A Million Local Heroes and a Thousand Local Conversations

(Source: Unsplash, with edits.)

This is how the Strong Towns Local Conversations program was born:

In early 2018, small groups of people around the U.S. and Canada began coming together locally to talk about how to make their towns and cities safer, more livable, and more financially resilient. These groups self-identified with Strong Towns. We provided them with resources, helped tell their stories in our articles and podcasts, and celebrated with them as they made change in their communities. We also created a map to help other advocates find the closest gathering near them.

Fast-forward to 2022. There are now 126 Local Conversations. Some 200 others are in the process of formation. Thanks to our Strong Towns members, we are now able to devote resources to supporting our Local Conversations as never before. After two-and-a-half years serving as Strong Towns content manager, in January 2022 I transitioned into a new role as full-time community builder. What I’ve come to understand in this role is that, in many ways, Local Conversations are on the front lines of the Strong Towns movement. They actually put into practice the concepts, principles, and approaches that might otherwise be dismissed as merely “interesting ideas.” The interesting ideas some people consider worth thinking about, Local Conversations consider worth doing. And as they are enacting those ideas, Local Conversations are also helping to shape, refine, and grow them. 

Here are just a few things Local Conversations have been working on in 2022:

• They are on the forefront of local efforts to stop highway expansion—and even remove old highways that have, for too long, drained the soul and vitality and prosperity of urban neighborhoods.

• They are leading the charge to end or reduce costly parking minimums.

• They are initiating tactical urbanism projects to slow cars, make streets safer and more productive, bring comfort and dignity to transit riders, and convert excess parking into parklets.

• They got Strong Towns-minded candidates elected to local office. In a number of cases, Local Conversation members ran for office, themselves. 

• They are working to make permanent the pedestrian-only open streets communities fell in love with during the pandemic.

• They are conducting local value-per-acre analyses, which contrast the financial productivity of the traditional development pattern with the financially unproductive suburban development pattern. 

• They are beautifying their cities with street trees and public art.

• They are speaking up at city council meetings, meeting one-on-one with city officials, writing letters to the editor, giving neighborhood walking tours, and hosting street-level “Public Policy Power Hours.”

This really is just a small sample. And, looking ahead, we at Strong Towns see a huge opportunity to bring Local Conversations in as partners on major initiatives like the Crash Analysis Studio, Community Action Labs, and next year’s national gathering in Charlotte.

As community builder, it’s my absolute privilege to work closely with leaders who are starting and running Local Conversations where they live. I sometimes summarize the work I do with Local Conversation leaders in this way:

1. I help connect local leaders with the broader movement.

When a Local Conversation gets up and running, I do two things: First, I add their group to the Local Conversation map. Then, I email everyone on our email list who lives in that city or town to let them know a new Strong Towns local group has started. Sometimes I’m emailing 20 people in a city. Sometimes I email 400. This is one of my favorite parts of my job, because those Strong Towns advocates now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re not alone. 

Another great part of my job is celebrating the work Local Conversations are doing and getting their stories out as widely as possible. Sometimes this is word of mouth, but often it is through the Strong Towns content stream. I love sending my colleague Rachel (the host of our Bottom-Up Revolution podcast) a message in Slack: “I found another possible guest for your show!”

2. I help connect local leaders with resources.

Because Local Conversations are on the front lines of the Strong Towns movement—the vanguard," as our member advocate Norm puts it—we want to help however we can. I get to come alongside Local Conversations, work with them to identify the obstacles they’re facing in their community, and come up with ways to address those challenges. Help comes in a lot of forms. It could be as simple as sending along an article, podcast, e-book, or how-to guide relevant to their work. It might be giving them access to a Strong Towns Academy course or some of our Local Motive sessions. It could be getting on the phone or Zoom to help troubleshoot a problem, or passing along a question to the whole Strong Towns staff. If we have a resource already, I send it. If we don’t, I try to create it. We are planning Local Conversation action guides for each of our five core campaigns.

3. I help connect leaders with each other.

We are putting new energy into connecting Local Conversation leaders with one another. We created a Discord server where organizers can get to know each other better, swap stories, ask and answer questions, share links, and more. We’re doing regular hangouts now, both in Discord and on Zoom. Next month, we are launching a book club for local leaders (we’re starting with the 10th anniversary edition of Walkable City, by Jeff Speck, which releases this week). And next year, we’re going to start monthly discussions with experts on topics like tactical urbanism, value-per-acre analyses, parking reform, community engagement, social media, and more.

This year, we at Strong Towns have also spent a lot of time laying the groundwork for scaling the Local Conversations program in 2023 and beyond. Our goal—entirely within reach—is to have 1,000 active Local Conversations across North America within five years. Not only will all those groups have an impact in their own towns and cities, but, in the broader national conversation about how we grow our communities, we believe 1,000 Local Conversations is unignorable. 

Everything we at Strong Towns do to help start and support Local Conversations—all of it—is made possible by Strong Towns members. In addition, we’ve discovered that Strong Towns members are much more likely than non-members to take actions like running for local office, speaking up at city council meetings, make voting choices based on Strong Towns principles, do tactical urbanism projects, and more. There is a virtuous cycle between becoming a Strong Towns member and taking local action. 

If you’re not a member, please consider becoming one today. Organizing a Local Conversation isn’t for everyone; we all have different roles to play in this movement, and heroes come in all shapes and sizes. But every donation helps expand the Strong Towns movement. Directly and indirectly, you are supporting our Local Conversations, and the incredible work they are doing.

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