Darn Good Places: People

Focus on people

The thing about Chamber of Commerce organizations and Downtown revitalization groups is that they are often staffed by the same small circle of influential people that have worked with other non profits, served on city council, worked in the public sector most of their lives. In smaller cities oftentimes jobs in this sector are scarce so these people are very territorial of their job and their willingness to raise up or encourage new people with fresh ideas to have a platform has its limits because they feel threatened by this person.

As a creator/doer myself, it was hard to get any support or encouragement for my projects even though I was sacrificing my own wellbeing to make the city better. I had to shoestring budget and leverage my own financial wellbeing to do things such as throw festivals, bring murals to the city, do transportation projects with no financial support of any of the organizations that were supposed to be encouraging these types of activities.

It is so important to get to know the people in your city that are doers/creators and make sure you support them and make it sustainable for them to continue to do what they do and help them to advance into making money/monetizing their skillset so they can stay in your city and set an example for other people. Otherwise these people hit a breaking point and leave for a city that is more supportive and has the infrastructure whether it be capital (venture funds), a population with more income that can pay for live music etc.