Will Lambe, author of Small Towns, Big Ideas: Case Studies in Small Town Community Economic Development, will be the featured guest for the next smallwander.com conference call.
The University of North Carolina’s School of Government, in collaboration with the North Carolina Rural Center published the book, which is the result of a yearlong study by Lambe, associate director of the Community and Economic Development Program at the School of Government. The collection features real stories, from real places that are successfully confronting real challenges similar to those facing small communities everywhere, such as globalization, geographic isolation, urban sprawl, aging populations, and natural disasters.
Small Towns, Big Ideas profiles towns in 18 states ranging in population from 175 (Chimney Rock, N.C.) to 15,000 (Helena-West Helena, Ark.). The case studies are told in an engaging narrative that includes information useful to civic leaders in small communities and policymakers dealing with rural development issues.
According to Lambe, “One of the main themes emerging from these case studies is that successful small towns tend to employ a range of strategies that cut across community and economic development broadly. The case studies allow us to take the strategies apart and to draw conclusions about how and why particular strategies work across a wide range of small communities.”
Lambe is also interim director for the North Carolina Local Government Service Corps, a three-year initiative that will place graduates of the Master of Public Administration programs at UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Wilmington, and Appalachian State University into the service of economically distressed rural communities, beginning in 2009. The Service Corps was initiated as a result of observing—during the Small Towns, Big Ideas study—the need for economic development and capacity-building assistance in many small communities.
Small Towns, Big Ideas can be downloaded from www.cednc.unc.edu/stbi. The site also features a database of the case studies, searchable by criteria such as community type, location, and population. A hard-copy of the publication can be ordered through the Rural Center’s website at www.ncruralcenter.org.
Our live conversation with Will will take place on Monday, March 30, at 10 am. It’s free and open to the public. There is also an option for you to type in your questions. Immediately after the talk, a recording will be posted.
Here is the dial-in information:
EVENT: Small towns, big ideas
DATE & TIME: Monday, March 30th at 10:00am Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice)
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW…
Tags: Economic development, Small Towns
June 30, 2009 at 4:20 am |
I have been following your site since November of last year and enjoy listening to the Podcasts. Unfortunately our Main Street funding has been stalled in the Pa Congress so our town is moving forward and pressing our rep to change the govenor’s approach to this funding. As promo chair for the Make It Meadville Program ( a part of the Main Street innitative)we have seen since begining this over a year ago, a change take place in how the local merchants are cooperating with each other. The chamber, which is a county group is talking with the city organizers and so on. Together we are about to kick off a community event which includes the local college as well in mid August. The enthusiasm for bringing new businesses and events to Meadville, PA has a marked increase. The bridges of communication are being built slowly but with a concerted effort among the volunteers. We understand there may be other monies available for these revitalization efforts at some point down the road. Untill then I am excited to be a part of this and I am convinced that our hard work will pay off. Thanks for all your info and this site, it has been a great help in knowing we are not alone in overcoming obstacles and for sharing the creative ideas and success stories.
Kay