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    • Our Towns, The HBO Documentary

        LOCAL INSTITUTIONS

        YOUTH ENGAGEMENT

        The Paper Clips Project: Students Bring Holocaust History to Southeastern Tennessee

        RURAL & REGIONAL

        Inside Our Towns: Jason Neises

        LIBRARIES

        A Remarkable Woman Builds a Remarkable Library

        HEALTH

        A Safe Place to Talk: Raising HIV Awareness through Barbershops

        FAITH INSTITUTIONS & ORGANIZATIONS

        How Powerful Stories Are Rebuilding a Church

        COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

        Story Maps are at the Center of Community Collaboration in Kent, Ohio

        Arts

        Think Global, Perform Local

        TOWN HISTORY & STORY

        Building Bridges Within and Among Communities Through Stories

        Civic Life

        A Southern City Shows How to Deal With the Past

        BIG LITTLE IDEAS

        Three community leaders come together to tell the stories of American renewal in their towns.

        LIBRARIES

        Libraries Lead the Way—Again

        LIBRARIES

        After years of working to increase library funding, the Adams County library system rebranded in 2009, replete with a new name, Anythink Libraries, and a new strategic approach to serving the community through hospitality.

        HOW-TO MODELS

        Bucksport Maine Finds Its Heart & Soul

        GEOJOURNALISM

        What would it sound like if technology leaders took their social responsibilities seriously? Like this.

        FROM THE READERS

        From your towns to our inbox, notes from South Dakota and North Carolina and more.

        JOURNALISM & CIVIC NEWS

        They lost their local paper. So they created a new one--during the pandemic.

        Page1 Page2 … Page5 Page6 >

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        This is the site of the Our Towns Civic Foundation, dedicated to connecting innovators, reformers, civic-patriots, and dreamers across America. The reports here are based on travels and interviews over the past decade by Deborah and James Fallows. The ongoing accounts will emphasize local voices on how communities are adjusting to the economic, environmental, and technological opportunities and challenges of the era.

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