SAVING THE small TOWN

[Muttley]

I'm afraid my small town is going to get smaller. We have lost the elevator's and a number of business's in town.

How do we stop it all? Young people are still leaving after school to live elsewhere. There appears to be no reason to live here unless your from here!!!

Many workers that do live here would leave in a heart beat if better employment can be found. We used to think we were close enough to the cities to get retired folks to move here. That appears to have been a dream as they are not moving in like we all hoped.

How do we compete with everything that large centers offer? Living the quiet life in the country is just not enough of a draw.

[carebear300]

I know exactly what you mean Muttley. The same thing is happening all over rural sask. I don't know what can be done. It seems to me it all started years ago things were way to good in the small towns and anybody that had a knew idea that needed some help getting started was basically made fun of. Those people aren't there any more they moved and their creative talents went with them. Just a few years I remember when our final remaining implement dealer closed in our town that I was worried over nothing and that somebody would come in and start a new business. That just doesn't happen you have to work hard to keep these small towns viable and most of them have deteriorated too much and are beyond help. I wish I could be more optimistic. Hope you have a happy new year muttley, always enjoy your comments.

[dolin]

hi i live 200 milles at north of the quebec city and it is happen here too. dolin

[jensco]

Coming from western Manitoba, the local CDC is working on trying to maintain and grow the small town near me. However, so far the maintainance part is a struggle. We happen to have an ethanol plant, so, with the new expansions we have an advantage. As far as what can be done, rural areas need to keep trying new ideas and perservere. It is truly an uphill road right now, but we have to make it a priority or we will surely lose more small rural towns.

All the best in 2003!

[karlevans]

Hi, Muffey, et al
Your concern about your small town is a familiar one all around the world. Maintaining or even growing a decent community in a small town is not an easy task. In some ways it is quite similar to that of a larger town or city, but in some ways it is different.
I have studied the matter in isolated and low income rural communities for many years. I now speak and teach about this. There are some things to do.
First, work on self esteem. Be proud of your own community. Build up each other.
Second, build up what institutions you have remaining... school, church, garden club, koffee klatch, co-op, whatever. Make sure they are focusing on leading the community. They must lead and teach in organization, creativity, marketing, communication, etc.
Third, get serious about recruiting people to come and live in your community. Help them with their dreams.
Fourth, Purchase things locally as much as possible. If you have a local store, buy everything you can through it. If you have a local church, attend there rather than going off to a megachurch fifty miles away. Convince a doctor to open a branch office in your town, then use it. etc, etc.
Next, put some money where your mouth is. If you want people to live in your town, offer cut rate or free land or services for residences.
Next, make sure you are all operating with a dream of the future. Talk about what you want. Write it out. Have community meetings. You can use a local church to spearhead this, or a fraternity or other social club. Just do it.

I could go on and on, but that's enough for now. Maybe I will have the chance to come to your area this summer and talk about it some more.

Have a great day in your community.

Karl Evans