Introduction I had the opportunity to talk about social media and social networking for small businesses today, for the Keokuk County Small Business Network, a monthly event put on by the Sigourney Area Development Corporation (SADC). Sigourney and Keokuk County Attendees Attendees included Doug Glandon, Mayor of the City of Sigourney, Angela Clark, City Clerk…
Category: Economic and Community Development
Building a Membership Association
Introduction Membership associations or organizations are groups of like-minded people who join together in order to receive certain benefits like networking, access to events, training and others. Examples of membership organizations include trade associations, like the American Farm Bureau, service clubs like the Rotary, and geographically-bound organizations like Chambers of Commerce or economic development agencies….
How to Raise Municipal Revenues While Reducing Inequality
Introduction Municipalities are funding their budgets pushed to the brink. In many communities, the tax base is declining (Augustine, Bell, Brunori & Youngman, 2009) while the amount of services expected by residents is staying the same, or even increasing. In some cases, functions formerly performed by the state or federal governments are being “downloaded” to…
The Importance of Open Data in Municipal Governments
Introduction “Open data” describes the provision of datasets describing activities from a company, organization, or government for public use. (Josefin, 2019) Open data can be provided by scientists (who probably pioneered the concept), but also by cities, companies and others who wish for others to have access to the data they produce to ensure that…
Building a Pocket Park in Sigourney Iowa
Introduction Pocket parks are parks that are under 0.2 acres in size. (National Recreation and Park Association, n.d.) They are the smallest size of park, often located in commercial areas or in between houses in residential areas. There is research support to the idea that pocket parks can raise property values (Mwende, 2018), in addition…