COMMUNITY HEART AND SOUL
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.
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.
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.
COMMUNITIES THAT WORK
A Year in Renew, A Year-in-Review: The Stories from 2022 of American Renewal
The Our Towns team looks back at the stories of local-level ideas that are driving and inspiring renewal nationwide.
COMMUNITIES THAT WORK
2022: A Year in Renew, Continued!
A continued look back at the stories of local-level ideas that are driving and inspiring renewal nationwide.
COMMUNITIES THAT WORK
2022: A Year in Renew
A look back at some of the stories of local-level ideas that are driving and inspiring renewal nationwide.
Big Little Ideas
How Local Governments Can Engage Residents of All Ages
When community members can't, or don't, or won't, go to town halls to attend local government meetings, some local elected officials have found a way to go to their constituents.
PODCAST
Inside Our Towns: Scott and Tiffany Whaley
Feeding, sustaining, and building community in Kershaw, South Carolina through KARE.
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.
COMMUNITIES THAT WORK
How one small Ohio town practices democracy
Small is big in Mount Blanchard, Ohio. The town approached change in two ways, and Deborah Fallows reports on the impact she and her husband, James, saw during their travels there.
LIBRARIES
A Library Garden Celebrates Reading, Art, and Nature
In 2015, Dillsburg, Pennsylvania relocated the town's library to a bigger space to better serve its growing population. A year later, when tragedy struck, the community stepped up to grow the library to include a reading garden.
RURAL & REGIONAL
A Dining-room Meeting Begins a New Chapter in One Town’s Story
As Isaac and Heidi Tucker saw it, there was no use in waiting for their town to improve itself. Instead, they took action, and are rallying renewal efforts in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania today.
WATER
Past, Present, and Future on the Water: Using StoryMaps to Explore Bucksport, Maine
What does a mile-long stretch along the Penobscot River tell the walker about Bucksport, Maine? As it turns out, a lot.
CIVIC LIFE
Inside Our Towns: PA Humanities
A look at Humanities in the 21st century, the power of storytelling in community development, and more.
FAITH INSTITUTIONS & ORGANIZATIONS
How Powerful Stories Are Rebuilding a Church
This is the story of Elias Van Buren Parker and how today’s telling of his story has the power to pull the town of Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania from its early glory days, then decline, back to new days of glory.
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.