Posts

Small towns need a Plan B (Sat. Evening Post)

-
This country is littered with dying small towns that lacked a plan B, one they should have had in place before the mill shut down or the factory moved to Mexico. Mount Shasta, California, and Ashland, Oregon, did it right. Located in the California-Oregon border region where I live, they avoided economic devastation by having their survival plans well underway by the time their lumber mills began to shut down more than a half-century ago. Indeed, Mount Shasta was more than 100 years ahead of the curve thanks to a guy named Justin Hinckley Sisson, who planted the seeds for the town’s future reinvention as a recreational tourist destination. A schoolteacher from Connecticut, Sisson moved out West and reinvented himself as a rugged outdoorsman. In 1866 he opened a hotel and restaurant on the lower slopes of Mount Shasta and started taking his visitors on hunting, fishing, and mountain-climbing excursions. The timber boom that had begun around that time had pretty well petered out by 1990,
Read more

PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T DO PUBLIC SPEAKING

-
September 2015 You’re sitting at your desk one day, basking in the glory of your company being named one of the “Best Places to Work in Mississippi” by the Mississippi Business Journal. Your pride is still swelling as the phone rings. The caller identifies himself and asks if you would be willing to come to his civic club in two weeks and tell how your company achieved such an honor. Your heart races all of a sudden because you have never made a speech to a civic club or any public group for that matter. The mere thought of it causes a brief panic. What would you do? The first thing to do quickly consider your alternatives. You could say no, but that would not shed a favorable light on you and your company. You could say that you are busy and that you would be able to come at a later date. That would give you time to rehearse and learn more about public speaking. You could send someone else in the company, but your company is small and there is no one else. Besides, it was your p
Read more

Why do regions fail?

-
In Mississippi, public policymakers, elected officials at all levels (local, state and federal) and community leaders of every stripe continually discuss ways to improve the Mississippi Delta.  There has been no shortage of studies, initiatives and funding programs for just about everything imaginable.  Although there are some bright spots, one wonders why there has not been more improvement in the region as a whole. With that backdrop, I was especially interested in an article at the Daily Yonder website entitled Speak Your Piece: Why regions Fail , written by Jason Bailey.  The first sentence reads, “What’s kept Eastern Kentucky from prosperity?”  The author first discusses a critique of the region by outside observers, and then posits that one of the problems with such “diagnoses” is that it is too narrow.  We should look at the greater historical and economic context about why the families in the region live the way that they do, he says.  Reference is then made
Read more

RFP for Rural Communities Facing Design Challenges

-
The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) is issuing a request for proposals to rural communities facing design challenges to host local workshops in 2013. Successful applicants will receive a $7,000 grant and in-kind design expertise and technical assistance valued at $35,000. The Request for Proposals is on the new CIRD website: www.rural-design.org . The deadline for submitting a proposal is Tuesday March 5, 2013 at 5:00 pm EST  More info at http://www.pps.org/citizens-institute-on-rural-design-issues-rfp-for-rural-communities-facing-design-challenges/
Read more

Your town's name may be a big asset.

-
Image
What’s in a name? A lot if your town’s name is Sturgis. (photo courtesy Steve Corbitt) During the weekend of August 15-16, 2009 thousands of motorcyclists (bikers) descended on towns named Sturgis. The Grandaddy of course is Sturgis, South Dakota where bikers congragate for a full week of activities. Statistics are not in yet for this year, but in 2008 there 400,000 in attendance, 66 marriage licenses issued, $10.45 million in taxable sales, $418,932 South Dakota sales taxes collected, $217,213 Sturgis city sales taxes collected and 543 tons of garbage hauled. The event has grown so big that other towns in the U.S. named Sturgis have been having there own biker festivals during the same weekend. More… In Sturgis, Mississippi over 850 bikers pre-registered for the event, and many more showed up without being pre-registered. Sturgis Mayor Walter Turner said the event is great for the city and the bikers and families are welcome. In advance of the even city crews perfor
Read more

Resources for Rural Communities

-
Read two new reports from EPA's Smart Growth Program and the Partnership for Sustainable Communities: * Federal Resources for Sustainable Rural Communities provides information on funding and technical assistance opportunities available from HUD, DOT, EPA, and USDA, and examples of how rural communities across the country have put these opportunities into action. * Three Years of Helping Communities Achieve Their Visions for Growth and Prosperity is the Partnership for Sustainable Communities' third-year anniversary report. It includes case studies on Bridgeport, CT; Ranson and Charles Town, WV; Montgomery, AL; Cincinnati, OH; Moline, IL; Denver, CO; and Wellpinit, WA. Find these reports at http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/index.htm
Read more

New Nonprofit Leaders: Stop and listen before beginning your year.

-
Congratulations on being chosen to lead your organization in the coming year.  In order to have the most successful year as leader of a board of directors of a nonprofit or other organization it would be useful to understand why the members of the board are serving.  These are some thoughts on what you as the incoming leader might consider. One of the more basic human emotional needs is to belong to a group.  The extent to which they feel that they belong to your group will be a factor in determining the success of your year of leadership.  So how do you find out what your members need?  Well, why not just call and ask them?  Or better yet, simply sit down for a one-on-one meeting.  Basically, what you want to find out is why they are serving on the board.  Here are some examples of questions or comments that might be appropriate in such a conversation: 1.  What led you to accept (or volunteer) for a position on this board? 2.  What would you like to see the organi
Read more