Although cities dominate the urban landscape, if you start asking people where they are from, you will find many have small town roots and came to a bigger city to make a living. As baby boomers retire, there might be a reversal, for when you are retired, you have a bigger ability to live anywhere; particularly, if you have equity in your home and wish to move. Living in the small town has both advantages and disadvantages, the advantages are there are fewer people and you get to know who they are faster. The disadvantage will depend on your lifestyle – you will need a car. If the town you choose has a strong economic base, then living is much easier. If the base needs help then books such as The Small Town Survival Guide by Jack McCall published by William Morrow and Company, NY, 1993 will help. Part of the reason to keep the small town alive is because you live there.  Much of what you will do is based on the glass half full  or you want to see it survive and maybe even grow. The process will involve 4 parts

1. Create an organization to make the vision come true.

2. Listen and think about the beliefs about how communities work and adjusting them to the future.

3. Review the resources in the community that can be used for economic development.

4. Creating our own personal community vision for the future.

In more depth the process are:

In a different setting, this will be similar to creating a company, but because it involves the future of the town you will need people in the town to buy in. People are your basic resource and you will quickly become aware of the many talents in the room. The hard part will be the management of the people – some will want to go ahead, some will not, some are not decided, some will think your roots are too shallow. The trick is to work with those who will; schedule monthly meetings and start doing. Always start with something easy, cleaning the alleys, fixing the park, whatever it is – begin to build pride and work on bigger items.  After you have done something, there are often grants from senior levels of government which will help make the next project easier.

2. Now that you done something, focus on the bigger picture by listening and thinking about the beliefs about how communities work. The adjustments will temper from the stories of the past. Those who live there for a number of years will remember other ideas and plans, it is good idea to read them. Many urban studies programs at Universities have thought about towns or neighbourhoods, given that people including you still live there, what is your idea of the future?

In every community there is economic development – people receive money in a wide variety of methods. Some are on a pension whether that is a private, public or a combination of both. Some work a distance and come back on their time off. There are retailers in town, service providers, the town municipal office collects taxes. It does not mean that all the money that is earned in the town is spent in the town, if it is a normal town, most of it is not. This means there are opportunities to capture more of the money. It also means people in the area live there for a reason and some businesses could be enlarged with the correct encouragements.

Economic development also means tourism which makes sense. For example, my hometown has a big band festival, but it has many musicians in the area who love that type of music. Take a look at the natural or existing assets and if they could be enhanced.  Economic development can mean general revitalization such as improving the building stock. Many years ago, a report came out of Detroit in which no building permits were issued, thankfully that has changed. How many building permits were issued in your town? If you went after government grants which encouraged home and business renovation would it help?

Fourth is programming your community for economic development – what future do you want to see or what is your vision for the future. What services are needed? What partnerships need to be formed? If there is lack of medical services – what about doctors using greater technology to help? The thoughts are form two simple headings – who needs this town? What do they need it for? Answer the questions from a survey (use the one in the book) and begin to work on the long term needs. There will be ups and downs in the economic cycle, but you live there for a reason. Try to make it better for you and everyone else.

Linking to dividend providing stocks, companies that pay dividends are in business for the long term, as long as they are profitable they can be the base of your investments. The dividends each year allows you to have choices on what to do with them. Live on it, donate some, invest some; whether you are fixing up the town or fixing up your portfolio, there is overlap in the process.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions