How Local Leaders are Collaborating to Build Resilience and Prosperity
It’s easy to get bogged down right now, what with everything going on in the world. But what keeps me going every day is knowing that phenomenal, inspiring leaders are working to make their towns stronger across the country. They’re building from the bottom up, listening to the needs of neighbors, and taking incremental steps to make their communities more financially resilient.
I had the pleasure of talking with three such leaders last week on a webcast we hosted called, Revitalizing Your Town from the Bottom Up:
Martin Callahan is a City Council Member in Batavia, Illinois, where he’s been part of a new pop-up shop initiative that has created economic activity in his downtown and served as a low-cost incubator for new businesses.
Salvador “Sal” Galdamez is the Founder of York XL, which brings neighbors together to imagine and then passionately create empowered communities in York, Pennsylvania.
Talicia Richardson is the Executive Director of 64.6 Downtown, a nonprofit committed to creating vibrant spaces in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas through business development, arts and culture, and special events and projects
I invite you to watch (or listen) to the webcast and learn from the wisdom and brilliance of these phenomenal local leaders.
Key questions discussed in this webcast:
What are the most crucial actions you’ve taken to strengthen the economic resilience of your cities?
What are each of you and your nonprofits/governments doing to respond to the pandemic and resulting economic downturn?
What is an obstacle you’ve come across in your work where you needed support from outside your organization to move forward?
As a nonprofit leader, what’s the number one thing you wish more people in local government understood about community development initiatives that originate from outside city hall—from the nonprofit sector or the grassroots? What is the best thing local government could do to support these initiatives and encourage more of them?
As a government leader, what is the number one thing that you wish more grassroots advocates or community groups would understand about local government, but sometimes don’t?
If you want to keep being inspired by these local leaders, here are a few other resources:
Watch our follow-up Q&A webcast where Martin, Sal and Talicia answered audience questions.
Check out our 2019 podcast interview with Sal Galdamez.
Read our 2018 article featuring Talicia Richardson and her organization.
Learn more about Downtown Batavia, York XL or 64.6 Downtown.
Cover image via Flickr user Tyler Merbler.
Rik Adamski is the founder of a planning firm that strives to help cities create thriving places by drawing on the wisdom of the past. He joins this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to discuss his approach to planning and the challenges of implementing a new planning approach in cities.