THE RURBAN FRINGE

Happy Halloween 2011

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Small Town Tries Economic Development Incentives

Are business incentives a cost-effective strategy to help achieve economic growth?
The town of Denton, North Carolina (pop. 1,650) thinks so.
As part of their Jobs Creation Program, the town hopes to create 150 new jobs over the next five years.  Their plan includes:

Water/Sewer/Trash – Three month grant assistance to approved businesses to help cover water, sewer and trash [...]

What are Sustainable Food Systems?

According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), sustainable food systems are collaborative networks that integrate the production, processing, distribution and consumption of food and waste management. 
They aim to enhance the environmental, economic and social health of a community.
Last year, FCM conducted a survey to find out whether such systems were important to Canadian municipalities.  [...]

Small Businesses Aren’t Everything, They’re the Only Thing

October 16-22 is Small Business Week here in Canada … a time to celebrate the many contributions small businesses make our economy. 
And while the economic recession has taken a toll on many owners and entrepreneurs, small businesses still managed to employ almost half of Canada’s total workforce (that’s over 5 million people, folks) while accounting for over $68 billion [...]

Cultivating Free-Range Communities

Any parents out there?  Great.  Have you heard of the “free-range parenting” movement?  Similar in spirit to free-range farming, the trend bills itself as common sense parenting in uncommonly overprotective times.  That is, to raise self-reliant, confident kids, parents need to open the door to freedom from time-to-time.
Which got me thinking … do we treat our communities the [...]

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