Youth Exodus to Art Epicentre?

What kind of future should a struggling rural town choose? In the town of Green River, Utah, population 950, a nonprofit called Epicenter aims to use art and architecture to bring youthful new energy, life, and economic development to the community, as Jeffrey Brown reports in this PBS video.  

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Youth Attraction: Rural Challenges, Successes

Youth attraction strategies are necessary

    Introduction We have become a culture of nomads. “Where do you come from?” is a question we now routinely ask one another because we rarely expect the answer to be “here.” Discovering where someone comes from tells us about who they are and what their story is — but we never ask, “When…

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Kimberley Embraces the Great Outdoors!

Kimberley embraces outdoor businesses

  Anyone who has visited the South Island New Zealand town of Queenstown knows that building a local economy around outdoor adventure activities can work — and work well — for a small mountain town, boosting the local economy and attracting large numbers of youthful creative types, some of whom decide to stay. Many alpine…

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Decline of Greyhound Service Mirrors Rural Canada’s Plight

Declien of Greyhound big deal in western Canada

What does the decline of Greyhound service have to say about the current state of affairs in rural Canada generally. Will Doig of The Guardian files this report.     It’s 10 to midnight when the Winnipeg-bound Greyhound bus swings off of the empty highway and into a dirt lot illuminated by a single street…

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Canal Flats Is Electric!

Canal Flats rebounds!

Canal Flats fell on hard times. When our communities’ circumstances change, we need to find new ways to prosper. Canal Flats was a lumber town; it’s primary employer was a sawmill. When that mill closed in November of 2015 it threw 75 people out of work and decimated the town’s economy. Many people, grown children,…

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Here to Stay

BC Rural Centre
BC Rural Centre
Here to Stay
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In this CBC podcast, host Manusha Janakiram looks at how Canada’s smallest, often remote communities are not just striving to survive — but to thrive!    

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Rural Renewal Contest a Rousing Success!

  When the BC Rural Centre launched its Escape the City contest in the early Spring, the provincial non-profit focused on helping rural communities and First Nations identify ways of tackling their most vexing challenges & seize their opportunities, held its organizational breath. Were there really any big city Millennials out there actually interested in…

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Small Town Canada Strives to Survive

Small towns strive to survive

Here’s an informative report by CBC on how rural Canadians are striving to cope with change in the 21st century.  TRANSFORMATION How Canada’s small towns are trying to survive and thrive in changing times All summer CBC News will showcase communities adapting to demographic and other changes Chris Iorfida · CBC News · Posted: Jul 09, 2018 4:00 AM…

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Young City Couple “Escape the City”!

Young rural couple "escape the city"!

Rochelle and Jean-Michel Longval are typical young urbanites. Or are they? Both are professionals. They have no children, an extremely cute dog named Geo, and a nice home in a leafy Calgary neighbourhood. Life for the Longvals would seem to be idyllic. There’s only one catch: they long to escape the city! With some help…

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Escape the City Winners Announced!

Escape the City winners, the Stober family

It’s like a law of physics — you know, for every action an equal reaction. As our major centres grow ever larger and more congested, attracting young people from rural areas with the promise of jobs and, well, glitter and glamour, an increasing number of youngish city folk are starting to look longingly at BC’s…

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