Real People. Real Stories. Real America.
Towns and cities from coast to coast are today’s incubators for ideas driving the modern story of American renewal. From the arts to education, from public policy to sustainability, from craft beer to river walks, people are experimenting in innovative ways that drive progress. We tell the stories of what they’re doing here.
APPLY LESSONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Discovering ‘Cultural Debris’: Making a Big World Small by Paying Attention to Permanent Things
Sharing what we experience when we travel can open communities to themselves and others.
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.
PODCAST
Inside Our Towns: John Kropf
John Kropf discusses his latest book, ‘Color Capital of the World: Growing Up with the Legacy of a Crayon Company’, which explores Sandusky, Ohio’s innovative industrial heritage and his family’s role in it.
ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
That empty space next to highways? Put solar panels on it.
Roadside solar fields across the country could power up to 12 million electric vehicles.
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
What’s the Quickest Way to Make a Big Difference, Through a Little Step? It’s Right There in the Backyard.
Change comes slowly, then all at once.
REPORTS FROM AMERICA
Another Look Into the ‘Heart’ of America
First, a geographic perspective. Then, the country’s struggle to recognize ways in which it is changing—and might be improving.
ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
A Delicate Balance – Marrying Recreation and Preservation in Iowa
Local climbing coalition and authorities found a way to collaborate and keep access to a popular climbing area and preserve the environment.
PODCAST
Inside Our Towns: Allen Carroll and Story Maps
Evan Sanford explores the origin and evolution of Esri’s story maps with the innovative storytelling tool’s creator, Allen Carroll.
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.
EDUCATION
A Student Newspaper Takes on Community Responsibilities
The Ball State Daily News has filled a local journalism gap.