In an article titled “Green Acres is the Place to Be,” Gwendolyn Bounds of the Wall Street Journal hints that we might expect to see a movement of Gen Y to rural places. Motivated by an uncertain economy, the young people Bounds describes in her article are [...]
David Becker at the Friend of the Farmer blog recently issued a call for a “reimagined” Civilian Conservation Corp that focuses on helping farmers learn how to use technology. His idea essentially calls for unemployed college grads to assist farmers in acquiring the technology skills necessary for [...]
So which of the following statements accurately describes the economy of rural Midwestern communities? “Survey shows rural Midwest still in a recession” or “Rural America more prosperous than expected.”
I caught both of the above titled articles Tuesday while mining Twitter for information on rural communities. Both were released on [...]
It’s common for bloggers to capture provocative quotes from newspapers and use them to start a little controversy. At ReImagine Rural, we’re not about controversy, but I couldn’t let the following quote from Dr. Frank Fear go by without comment:
“Will rural America be left behind?” he asked. “Will small [...]
Thanks to a post on The Rural Blog, I stumbled across this old article from the Fortune Magazine blog touting an American Wind Energy study that claims more people are employed in wind energy than in coal mining. My first reaction was “can this be [...]
Congratulations Salem! You are one of the newest communities in South Dakota to participate in and benefit from the RecycleBank recycling program.
Like most Americans, I understand the importance of recycling, but I’ve not always been as consistent in my recycling efforts as I should [...]
We’ve placed a little focus on Michigan lately. Last week, Randy offered some thoughts about his work at the Summit:09 conference in South Haven, Michigan. This week Rachel Vochaska, Executive Director of the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce shares some of her thoughts the event as well [...]
A few weeks ago, Randy Parry travelled out to Van Buren County, Michigan to speak at the community’s annual conference. He shared the following thoughts about his time in Michigan.
Interview with RandyVan Buren County is located in Southwest Michigan. What was your impression of the region? How does it [...]
We don’t often think of giving Christmas presents to our communities unless we are considering a donation to a community foundation or program. A recent post from the Strom Center at Dickenson State University reminded me how important it is for rural communities to create activities that [...]
I have a confession to make. When I started my teaching career at Tripp High School in 1990, I had no idea what it meant to teach in a small rural school. Having grown up in Hartford, SD, a small town just outside of Sioux Falls, [...]
Yesterday, we presented readers with a basic economic question: Do our rural communities have enough resources to invest in being attractive to both Boomers and Millennials? I raised it after reading an article from Northern Great Plains, Inc.’s newsletter, which provides great tips for creating communities that are more attractive [...]
We talk a lot on ReImagine Rural about creating rural communities that are attractive for young people. We do so because most rural communities in the Midwest are getting older and older each year. If we want our rural communities to have a bright future, [...]
Prairie Business Magazine just released a story touting recent job creation activities in small, rural communities of the Upper Midwest. The article’s message: small, rural communities can enjoy job growth if they are focused and work at it.
There’s a lot of good advice for communities in the article. [...]
News reached us two weeks ago that many South Dakotans are going to get a first peak at smart grid technology. That opportunity became a reality through stimulus money being awarded to several South Dakota utilities, enabling them to purchase smart meters for residential homes.
The [...]
South Dakota Public Radio aired a report yesterday focused on green job development in Howard, SD. Individuals can listen to it here.
The story, reported by Charles Michael Ray, noted that the community stands to benefit from the creation of additional “green jobs” if the Climate Bill passes Congress. [...]
Lately we’ve been calling on rural communities to “reimagine” their futures by focusing on transformational strategies rather than those of revitalization. In a recent post on the Daily Yonder, Timothy Collins reminded me that this can’t take place without “reimaging” the future of education in our rural communities.
One of the toughest tasks for rural communities is figuring out how to address the community’s housing needs. In an effort to help communities, the Rural Learning Center helped establish the Rural Housing Collaborative. Essentially a group of housing leaders in South Dakota, the Collaborative created the Rural Housing Playbook. [...]
I recently stumbled on an idea that won’t let go of me. I love those kind of ideas-something I can’t ignore, even if the Swedish side of my brain is telling me ‘no, not another project.’ So, here it is.
The town of Harrisonburg, VA has started something called the [...]
Yesterday, while talking to partner organizations in the South Dakota Partnership for Teacher Quality, I had opportunity to revisit the Rural Learning Center’s tag line “ReImagine Rural.”
I explained to the group that we feel “ReImagine Rural” captures the essence of what the RLC believes about the future of rural communities: [...]
Today, I stumbled on a Facebook page for Hollowing out the Middle. It appears to have been created by the book’s publishers, who intend to use it as a means of advertising the book.
This isn’t the publishing company’s first foray into using social media [...]
Distinguished sociologist Daryl Hobbs frequently told me and fellow Miner County (SD) residents, “If you’ve been in one rural community, you’ve only been in one rural community.” Hobbs issued that warning to remind us that each small town held its own distinguishing features. Just because we heard of one [...]
Lately, I’ve held up the Miller, SD Facebook Fan Page as a good example of how rural communities can use Facebook. Because of the spiffy photos, engaging questions, and interesting responses that have been posted on the page, I feel like I’ve gotten to know Miller a lot better. [...]
In honor of my good friend Joe Bartmann of the Sioux Falls Green Project visiting me in Howard (SD) yesterday, I wanted to share a post related to the green movement in rural places. Amazingly, an article titled “Climate Change and Rural Communities in the [...]
On Wednesday, Lindsey and I talked to SDSU Extension Educators about the use of social media in their work. There were a lot of good questions about Facebook, most of which revolved around “managing the process” of its use. Questions like:
How do I rid [...]
Early this week, I had the opportunity to pack my suitcase and head to Pepin, Wisconsin. Lydia Gnos, the elementary school principal in Pepin, and I met at a conference almost 2 ½ years ago where I shared the story of Miner County’s [...]
Hollowing out the Middle has been gaining attention on the regional and national scale. The book’s major premise - that rural communities must be more thoughtful in addressing the issue of youth outmigration - is not always well received, but it has been thought provoking.
I recently listened to a [...]
I’m always on the lookout for rural communities that are using social media to build conversations. Recently, I found a great example with Miller, SD.
Joe Fiala and Amy Howard of On Hand Development Corp. launched the Miller, SD Facebook page on Sept. 24, 2009. Within weeks [...]
Back in May, I commented on a list identifying “America’s coolest small towns.” Admittedly, I was struggling for a topic to write about that day, and the idea of “cool small towns” intrigued me. After all, most Americans still seem to consider it an oxymoron for small towns to be [...]
Last week I had the opportunity to spend four days with the folks in Hill City. SD during a design:SD charrette. I say opportunity for several reasons: it is a special thing when a community invites a team in and believes they will produce something they need, and it [...]
Michael Gass makes a bold statement in a post for Social Media Today. In an article titled “IBM Study: The end of advertising as we know it”, he writes:
“The next 5 years will hold more change for the advertising industry than the previous 50 did.”
Well, maybe that’s not [...]
Lindsey is out in Hill City, SD today leading the DesignSD team in a community design charrette, so the question about the design and appearance of farm/ranches is timely. It’s actually not my question; rather it’s Caleb Schultz’s at the America’s Great [...]
While at the Rural Housing Playbook Regional Conference in Iroquois a couple weeks ago, I heard rural South Dakota community representatives say that in addition to developing new housing stock (like the Governors House), they need to (1) do a lot more to clean up old dilapidated buildings and [...]
News comes to us from Minnesota announcing a partnership enabling Winona County to become “the first county in Minnesota to develop renewable energy to benefit taxpayers.” (see “County finalizes wind turbine project,” Winona Daily News)
This sounds very similar to what the City of Howard accomplished back in 2001 [...]
Let me begin by saying that I love polar bears and believe Americans need to alter their daily lives to help combat the global warming that is destroying the polar bear’s environment.
But it also seems to me that most Americans care little about the future of [...]
Yesterday at the Rural Housing Playbook regional conference, we heard about a remarkable story brewing in Iroquois, SD. For the last 3-4 years, the community has focused on a housing strategy that local residents believe has helped bring in fourteen new students to their school. That’s nothing to sneeze [...]
I have to admit that lately I’ve been questioning why I spend so much time writing stuff about rural communities. After all, couldn’t I make a bigger impact on the rural communities if I spent my daily efforts working in a rural community like I used to? Could I do [...]
The pomp and circumstance of last week’s groundbreaking at the Rural Learning Center has officially passed. The last of the cake is eaten, and the office is looking a bit more orderly. What we’ve failed to communicate, I think, is what the day [...]
Have you asked a young person lately what they think of their community or what they’d like to change to make it a more attractive place for young people to live?
If you haven’t, you are not alone. According to a study of young people in rural northeast Nebraska, only 29% [...]
If your rural community is “puzzled” by housing development, then you should consider attending the Rural Housing Playbook Regional Conference in Iroquois, SD on Tuesday Sept. 15.
I’ve talked about the Rural Housing Collaborative, and as I described back in Nov. 2008:
The Rural Housing Playbook is about creating a [...]
In our work at the Rural Learning Center, we’ve long recognized the importance of place. It is, after all the root of our work that began with our Howard H.S. students back in the 1990s.
The theme of place emerged several times Wednesday in the speeches presented at the Rural Learning [...]
It’s a clique, but it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. For that reason, we want to share photos from the Maroney Rural Learning Center Groundbreaking celebration. I’ve uploaded some of the photos to this blog post, but you can find more at our Flickr stream. [...]
In our work at the Rural Learning Center, we’ve long recognized the importance of place. It is, after all the root of our work that began with our Howard H.S. students back in the 1990s.
The theme of place emerged several times Wednesday in the speeches presented at the Rural Learning [...]
At the Maroney Rural Learning Center groundbreaking ceremony, Kevin Walker, President of the Northwest Area Foundation, quoted late 18th Century visionary William Blake saying “What is now proved was once only imagined.” Walker also noted that although brilliant, Blake was considered insane by his contemporaries for his unusual ideas [...]
Well the Rural Learning Center created quite a stir yesterday with the groundbreaking ceremony. Enough so, that the story has been featured in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, the Mitchell Daily Republic, and on KSFY television. I expect to see more stories popping up throughout the [...]
In our part of the country, most rural communities have experienced 50-80 years of economic decline. This decline often leads to feelings of despair and hopelessness.
A Sense of HopeAt the Rural Learning Center (RLC), however, we have a sense of empowerment and hopefulness. We base that optimism in part [...]
The Rural Learning Center is celebrating the beginning of a new phase in their history next week. On Wednesday, September 2nd the Rural Learning Center will break ground on the Maroney Rural Learning Center. The center will house renewable energy and [...]
The economy is down. There’s little debate that it has affected both rural and urban communities. But a recent story in the Sioux Falls Argus leader made me wonder if many rural communities are missing an opportunity to stimulate their local economies by engaging Gen Y entrepreneurs.
Most of the talk about green job development has focused on urban areas, especially depressed, inner cities. But yesterday the conversation turned towards Rural America, and what’s already been accomplished there.
The conversation was initiated by Repower America, who held a press conference in Howard, SD to show their [...]
A friend of mine sent me this well-known illustration of many prairie grasses, including the roots we usually don’t see. I love the powerful comparison to the bluegrass on the left–this is the stuff most of us have in our lawns. (You know, the stuff we water and fertilize so [...]
