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
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.
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.
RURAL & REGIONAL
How Infrastructure Funding Is Bringing High-Speed Internet to Hard-to-Reach Places
A fresh round of funds was pumped into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Broadband project when the infrastructure bill passed a year ago. That investment is bringing connectivity to some of the most rugged and remote corners of the country.
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
Is Rural America Growing Again? Recent Data Suggests Yes
Despite unprecedented Covid-19-related death rates, rural America shows population growth after a decade of decline.
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.