

What does a mile-long stretch along the Penobscot River tell the walker about Bucksport, Maine? As it turns out, a lot.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

A Look at Lobstering and Craftsmanship

Eastport, Maine has a long history of resilience. It’s still there today in Elijah Brice.