APPLY LESSONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Paths to New Prosperity and a Better Politics in Our Democracies

'It's not all a silicon valley'. What a new report of a U.S.-Midwest learning exchange and study tour for European Union and United Kingdom leaders finds.

LOCAL INSTITUTIONS

How a Community Center Helps a Town Rise Again

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.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

Inside Our Towns: Erin Sanborn

Erin Sanborn discusses service and sustainability and the role the University of Redlands plays in the community and beyond with Evan Sanford in this episode of the Inside Our Towns podcast.

CIVIC LIFE

Meadville Leaders Turn a Community's Plan into Action

Community leaders in Meadville, Pennsylvania listened to, and included, residents in planning and policymaking to drive informed change.

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.

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.

EDUCATION

Reviving America, One College Town at a Time

How symbiotic relationships between colleges and their communities have reaped rewards in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Waterville, Maine.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

3 reasons local climate activism is more powerful than people realize

Research and history suggest that local action is more powerful than many people believe.

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.

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.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

Unlocking Potential

At-risk youth in North Carolina hold the keys to flipping a decommissioned prison into a sustainable farm and community asset.

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.

LIBRARIES

Global Effort Takes Libraries to the People

Libraries Without Borders finds innovative ways to meet community residents where they are to provide equitable access to the range of services today’s libraries offer.

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

UW student project aims to spur climate change conversations

New website features local voices to help encourage people to take part in conversations about a changing environment.

CIVIC LIFE

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

Why seeing more of America matters.

EDUCATION

'We Fly,' in Indiana

It's time to judge colleges by their contributions to the economic and civic life of their communities. Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, passes the test brilliantly.