Rural/Urban Mobility

For rural communities, dealing with youth migration to cities has been like taking a spoonful of penicillin; we just plugged our noses and swallowed. And, while movement out of rural areas has been tracked as a key metric to measure sustainability, it’s also a reality that we’ve come to accept as we’ve tried to slow the flow and manage the impact on our communities.

Here is one common mobility story:

A New “old” Call to Action

Women and children first.

We’ve all heard this line in movies; it’s called the “motto of the sea” and it’s a code of conduct dating back to 1852, meant to protect the most vulnerable in a dire situation.

Where women were considered the most vulnerable in 1852, we are still arguably among the most vulnerable in society today — economically, professionally, socially, and politically. And I hate saying that because, as an entrepreneur, I find it almost impossible to reconcile the statistics with my entrepreneurial mindset of “we can do anything.” …

Rural on Purpose started with a manifesto — not a business plan, not a political platform and not a funding application. A clear manifesto.

I’ve worked in all three sectors (public, private and nonprofit). I understand each perspective and value proposition. But I wanted to work on solving problems in a different way. So, for the last 3 1/2 years my cofounder and I have been building something — never quite sure what to call it, or how it fit, or where it belonged.

Rural on Purpose — from there to here

It started with a manifesto.

Next came a lot of writing: articles, blogs, social media posts…

Is it time to stop using the terms “top-down” and “bottom-up” altogether in our community building discussions?

When we use these terms, we are typically proposing a reversal of a strategy that sees “experts” or people in positions of power dictating and directing development of some kind. The intention is to create a more user-focused system where the direction comes from “the people” and is supported, not controlled, by those in power.

I don’t know if the etymology of the language ever actually espoused the “top-down” approach to anything; I suspect the terms were created to describe the need for…

Just like that, rural communities have gone from being uninteresting and irrelevant, with headlines and editorials only a year ago proposing “community closure schemes,” to headlines today predicting a “rural boom” and the “de-urbanization” of entire countries.

The pandemic has resulted in a crystallization of urban discontent. Safety, space, balance and wellbeing are presumably to be found in smaller communities.

Since 2017 my own presentations have included this slide:

It’s that time again — when we talk about the importance of life-long learning. January is the start of a new year and an opportunity to set goals and make plans to learn something new.

Life, however, is not that orderly and learning doesn’t always start with a course catalogue or finish with a graduation.

Life-long learning is about much more than taking a woodworking course or a few lessons in Spanish. Of course self-improvement is important, but our effort is also being channeled into other areas that results in (often deep) personal learning.

Consider the topics about which you…

When you are thrust into a stressed healthcare system as the family member of a seriously ill patient you feel vulnerable and helpless. It’s easy enough to believe you’ve lost all agency in a system where you are not an expert and you have to rely on others to make critical decisions for you and those you love.

Do not abdicate your agency.

Understand this:

A healthcare system can be defined as the method by which healthcare is financed, organized, and delivered to a population. It includes issues of access (for whom and to which services), expenditures, and resources (healthcare workers and facilities). …

There has to be a first for every successful venture. And doing anything for the first time takes initiative and courage to overcome the requisite doubt and fear. This is the mantra of our startup systems and our leadership recruitment and, really, anything that is worthwhile in our lives.

Just Do It.

Start before you are ready.

DFL>DNF>DNS

So, what’s more important to a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem than getting more people to START things?

Doing it for the SECOND time.

Doing the thing for the first time IS a milestone marker, but experiencing the rawness of that first, flawed attempt…