CNU 21: Closing Plenary
It is a great honor to be asked to speak at the closing plenary. Thank you for all of those that stuck around. I've attached the slides for those of you that would like them and will be uploading the audio in a future podcast.
Strong Towns began as a blog. We still publish three times a week (at least). We also have a podcast that you can get weekly from our site and also through iTunes. We started a TV channel (inspired by Steve Mouzon's OG.tv) which can be accessed through our site or on YouTube.
This year we started the Strong Towns Network, a social space for those of you interested in discussing how to implement Strong Towns (and CNU) principles in the trenches at the local level. If you signup (free) you'll see a lot of familiar names.
We have many other initiatives going, but the most popular one is our Curbside Chat program. We've held these community conversations in over a hundred places across the continent. It is a game-changer. If you are interested in hosting one in your community, we have a signup form where you can get a hold of us.
At CNU 21 we made the announcement to our NextGen friends, and will make it here as well, that long time CNU member Jim Kumon has joined Strong Towns as Executive Director. If you have a question, a project or something you'd like to engage Strong Towns with, he's the go to guy. You can email him at jkumon@strongtowns.org or give him a call at 218-828-3064.
I hope you'll explore our site a little bit, but if you'd like quick hit, here are a few of the most popular posts we've developed:
- Conversation with an Engineer (video)
- The Curbside Chat (booklet)
Finally, I planned to put together the long list of my CNU friends that I need to thank for encouraging me, supporting me, gently critiquing my work and inspiring me to go further. As I worked on that list, it not only got enormous, but I kept thinking of other obvious people I had failed to include. My fear of overlooking someone is going to keep me from publishing that list here, but to my friends and colleagues: so many thanks. I know that I've taken no steps alone. Thank you for all you do.
Strong Towns is a 501(c)3 non profit organization. If you want to help us share this message and have the means, please consider supporting our work.