MASON CITY, IA-It's not the easiest time to be a small town or city in America.
Leaders are faced with shrinking populations ... And less jobs for those who do stay in town, but that isn't stopping folks from fighting back - and doing what they can to freshen things up.
That's why community members in Mason City are inviting a non-profit organization out of Minnesota into the town ... For what they're calling a "curbside chat".
It's a presentation and community discussion put on by the non-profit group "Strong Towns"
Their goal is to educate town leaders across America and to change their way of thinking when it comes to running a town.
And they are presenting some of those strategies to Mason City community members.
Mason City leaders are getting some new insight on how their community can be stronger.
Executive Director of Main Street Mason City Marty Walsh said, "To see how we're doing things and how they might differ if we look at things not just from a different point of view, but also fiscal responsibility for the city and the long-term development."
Executive Director of “Strong Towns” Charles Marohn has studied the way cities grow and develop and has some advice.
He says first - towns need to learn how to keep their finances in order, and make sure those good habits continue over a long period of time.
Marohn said, "We say a strong town is a place that can pay their bills a decade from now...30 years, 50 years from now. Very few cities actually sit down and look at their financial sustainability over a longer cycle than that."
He also says - it's about going back in time, and looking to how the country used to be run.
One way to do that is to make sure the town has resources and a tax base to cover those long-term financial commitments
Marohn said, "Officials need to look beyond just getting a project done and putting it together, but look at how do we make this viable over multiple life cycles and that's a completely different approach then we've taken for really two generations."
Then take a look at your people ... and make sure the town has a balance both in population ... And age.
Marohn adds, "How do we not necessarily try to get this surge of young people, but how do we create an economy, a framework for our city that balances that out so that as our population naturally ages there's this replacement and rejuvenation and the place will sustain itself into the future."
Marohn said there's no "quick fix" to make a town stronger.
He says it took a long time to get where we are, so it will take a long time to get back to where we should be.
