Here's How *You* Can Help Heroes in Your Community

Presenting the Strongest Town Award at Lockport, Illinois. Image via Vincent David Johnson.

Last month I was in Lockport, Illinois, celebrating them and their many accomplishments. You may recall that Lockport was named the 2021 Strongest Town, and deservedly so. I was impressed with the leadership, inside and outside of the local government, and the innovative things they have done to deal with the many challenges they face. We’re going to have a Lockport Week here at some point this summer where we share what we’ve learned from them.

This week is our member drive, and I start with Lockport because they are a case study in how this whole Strong Towns project is supposed to work. I’m going to oversimplify, but the story I heard over and over again during my time there is the one we at Strong Towns have heard for years. It’s a 5-part story that proceeds like this:

• Part 1: We had a community challenge and the standard solution just seemed like the wrong way to go. 

• Part 2: We went looking for alternatives and found Strong Towns.

• Part 3: We immersed ourselves in all things Strong Towns and had a conversion-like experience in our thinking.

• Part 4: We are now rethinking everything about how our community works, seeking more and more ways to introduce a Strong Towns approach.

• Part 5: We are telling everyone we run into—our public officials, our citizens, our business owners, our neighboring cities—about Strong Towns, what we are doing differently now, and how well it’s working for us.

There are two things in this story I want to highlight. First, recognize who the hero of this story is. It’s you. It’s people who are here reading, listening to, and watching Strong Towns. It’s the people taking our courses. It’s the people downloading resources and asking questions in the Action Lab. It’s the people hosting and attending Strong Towns events. 

It’s the people in Lockport who are doing all the hard work. They are the ones facing the tough challenges and making difficult decisions. They are the ones experimenting and figuring things out. They are the ones doing meetings and their own curbside chats to build consensus for change. 

Our members are the heroes.

Here’s the second thing I want to highlight: Look at the small bit of help our heroes need to do amazing things. 

All we do here is share ideas. We create content. We share that content as broadly as possible. We help people take action. That’s the core of our strategic plan. It’s what we do.

This is the Year of Action, twelve months where we are focusing on what it takes to help the 2.5 million people who will visit this site this year do what they can to make theirs a Strong Town. The Year of Action could just as easily be the Year of Heroes—that’s what is really happening. We’re watching heroes take action.

Today, there is one special thing you can do to make all of this possible: you can become a member of Strong Towns. Membership is the way our 501(c)(3) non-profit organization accepts your tax-deductible donation. It’s the way you join with others to support thousands of heroes. It’s the way we all grow a movement to bring about a bottom-up revolution for change.

We have members who give $5 a year. We have others who give $250 per month. Whatever level is comfortable for you, this week we ask you to help us reach more heroes. This week we ask you to be a hero and to support other heroes, in your community and around the world.

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