Friends, I am currently seeking a new opportunity in community and economic development, policy analysis or public administration, particularly in the Rocky Mountain or Great Plains states. I do my best work with a small team of professionals dedicated to excellence in public service. I am also considering opportunities where I could apply my skills in […]
Fewer Births, More Deaths, Changing Migration Patterns
Where I tried to strike an upbeat note last week in finding some population growth in rural America, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) lays out the grim statistics for nonmetropolitan areas in black and blue. From their website this week: The number of people living in rural (nonmetropolitan) counties declined for the fourth year in […]
Diary of Orrin Brown—April 7, 1865
Diary of Orrin Brown, Goldsboro, North Carolina Friday–Apr. 7th The day has been cloudy with a few light sprinkles of rain. I received a letter from home today and answered it. There was a funeral procesion of some officer passed our camp just after noon. I am no better than I was yesterday. I read […]
Aztec Business Hub Makes the Paper (no fooling!)
The Farmington, New Mexico, Daily Times featured one of my work projects on the front page today. The City of Aztec and the San Juan College Enterprise Center have been exploring the feasibility of a small business incubator, similar to the service currently offered at the college in Farmington. The project has evolved in response […]
Meet Some New Friends Doing Interesting Things In Community Development
Spring is in the air. Local citizens are coming out of their winter’s cocoons and are eager to do something. You’re right on top of that, coaxing your friends and neighbors to stop pushing buttons (between planning and doing) and starting to move their Flywheel of incremental, constant improvement. You’ve spent your winter getting to Know […]
Strategic Doing
So you’ve got a problem. Or your community has a problem, and despite yourself you’ve found yourself on a committee to do something about it. What do you do? Gather the usual suspects, pour some weak coffee and bring in a dozen donuts for a brainstorming session. “What do you want to do?” “I don’t […]
Know Thyself and Your Community
“Know Thyself” urges the inscription on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, repeated throughout the Platonic dialogues of ancient Greece. In 1651, Thomas Hobbes opens Leviathan by urging his readers nosce te ipsum—only by study can we understand our world. In building community, no matter if you choose a traditional dichotomy between Action and Planning, or adopt a cumulative and […]
Implementation is the Watchword
Most people have a hard-wired bias for action — they may place more or less value on collaboration, or risk-taking, but they want to get things done. Others of us are more concerned with taking our time to understand what were doing, to get the Right things done.* This does not have to be an either-or choice. […]
Planetizen Benchmarks How Tech Savy Your City Planners Might Be
Remember when the Internet was going to make our lives easier? Everything was going to be available anytime, anywhere. Sometimes it feels like the web has just made everything more difficult, more complicated. Yet sometimes, when we look up from our iPhones for a minute, some folks are trying to make the business of civic […]
Small Victories: A Public Participation Save in South Cheyenne
“You can’t save everybody / Everybody don’t want to be saved” –Kieran Kane Everybody agreed the unincorporated community needed attention. The County Comprehensive Plan had highlighted concerns with increasing density in the area just outside city limits. The City Comp Plan had acknowledged the community’s vision as “an attractive, semi-rural neighborhood”. The State Rural Development […]