Friday Faves - Member Week Style!
This week, we’ve celebrated our members and the amazing things they do to make their places stronger and more resilient. To close us out, we’re setting aside our usual staff Friday Faves to instead highlight the voices of just a few of our million local heroes, who shared their thoughts with us this Member Week. If you haven’t yet joined their ranks, it’s not too late! Become a Strong Towns member and be a part of this growing movement.
(Source: Unsplash.)
Here’s what our members were saying this week:
Jeremy Thacker from Phoenix, AZ: Strong Towns has delivered a deeper level and wider breadth of value and insight than I could have ever expected.
Jacob Woodard from Lancaster, OH: The amount of effort that you guys put into this whole movement and such is indescribable, I'm so much happier knowing such wrong exists, even though I live in it, I still think positively of it because I know that I can do something to help, and that is to donate a little bit for the bigger cause! (I even bought your Confessions book!) A big grand applause to you! Thank you, Strong Towns!
Elizabeth Hoenig Kanieski from Port Townsend, WA: Strong Towns is such an effective organization! Smart advocates, tools for change, locally focused and highlighting success stories. If you want to support and participate in needed change to how we do local “development,” become active in Strong Towns!
Corey DiRutigliano from Fairbanks, AK: I am so happy that you guys are doing this work. I live in a community that stands to benefit from a lot of these ideas and I can't thank you enough for putting vocabulary to the solutions, and working to make better public spaces the norm, rather than the exception.
Brett Woslager from Omaha, NE: I think that you guys are doing amazing work. It has really opened my eyes to the planning flaws in the city I live in. It has also made me think that I can become an active part in my community so that I can help make positive changes.
Cooper Frost from Charlotte, MI: Thank you for all the work that you do. I am 23 and I graduated during the pandemic, and because of your book & podcast I found appreciation for the small town that I grew up in resenting. Not only did you help me find appreciation in a time of sacrifice, you also helped me find courage to make my hometown my home again instead of moving to a city in some other land like just about every other person who graduated with me.
Joe Allan Muharsky from Duvall, WA: I have found Strong Towns revolutionary in not just the way I look at and value the world and my place in it, but also the way I approach group coordination and combining top-down governance with bottom-up innovation. Thank you so much for all that you do.
Lisette Cheresson from Beacon, NY: Building strong local communities—through meaningful storytelling and inspirational conversations—is integral to creating a stronger and more engaged populace. Thank you for the work you're doing!
Justin Hummel from Bloomsburg, PA: As Mayor of Bloomsburg, I keep multiple copies of "Strong Towns" in my office to hand out to constituents. I hope to make the "only town in PA" stronger over the next four years.
Sherry Johnson from Saint Paul, MN: In such a polarized time, it's nice to have a relatively non-partisan organization around who helps us find paths forward in our local contexts.
Diane Butler from Annapolis, MD: I am grateful for all the interesting articles, webinars, and content you share. I'm on the local planning commission and many of the ideas are starting to percolate up to our comprehensive planning.
Braden Schmidt from Sheboygan, WI: Thank you for your work. I'm using the many tools you've created to educate and inspire local policy makers and community leaders.
Gina Booth from Marble Falls, AR: Thank you for covering not only smaller cities and also very tiny rural ones that are stressed. I’ve been very impressed with the innovative ideas that I never would’ve thought of myself in a million years.
Jaclyn Nunziato from Butler, NJ: I believe in local and common-sense solutions to the complexity and insecurity of our times. Strong Towns is a resource and inspiration for me to be a better community leader and build a network.
Jain Redmond from Chico, CA: Just found out about your organization this evening and am so lifted to know you exist. The five-part article on the Growth Ponzi Scheme is so relevant to what is happening to my small city. The knowledge you offer gives me the understanding I need to engage in these issues. I wholeheartedly thank you for existing!
Jacob Cote from Red Lodge, MT: Thank you for all you do! I never tire of receiving and sharing the message of the Strong Towns movement, and I look forward to many more years of learning what I can do to build a Strong Town.
Rob Leduc from Calgary, AB: I've been reading and listening to Strong Towns content for the past few months and I continue to be blown away. So much of our development model is broken, and Strong Towns is showing us a better way forward. I want to live in a Strong Town. Thanks for everything.
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Thank you to all our longtime members, and a warm welcome to the new members who joined us this week!