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    • National v Local
    • Health Clinics
    • Pandemic
    • Feeding the Community
    • Immigrants & Refugees
    • Town History & Story
    • The People
    • Public Art
    • Art in Economy
    • Role of Artists
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    • Our Towns, The HBO Documentary

        ERIE, PA

        Civic Life

        Bring in the Refugees

        GEOJOURNALISM

        We Find Our Way With Maps. But How Can Mapmakers Know Where They're Going?

        CIVIC LIFE

        Exposing What was Already Present

        IMMIGRANTS & REFUGEES

        Immigrants and refugees play vital cultural role in the city’s renaissance.

        ARTS

        Creating and Reimagining Community through a Crisis

        HBO DOCUMENTARY

        Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan, and James and Deborah Fallows discuss taking the “Our Towns” story from a bestselling book to a hit HBO documentary

        PANDEMIC

        Small-business owners continue working to build community through crisis.

        Arts

        Meet Erie: A rust belt region continues to navigate its renaissance through a pandemic

        Health

        ‘Years of Effort, Undone in Weeks’

        Economic & Business Development

        When Small Towns Take the Big Stage

        Leaders & Governance

        An American Story, Starting in Kosovo

        Economic & Business Development

        National Policies Have Local Effects

        Economic & Business Development

        Meanwhile in America:

        Immigrants & Refugees

        A Post-Election Field Report From America’s Refugees and Immigrants

        Economic & Business Development

        Missing Thanksgiving Day

        Economic & Business Development

        What the Renewable-Energy Economy Looks Like

        Page1 Page2 >

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        This is the site of the Our Towns Civic Foundation, dedicated to connecting innovators, reformers, civic-patriots, and dreamers across America. The reports here are based on travels and interviews over the past decade by Deborah and James Fallows. The ongoing accounts will emphasize local voices on how communities are adjusting to the economic, environmental, and technological opportunities and challenges of the era.

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