COMMUNITIES THAT WORK – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
LOCAL INSTITUTIONS
Driving Regional Transformation through Inclusion
The Arras Foundation in Lancaster, South Carolina, is using resident input and data to empower whole-of-region progress.
PARKS, REC & FUN
Great Falls Reimagines Its Identity through Nature-Based Tourism
With community partnerships and resident input, the small South Carolina town is writing its next chapter.
ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
Carbon offset pact will put solar on dozens of Habitat for Humanity homes
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.
CIVIC LIFE
‘Change is in the Air – in Redlands!’
A panel of residents, business owners, and community stakeholders discuss the southern California city then, and now.
INVENTION & RENEWAL
Made-in-Ohio solar panels benefit from federal incentives, supply chain politics
About two decades after cadmium telluride solar panels were commercialized in Ohio, the maturing technology is finding momentum thanks in part to its domestic manufacturing and supply chain.
RURAL & REGIONAL
Running Fiber-Optic Cable to Rural Communities Is Part of Maine’s Ambitious Broadband Plan
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.
ECONOMIC & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
What Midwest Industrial Communities Can Teach About Managing Economic Change
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.
ENTREPRENEURS & MAKERS
Uplifting American Spirits
Branch & Barrel Distilling, in Centennial, Colorado, shows how an interdependent community-based economy can raise spirits for an entire region.
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.
CIVIC LIFE
A Town of Doers Works Together to Preserve Their Past and Plan Their Future
Residents and businesses in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania have adopted a mantra: if it’s a community problem, it’s their problem too.
ECONOMIC & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The Economic Potential of the Great American Rail-Trail
The completion of a cross-country bike trail in old railroad corridors could add nearly a quarter-billion dollars a year to local economies.
INVENTION & RENEWAL
Revitalizing a community by focusing on 'quality of life'
Galesburg residents are redefining the heart and soul of the town by bringing their unique history and heritage to the fore.
BEER
The Local Tavern: The Tradition Continues at Max Taps-Centennial
Entrepreneurship. Gatherings of friends and colleagues. Industry leadership. Great American traditions. These are prime ingredients of successful local community taprooms. And there's a new one in Centennial, Colorado building community.
NEW OLD IDEAS
Renewing the call for a Marshall Plan for America
Seven decades ago, a plan to rebuild fragile, wounded countries swept across Western Europe. That idea should serve as a blueprint for American towns and cities and regions left behind today, argues Michael Cooper.
INVENTION & RENEWAL
Today, there is a tale of two Midwests.
Some communities have made the transition to a new, thriving economy in a changed world. Others are still struggling.
HOW-TO MODELS
Bucksport Maine Finds Its Heart & Soul
How can person-to-person democracy be revived? A one-time mill town in coastal Maine is a laboratory for a new approach.