Author: Becky McCray

Here’s a new way to think of your role in building a better town: Pull down the barriers to entry. Right now, there are barriers keeping people from trying their own business in your town. Some barriers are things that take a lot to change, like zoning regulations, while others would be relatively simple to…

I don’t know all the problems and challenges in your town. I don’t know your assets and best kept secrets. I don’t know who gets in your way or who is right there with you every step. I don’t know if you have issues to address or opportunities to seize in education or health care or…

Dean Abbott interviewed me for his podcast, which is partly about moving out of the city to a more deliberate and meaningful life in smaller places. He asked me how someone can tell if the town they are considering moving to is likely to prosper. One factor immediately lept to mind. Fighting. How much fighting…

I spent last week in Washington, D.C., talking about rural issues and sharing your stories. Before I report on that, I want to mention that we have a lively discussion going on why big boxes are getting smaller, and how consumer behavior is driving that. Join the conversation here OK, on with the policy stuff! On…

Lots of local groups issue “shop local” coupon books. Most are pretty much what you expect: a packet of coupons good for savings at local businesses. But one local business alliance came up with a better idea during one of my conference workshops. The alliance helps local people build a stronger local community. To communicate their purpose to…

Thanks to the Newcastle, Washington, Chamber of Commerce for putting this slogan into graphic form.  Howdy Friend, I think there are three essential steps to a Shop Local or Buy Local campaign. But most towns only do one of them. Step 2 is to focus on shifting customer spending.That’s where everyone starts and stops. A…

Last week’s email apparently looked suspicious to email servers, because it didn’t make it to a lot of readers. So if you missed the “how we welcome newcomers” stories last week, you can read them here. This week, I’ve been thinking about triggers. What can trigger good changes in your town?  Remember Deb Brown’s Tour…

Thank you for sharing your own “how we welcome newcomers” stories! I appreciate every one of you. First up, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel has a relocation guide for you to borrow and more thoughts on how we welcome people. Becky,A colleague forwarded your recent post asking for sources of relocation guides. The link has a good one…

Moving from the big city to the small town can be a rough transition. And since we just talked about how many people are moving IN to small towns, this is an important topic. One story on this theme, “Giving Up My Small-Town Fantasy” by Reyhan Harmanci made The New York Times recently. Reyhan moved…

Here’s an idea that you can pass along to the economic developers in your area. If that’s you, hit reply and let me know what you think. Many small towns have a modest budget for economic development. Rather than try to save it all for one big deal, break it up. Instead of offering $50,000 in incentives…

Hey, you know that story everyone tells about how teachers and adults are pushing the best and brightest rural young people away to the big city? A new study casts some doubt on that. In fact, the highest achieving students may be the ones with the strongest ties to their own communities. Which makes sense…

Last time, I asked you for your stories about how your town works together. Thank you so much for your answers! I’m sharing these three because they represent towns with populations under 1000, over 10,000 and somewhere in between. Before the answers I wanted to give you one link, one story worth reading today. Daily…