Don’t forget to rate our community

Now is your chance to weigh in on how our community stacks up. If you haven’t already taken this survey, don’t miss this opportunity. Just rate the 11 signs below and mail or email your answers to SCN (address at bottom of page).

According to National Book Award Winner James Fallows, there are “Eleven Signs a City Will Succeed.” (The Atlantic, Mar. 16, 2018.) Our rural community enjoys few economies of scale available to highly populated cities, and our school district encompasses a whopping 125 square miles that extend in multiple townships and counties. But we residents have long considered ourselves part of a united community. In fact, the driving force behind this news publication is the desire to help strengthen our local community through information exchange.

So, are there lessons we might learn from an examination of Fallows’ 11 benchmarks? Let’s find out. You score each measurement, and SCN will compile and publish the results.

Stress Test Vote

Click here to take the survey online.

If the link above doesn’t work for you, please take the survey below by marking a number. 0 is a complete failure to demonstrate; 9 is a completely successful implementation or accomplishment.

1: Divisive national politics seem a distant concern.

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Fallows wrote, “…overwhelmingly the focus in successful towns was not on national divisions but on practical problems that a community could address. The more often national politics came into local discussions, the worse shape the town was in.” To quote Thomas Jefferson, “I never consider a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, or philosphy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friend.”

As food for thought in scoring, readers might ask: Does anyone care whether a volunteer is a Republican or a Democrat? Do I vote in local elections based on party preference or on the caliber of the candidate?

Care to share an example?

2: You can pick out the local patriots.

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“Who makes this town go?” Hint: Answers may vary widely.

Care to share an example?

3: Public-private partnerships are real.

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“…in successful towns, people can point to something specific and say, ‘This is what a partnership means.’”

Care to share an example?

4: People know the civic story.

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Are you able to describe how this community works? Would you say it has a lifestyle? How has our local community morphed and changed over the years?

Care to share an example?

5: They have a downtown.

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The downtown is vital to holding a community together. Do you know where to go for Halloween celebrations? Memorial Day parades? Festivals? Open Market? Prom Promenades?

Care to share an example?

6: They are near a research facility.

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“Research universities have become the modern counterparts to a natural harbor or river confluence. In the short term, they lift the economy by bringing in a student population. Over the longer term, they transform a town through the researchers and professors they attract.”

Care to share an example?

7: They have and care about a community college.

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Care to share an example?

8: They have unusual schools.

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Can you describe special aspects and points of pride in our school system?

Care to share an example?

9: They make themselves open.

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Is the community trying to attract and include new people? Every small town in America has thought about how to offset the natural brain drain that has historically sent its brightest young people elsewhere. The same emphasis on inclusion that makes a town attractive to talented outsiders increases its draw to its own natives.

Care to share an example?

10: They have big plans.

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“If I see a national politician with a blueprint for how things will be better 20 years from now, I think, ‘Good luck!’” But when a Township Supervisor or Village Council President shows a map of future trails, or a healthy town, or civic project, people think they’d like to come back. Communities make plans because they can do things. Do you see big plans in this community?

Care to share an example?

11: They have craft breweries.

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“One final marker, perhaps the most reliable: A city on the way back will have one or more craft breweries, and probably some small distilleries, too. A town that has craft breweries also has a certain kind of entrepreneur and a critical mass of mainly young (except for me) customers. You may think I’m joking, but just try to find an exception.”

Care to share an example?

Name and email (optional):

Please complete and email this form to Stockbridgecommunitynews@gmail.com or snail mail to SCN, P.O. Box 83, Gregory, MI 48137

Thank you for your input.

Source: The Story of Kennett: Shaping our Future One Child at a Time by Joan Holliday and Bob George, 2017.