Why I quit just being a Strong Towns reader and became a Strong Towns Member
We often get asked, Why should I become a member of Strong Towns? I can already read and listen to your content for free. And that's true. We believe that the change we seek will occur when a million people care enough to share our message with others. Our content needs to be free to everyone. We need people to hear this message.
Strong Towns membership is not about paying money to read some articles or attend a webcast. It's about building a movement for change. By supporting Strong Towns you are supporting that change.
Here are two of our members that want to see change happen in their community and across the country.
"The difference between being a concerned citizen and being an empowered citizen"
Photo from a recent Strong Towns Member Meet-up in Detroit
"Becoming a Strong Towns member has, for me, made the difference between being a concerned citizen and being an empowered citizen. In addition to the abundant, high-quality, self-created content which provides a wealth of insight into the issues facing our communities, Strong Towns does an excellent job leveraging the collective wisdom of its network of members, soliciting member content, purposefully connecting members to each other, and being incredibly responsive to member comments and questions.
"Equally important, Strong Towns' momentum as a force for positive change in our communities continues to increase. In the past year, the organization's investment in staff capacity and the related increase in content and resources has been nothing short of incredible. I am proud to invest in an organization that not only speaks clearly and directly about the issues facing our communities but also provides citizens with a roadmap to help lead the way towards a more viable, resilient, and equitable future. Strong Towns membership has given this average, everyday citizen the language and tools to speak with clarity and confidence to the leaders in my city. Through its membership, the message of Strong Towns is magnified into a true movement, and I have seen in my own city and in the cities of other members with whom I've connected that this movement is making a difference."
~ Jen Smith, Rockford, IL
(Note: Strong Towns is coming to Rockford later this year. Support from our members makes these events possible.)
"A Community That Provides Meaning and Fulfillment"
Photo from a recent Strong Towns Member Meet-up in Detroit
"I became a member of Strong Towns because of Gracen Johnson. More than anything, her posts about coaching new businesses in her community made me want to be a part of what she was doing and to learn how to replicate that for my own community.
"Of course, that gives Gracen too much credit. The work of the Strong Towns contributors and staff, especially Chuck Marohn, has created a network of like-minded people focused on making the places we all live better and more prosperous. This network of like-minded people has created its own community, not based on where we live, but based on shared ideas and goals. It is a community that helps provide meaning and fulfillment, which helps me articulate and refine my ideas on city building and governance, the very things I'm most passionate about in life.
"Without Strong Towns, this community would not exist. If it wasn't for the hard work of Chuck and the rest of the Strong Towns staff, Strong Towns would not exist. And without the Strong Towns membership, Strong Towns would not exist. I am a member of Strong Towns to help ensure this community that I get so much out of can sustain itself."
~Grant Henninger, Anaheim, CA