Guest post by Deb Brown What attendees learned from attending the Idea Friendly Session by SaveYour.Town at the International Economic Development Council Conference — Big Ideas you can copy in your town Becky McCray and I were excited to lead an interactive Idea Friendly workshop at the International Economic Development Council Conference in Dallas in […]
Reaching “at risk” kids for local jobs
Workforce is a challenge for 2/3rds of rural small businesses. Source: Survey of Rural Challenges, 2021 One under-utilized source of workers: At-risk students Tony Guidroz, from San Saba, Texas, told me he was shocked when he found out there were 702 kids in the local school district, and more than 400 were considered “at-risk” either […]
How Parents are Keeping Children from Becoming the Next Generation of Leaders
By Paula Jensen It seems I have almost always been interested in leadership. My parents modeled leadership as I was growing up through their active roles in community, church, and school. I joined 4-H at the age of eight, was called a “ring-leader” as an elementary student (which I don’t think this was a […]
Chain link is everywhere in downtowns. Here’s how to dress it up.
You’ve seen it before: a chain link fence right in the middle of a downtown. Usually there’s barbed wire at the top. Let’s face it, barbed wire is not the friendliest look for a downtown. We can do better. Why chain link in the first place? When a business ends up with an empty lot […]
