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. 

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.

ARTS

An Outsider Works with Insiders: Examples from Akron and Cleveland

Mac Love, who has spent much of his life outside Ohio, uses new technologies to bring community residents and college students together. That collaborative approach is now helping citizens’ voices be heard and is driving meaningful change in their neighborhoods.   

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.

COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

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

New digital tools give communities innovative and engaging ways to tell their own stories. In Kent, Ohio, a community-wide collaboration among Kent State University, Main Street Kent, and the Kent Historical Society & Museum uses story maps to teach residents about the town's rich history. 

GEOJOURNALISM

Why Story Maps Matter

People understand the world through stories. People absorb their stories in ever-expanding ways. Here is a preview of a powerful, emerging form of digital story-telling, which we’ll be using frequently in this space.