CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
CIVIC LIFE
To Both See and Tell the Country: From the Road through North Carolina to South Carolina
Why seeing more of America matters.
CIVIC LIFE
'To Arrive Where We Started and Know the Place for the First Time'
The America that Americans Don't Know About, and Why That Matters
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT
The Paper Clips Project: Students Bring Holocaust History to Southeastern Tennessee
Whitwell, Tennessee has become the center for a world-renowned cultural education project and Holocaust memorial.
EDUCATION
Now is the Time for Reflection on Public Education
How can community-level education serve as the enabler for self-government? A look at our country’s past may offer the best answers for our future.
RURAL & REGIONAL
Inside Our Towns: Jason Neises
Discussing opportunities, real and perceived challenges in small-town America, and the impact of Community Heart & Soul in Iowa.
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT
Never Too Soon: Engaging America’s Youngest Citizens Early and Often
Americans know that retaining their young people requires getting them involved in the civic process early and often.
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
Fountains of Youth for Towns
The life and spirit of any town or city depend on its ability to attract and retain people. In a time when many worry about brain drain, how communities keep their young people, or bring them back, or attract newcomers illustrates a place's sense of and attention to renewal.
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.
TOWN HISTORY & STORY
Building Bridges Within and Among Communities Through Stories
Not all bridges are physical. The ways communities are connecting with one another, and themselves, is happening differently in light of COVID-19 and with new tools like OurStoryBridge: an online platform that captures and houses community stories.
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
The Past, the Future, the Present: Updates from Coast to Coast
A Fellow named, college services goes big, and scenes from a Day of Enlightened Living -- here are three updates on stories we've been following on this site over the years.
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
Bringing a City Together: How Leaf Blowers Did It
This is the story of how citizens worked together toward a common goal in Washington, D.C. The story involves a change on the local level with significant, positive implications for other parts of the country and beyond.
LEADERS & GOVERNANCE
Substituting Hope for Fear in Small Town America
What is the future of power?
INVENTION & RENEWAL
What Could Go Right?
How do global changes affect us on the local level, and vice versa?
LEADERS & GOVERNANCE
Human’s Power versus Nature’s Power
What power do communities have at the local level when it comes to the environment?
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.
CIVIC LIFE
Organizational Irony in Small Town USA
What can a look at the paradoxes of power and failed leadership teach communities?