The Strong Towns message speaks to ALL of America
As Communications Director for Strong Towns, I get to see every piece of content that's produced for this website, so I have a keen awareness of what we're covering. And we're covering a lot of ground.
At Strong Towns, we pride ourselves on a perspective that values all of America. We don't focus on big cities or small towns or suburbs. We talk about all of it. We don't focus on the Midwest, or the East Coast or the South. We cover stories across America (and Canada too!). One week we're running a hard-hitting series on a harmful highway project in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the next we're hosting a contest that crowns Traverse City, Michigan the Strongest Town in America.
Looking back at some of our best work from the past twelve months, the geographic diversity in our content is clear. To get just a glimpse, check out this map of just some of the cities and towns we've written about in the last year. Click on the pins to learn more about our coverage of each town and read articles we've written about these places. (Purple pins represent extended series.)
And remember: we publish 60+ articles per month, so this is just a few of our stand-out articles. (You can peruse our full archive here.)
We don't cover towns like Lehigh Acres, Florida or Fitchburg, Wisconsin because we're trying to fulfill some sort of rural quota or understand how Trump got elected (like so many other media sources seem to be doing these days).
We do it because it's what we're about.
We do it because we want every town to become strong, and we believe that strong citizens live all over the continent, not just in big cities. (Although we've got plenty of coverage of amazing places like New York City, San Francisco, and Houston, too).
We do it because we know that Austin and Portland have a great deal in common, and someone from St. Paul can learn a lot from someone in Tulsa.
Our staff, board and writers reflect the geographic diversity of America, too. We hail from places like St. Louis, Missouri and Brainerd, Minnesota and Ranson, West Virginia and Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, to name just a few. We're interested in the stories of Americans who are working to build strong towns wherever they are.
If you have a story, let us know. And if you appreciate our work, support it by becoming a member today. You'll be joining a movement of small town residents from the Midwest, big city people from the East Coast, suburban dwellers from the South, and everyone in between.
(Top image courtesy of Re-Form Shreveport)
Rachel Quednau serves as Program Director at Strong Towns. Trained in dialogue facilitation and mediation, she is devoted to building understanding across lines of difference. Previously, Rachel worked for several organizations fighting to end homelessness and promote safe, affordable housing at the federal and local levels. Rachel also served as Content Manager for Strong Towns from 2015-2018. A native Minnesotan and honorary Wisconsinite, Rachel received a Masters in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Harvard Divinity School and a Certificate in Conflict Transformation from the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium, both in 2020. She currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her husband and young son. One of her favorite ways to get to know a new city is by going for a walk in it.