AJO, AZ
BIG LITTLE IDEAS
Three community leaders come together to tell the stories of American renewal in their towns.
What do Ajo, Arizona; Eastport, Maine; and Charleston, West Virginia have in common? The answer leads down a rural path.
Health
A Rural Health Center With a Pandemic Plan
Read the story in The Atlantic here. Downtown Eastport, from above Courtesy of Don Dunbar The Rowland B. French Medical Center is the primary health-care facility for the residents of Eastport, Maine, a tiny Down East fishing town, population 1,400. Eastport was one of the first of some 50 towns that Jim and visited during our reporting across […]
Immigrants & Refugees
Ajo, Arizona, is the story of a better America
The village of Ajo, Arizona near the Organ Pipe cactus national monument Deborah Fallows is the co-author with her husband, Atlantic writer James Fallows, of “Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America.” An HBO documentary based on the book is currently in production. Fallows is also a fellow at New America. […]
Economic & Business Development
When Small Towns Take the Big Stage
Connecting Ajo, Columbus, and Erie
Economic & Business Development
The End of the Journey
N435SR parked at its new home at the San Bernardino Airport in California (Deborah Fallows) Arriving in Tucson, we felt the inklings of coming full circle with our American Futures project. Only one more leg of our journey, about 400 miles, before we reached our destination of the San Bernardino airport, and on to a writing base at the University […]
Parks, Rec & Fun
A Good Start
Bobby's Story
Economic & Business Development
Finding Health Care in the Desert
With the closest hospital 100 miles away, Ajo, Arizona's Desert Senita Health Center acts as the region's clinic
Economic & Business Development
Farming in the Desert
A small town in Arizona grows a thriving food scene.
Arts
How America Is Putting Itself Back Together
Most people in the U.S. believe their country is going to hell. But they’re wrong. What a three-year journey by single-engine plane reveals about reinvention and renewal.
Education
American Futures Updates, from MS to AZ to CA
NPR conveys the sound of an innovative school in Mississippi, plus other news from the road
Leaders & Governance
Isabella Greenway, Pioneering American Woman
The first Arizonan congresswoman, a lifelong friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, lived a remarkable life.
Arts
A Word Cloud of Ajo, Arizona
The words we use about ourselves reveal surprising truths
Education
Growing Up in Ajo
What it takes to get from the desert to college
Economic & Business Development
From Xizhou to Eastport to Ajo: Big Dreams in Small Towns
The same kind of ambition you see in political campaigns, races for sports championships, or attempts to score a big IPO—but toward a different end.
Arts
Ajo, Arizona: Oasis in the Desert
How a city with century-old "good bones" tries to reinvent itself.
Reports From America
On the Road, in Arizona and Colorado
A small city struggling to come back, a larger one already thriving, and the implications for civic vitality