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Civic Life

164 posts
View Post
  • Civic Life

2022: A Year in Renew, Continued!

  • Ben Speggen
  • December 15, 2022
A continued look back at the stories of local-level ideas that are driving and inspiring renewal nationwide. 
View Post
  • Civic Life

2022: A Year in Renew

  • Ben Speggen
  • December 14, 2022
A look back at some of the stories of local-level ideas that are driving and inspiring renewal nationwide. 
Youth in Dillsburg share their voices through drawings. Photo courtesy of Dillsburg Heart & Soul.
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

How Local Governments Can Engage Residents of All Ages

  • Jordan Sandman
  • December 14, 2022
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.
Official graphic for the "Reimagine Rural" podcast. (Source: Brookings Institution)
View Post
  • Civic Life

New Podcast Highlights Transformations Taking Place In Rural America

  • Kristi Eaton, The Daily Yonder
  • December 13, 2022
“Reimagine Rural” from the Brookings Institution showcases communities across America that are in the midst of renewal.
Logo for "Inside Our Towns" with black background.
View Post
  • Civic Life

Inside Our Towns: Josh Fryday, California’s Chief Service Officer

  • Ben Speggen and Evan Sanford
  • December 7, 2022
National division might grab headlines, but the story of uniting citizens through service in California is growing.
Logo for "Inside Our Towns" with black background.
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

Inside Our Towns: Scott and Tiffany Whaley

  • Ben Speggen and Evan Sanford
  • November 21, 2022
Feeding, sustaining, and building community in Kershaw, South Carolina through KARE.
Scott and Tiffany Whaley stop for a picture in front of the old Kershaw Train Depot renewed as office spaces and a museum. Photo by Michelle Ellia.
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

Kershaw Invests in Community with New Ideas in Old Spaces

  • Ben Speggen
  • November 8, 2022
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.
Porcello House on Main Street in Mount Blanchard OH (Deborah Fallows)
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

How One Small Ohio Town Practices Democracy

  • Deborah Fallows
  • October 24, 2022
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.
Logo for "Inside Our Towns" with black background.
View Post
  • Economic Development

Inside Our Towns: Tighe Bullock

  • Ben Speggen and Evan Sanford
  • October 18, 2022
Evan Sanford catches up with Tighe Bullock, the accountant, lawyer, downtown developer, and construction contractor, on his latest work in Charleston, West Virginia.
Logo for "Inside Our Towns" with black background.
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  • Civic Life

Inside Our Towns: Allen Carroll and Story Maps

  • Ben Speggen and Evan Sanford
  • September 16, 2022
Evan Sanford explores the origin and evolution of Esri’s story maps with the innovative storytelling tool’s creator, Allen Carroll.
A flagpole outside of the Fort Lawn Community Center where a 9/11 Memorial features an artwork created from a World Trade Center steel beam.
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

To Both See and Tell the Country: From the Road through North Carolina to South Carolina

  • Ben Speggen
  • September 7, 2022
Why seeing more of America matters.
Map Of Sandusky, Ohio
View Post
  • Civic Life

‘To Arrive Where We Started and Know the Place for the First Time’

  • James Fallows
  • September 3, 2022
The America that Americans Don't Know About, and Why That Matters
Mac Love (center) stands in front of a mural reading "beautiful" with fellow Art x Love team members Josy Jones, Dee McCall, Gaby Barnes, and Patrick Richards (left to right) who were a part of the @Play project in Akron. Photo courtesy of Art x Love.
View Post
  • Education

An Outsider Works with Insiders: Examples from Akron and Cleveland

  • Alex Bieler and Ben Speggen
  • August 10, 2022
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.   
The Tucker family -- a husband and wife and two children -- sit in front of a house.
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

A Dining-room Meeting Begins a New Chapter in One Town’s Story

  • Jordan Sandman
  • August 1, 2022
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.
Dillsburg Pennsylvania historical marker
View Post
  • Citizen Engagement

A Town of Doers Works Together to Preserve Their Past and Plan Their Future

  • Jordan Sandman
  • July 13, 2022
Residents and businesses in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania have adopted a mantra: if it’s a community problem, it’s their problem too.
Logo for "Inside Our Towns" with black background.
View Post
  • Civic Life

Inside Our Towns: PA Humanities

  • Ben Speggen and Evan Sanford
  • June 27, 2022
A look at Humanities in the 21st century, the power of storytelling in community development, and more.

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