Smart Communities

Regional Clusters and Rural Development

You may have heard about business clusters which economists can use to identify areas or regions with a concentration of knowledge, skill, or production in a particular field or specialty.  Identifying clusters is one way in which the initial stages of regional development can be organized.  There is no standardized methodology for establishing what a cluster is, how it benefits a region, and whether some types of clusters are more beneficial than others but this certainly doesn't mean the concept can't be helpful to any discussion of development.

A publication released in January of this year called "Unlocking Rural Competitiveness: The Role of Regional Clusters" offers a good introduction to clusters, how they can be identified, and how rural regions can use this concept to inform their development efforts.  There is a full report version and a shorter tri-fold brochure released by the Purdue Center for Regional Development, both focus on the work done at Purdue to define clusters and explain their applicability to rural development.  There is a website that has all the information you need to get started including PDFs of the report by section, access to the data that was utilized, and links to more information on clusters.

If you previously had not heard about clusters, or found the concept too technical or intimidating, then this report might be a good place to start.

Seminar Brochure and FAQ

Interested in Smart Communities seminars?  We recently produced a brochure describing the seminars and just today we put the finishing touches on a document answering frequently asked questions about the seminars.  Here are links to each:

* Brochure for Smart Communities seminars
* Frequently Asked Questions about Smart Communities seminars

We tried to answer as many of your questions as possible but if we missed anything please drop us a line and let us know.

Latest Wiki Collaborators - The Promise of Roanoke

One of the most recent contributions to our dropout prevention wiki has been the Promise of Roanoke which added a section on how they're organizing as a community to improve public education.  This effort boasts a large, broad-based group of residents willing to contribute their time and intellectual capital to an initiative that is well-planned and organized.  One look at their multi-phase action plan should be enough to convince you that this is a community taking smart steps toward ensuring the best possible education for their young people.  A big 'thank you' to Chuck for his work here.

Best Place to Live? It's All How You Cut It

This year we've already made note of lists of the best places to live in the United States and Canada.  These are but two of the many ways in which to classify "best places to live" and today's blog entry is devoted to some of those that we missed:

* We were wondering whether rural areas were going to get the short shrift from the "Best of" lists but then we found The Progressive Farmer's "Best Places to Live in Rural America".  Topping the list is Barren County, Kentucky which boasts a rich history with an abundance of business opportunities and received high marks for accessibility to health care and a sound education for young people.  The rest of the top ten isn't too shabby, either, and the website contains links to more information on relocating to each featured locale.

* Relocate America, a web service providing community information to those looking to relocate, publishes its own Top 100 list of "Best Places to Live" and this year's winner was Asheville, North Carolina.  This particular list accepts nominations, a methodology that is not empirically-based but yields a different array of top-notch communities for users to consider.

* International Living's annual Global Retirement Index and Quality of Life Index rate and rank countries for retirees and other English language speakers looking to live abroad.  In 2006 the magazine named Panama as the best place to retire based on generous discounts for retirees, low cost of living, beautiful landscape, and other, similar sorts of criteria.  France was picked that same year as having the highest quality of life with Australia a close second.  This is the perfect list for those who didn't find what they wanted on their home country's "Best of" list.

* If you're an action-oriented person who is "on the go" then you might want to consider National Geographic's list of "Best Adventure Towns" in America.  Categories like "Adventure Cities", "Cultural Hubs", and "Beach Towns" are the way to browse through this list of unranked locations.

Those who are looking for still more insight into the creation of "Best of" lists can read more about Bert Sperling, the author of "Cities Ranked and Rated".  Otherwise we will put the "Best of" lists behind us for a while and move on to other topics tomorrow.

Healthy Cities, Healthy Children

There are new efforts to bring fresh produce to underserved North Philidelphia according to an article in the New York Times.  For those who are unfamiliar with the struggle to bring fresh produce into the "food deserts" of urban America the Times article will be a real eye-opener.  Concerns such as infrastructure, safety, and public transportation require a truly community effort to bring in the markets and keep them running.  If you know a little something about food deserts and like new technologies then take a shot at cleaning-up the Wikipedia entry for the term, it's pretty messy.

A nice complement to new produce markets would be an initiative like the Massachusetts Avenue Project in Buffalo, NY that offers programs teaching young people how to grow fresh food and helps support food entrepreneurs through a micro-enterprise development project.

In other news on the urban front, a member of our advisory board will be on Smart City Radio this week.  Dr. Heather Weiss of the Harvard Family Research Project will be speaking with host Carol Coletta about young families started in cities and the decision to move to the 'burbs.  She will be joined by two gentlemen who have just graduated from the Institute of Design in Chicago.  Here is a list of stations that carry Smart City Radio, you can always download an MP3 or podcast of the broadcast if you missed it on the airwaves.

Promoting Arts as one Element of Thriving Communities

A new study by Americans for the Arts documents the impact of arts and cultural events on economic development in communities.  The full report on all 156 communities will be released on Wednesday, June 6th but a summary of the findings can be found on the Americans for the Arts website.

The report, billed as "the most comprehensive study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted", looks substantive and impressive.  The Americans for the Arts website also has some great resources to help promote greater funding for arts and cultural events in communities.  Among those tools are a downloadable Powerpoint presentation and, better yet, an "Arts and Economic Prosperity Calculator" that allows users to calculate the impact that investments in the arts make in their communities.  The calculator is a neat tool that requires very little information from the user and yields some simple outcomes that demonstrate well the impact that an investment in arts and cultural events can yield.

There is a lot of information available on the Americans for the Arts website but if you're looking to promote the arts as an economic driver in your community then you will find this site, including the new report and the calculator, to be extremely useful.

Offer to Assist Wiki Newbies

Are you a "newbie" to wiki's?  Afraid to even mention that you don't know what a wiki is, how it might be useful, or how it can help you collaborate with others?  Maybe it is the thought of posting an article on the web that intimidates you?  Never fear, we're here to help.

This summer we're offering one-on-one assistance to those interested in using the Learning to Finish wiki to collaborate on solutions to the dropout crisis.  We understand that new technologies are intimidating at first but can be extremely rewarding further on down the road.  We'll help you overcome any initial trepidation you might feel about participating on a wiki by answering any question (no matter how small) and offering technical assistance to get you pushed to the top of the learning curve as quickly as possible.

If interested, please contact us at mail (at) pew-partnership.org and let us know some of your questions and how you might like to use the wiki to post what you know or how you might use it to collaborate.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Communities Lose When Editorial Cartoons Disappear

We're all familiar with editorial cartoons, anyone who has perused a paper and landed on the editorial page can get an immediate sense of what's important to the paper's leadership by way of these cartoons.  In what is often the most pithy and biting statement a newspaper can offer, editorial cartoons communicate much with little.

Despite a seemingly important role to play for print news the Columbia Journalism Review reports that editorial cartoonists are becoming an endangered species.  In the last half century the number of editorial cartoonists has dwindled from 257 to 84, a trend which prompted the Review to note that "a baby born today is roughly five times more likely to play in the NBA than draw full-time for a newspaper."

Editorial cartoonists have not only played an important role as motivating commentators on social and political issues throughout our nation's history but also continue to do so today.  In fact, John Trever of the Albuquerque Journal recently had a cartoon syndicated that perfectly captures what's at stake for communities with regard to the dropout crisis.  It would be a shame to lose any more of this sort of commentary that entertains readers even as it informs them.

Baby Boomers Want to Make a Difference

A new study from the Rose Community Foundation in Denver found that adults 55 to 65 in the Denver metro area want to do some meaningful in their lives and want a “connecting” point to help them find their involvement. While they want to work with nonprofit groups, they felt that there needs to be improvement in how volunteers programs are run. Finally, respondents said that access to health-care benefits would influence what that would and could do in the next stage of their lives.

While this is a snapshot of one community, my guess is that it is reflective of all communities. This is particularly important for places that bill themselves as "retirement" communities. There is a wealth of talent and resources becoming available with few places thinking about how these assets can contribute most effectively. Kudos to the Rose Community Foundation for this important work that will inform all communities.

History and Civics Scores Show Improvement

In scorecards released this week from the National Assessment of Educational Progress scores for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders are improving in history across the board and 4th graders know more civics than in previous years. According to the report, two out of three American children have at least a basic knowledge of civics. This is all good news and bodes well on a number of fronts. Our children's reading proficiency has likely improved in the lower grades, there is a re-emphasis on history and civics, and something is working. While the improvement lessened as it moved up the grades, this overall is very positive.

Why is this important? While math and reading scores are the ones that garner the most media attention, the civics and history competencies have as much to do with our global competitiveness as the first two. We need a citizenry that understands not only our system of government but America’s role in the world historically and currently. We need a citizenry that knows, as 75 percent of our 4th graders do that only citizens can vote (and hopefully the importance of voting), or as 63 percent of our 8th graders do what abuse of political power looks like, or as 67 percent of our 12th graders do the ideas that fueled the Great Society program.

We have a rich civic and historical context that will guide decisions and priorities over the next century. The more people understand where we have been, the better able they will be to guide us where we need to go.