The Strong Towns Podcast

In this podcast episode, Rachel Quednau interviews her colleague Kea Wilson about her journey to financial freedom and personal resilience. Kea talks about how she paid off $25,000 in college debt in less than a year and how a mindset of financial frugality and saving over spending has stayed with her since. By finding joy in low-cost, productive, simple activities and adopting a lifestyle aimed at happiness, not consumption, Kea is charting a path of personal and community resilience. We can all learn something from it. This episode is part of an ongoing series about personal resilience. Find more articles in the series here.

Chuck and Rachel begin with some exciting news, then discuss upcoming East Coast events and debt in Puerto Rico (and what it means for all of us). Apologies; we had some issues with Chuck's audio on this one.  Mentioned in this podcast: Planetizen's List of Top 100 Most Influential Urbanists New Haven, CT presentation and meet-up New York City presentation and meet-up "The Spooky Nature of Debt" by Chuck Marohn Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graebe Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment by Ann Sussman Send Rachel your ideas and comments: quednau@strongtowns.org

Chuck Marohn interviews Catherine Fitts, Strong Towns member and founder of the Solari Report. Catherine served as managing director and member of the board of directors of the Wall Street investment bank Dillon, Read & Co. Inc., as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in the first Bush Administration, and was the president of Hamilton Securities Group, Inc.  In this conversation, Catherine discusses her past leadership roles and how that has influenced her outlook on building investment and wealth—not just for individuals—but for communities as a whole. Chuck Marohn was also featured on the Solari Report earlier this year, which you can check out here.

Chuck and Rachel recap a bunch of recent Strong Towns events in Spearfish, SD, Akron, OH, Santa Ana, CA, Pensacola, FL, and Holland, MI. They also discuss Chuck's Monday article, "Rules for the Uncomfortable."

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hosting a webcast for Strong Towns members with Ferguson, MO-based farmer, Molly Rockamann of EarthDance Organic Farm School. This was part of a series we've been doing throughout the last few months about local food. You can find the whole series here. Kea Wilson interviewed Molly about how the farm got started, the challenges and advantages of having a farm in this location, where local food intersects with building Strong Towns and much more.  We're now releasing the audio of the webcast as today's podcast. If you'd like to watch the whole video, just visit our website. Even if you're not looking to become a farmer in the near future, there's still a lot to learn from this discussion. The conversation considers how farmers and non-farmers can be good neighbors to one another, how local food can support a strong local economy, and how regular people can take small steps to participate in local food systems, whether or not you're ready to get down in the dirt and grow something. 

With Chuck on the road, Rachel brings in her colleague Kea Wilson for a special edition of the Week Ahead podcast. Rachel and Kea discuss articles they've recently written and some upcoming projects. They also announce a slackchat they're hosting on Friday and discuss some favorite books. Mentioned in this podcast: "Is your state transportation system broke? Then hit up the Prius drivers!" "False Choices in American Transportation" Event in Pensacola, FL Event in Holland, MI "Four Tips for Better Community Engagement" This Week's Slackchat: Open Resource Sharing with Kea and Rachel Sign up for Slack The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty We Eat Our Young by Kea Wilson Becoming Jane Jacobs by Peter Laurence

Chris Brown is the city engineer for Fayetteville, AR and has been involved in spearheading a tactical urbanism program for the city. In this podcast interview, he talks about the life of a city engineer, his community's desire for safer streets, and how that led the city to start this new program. He also talks about the challenges of such an initiative and how to overcome them. Read more about tactical urbanism in Fayetteville and download a free guide to implementing a tactical urbanism project here.

Houston has taken center stage as a city deeply impacted by Hurricane Harvey, but small towns in Texas were also devastated by this hurricane and resultant flooding. It's often the smaller towns that struggle the most to properly plan and fund their rebuilding efforts because they lack the amount of staff and varied expertise to handle challenges of this magnitude. At Strong Towns, we care about the fate of these communities and we want to help them rebuild in a way that doesn't just repair damage from wind and flood but also makes them stronger towns over the long haul. That's why, together with the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), Local Government Commission, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, we are supporting Collaborative Communities' efforts to deploy Free Assistance Support Teams (FAST) to small communities affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.  Through the FAST program, municipal governments will receive free assistance to ensure they have the necessary tools and information to adequately prepare for the FEMA Project Worksheet process. The goal is for this model to become a national program that can be applied in future disasters to help towns grow strong for years to come. Want to learn more about this effort and how you can get involved? In this short podcast conversation with Laura Clemons, who is leading the program, you'll hear about her organization, what they're doing in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, and how you can help. Visit this page to sign up to volunteer for or donate to this effort.

Chuck Marohn interviews Chris Arnade, who writes for the Guardian, has a PhD in particle physics from Johns Hopkins and previously worked as a bond trader in New York City. Arnade has spent the last several years documenting addiction and poverty in towns across America.  In this interview, he discusses why walking in neighborhoods that he was told not to visit in New York led him away from trading and toward his current role as a writer. He talks about a life getting to know people on the margins of society—people living in poverty and dealing with addiction—and the struggles of small towns in America. You can find Chris Arnade writing and sharing photos often on Medium.

In this short bonus podcast, Chuck interviews Kevin Shepherd, a Strong Towns sponsor and principal at VERDUNITY about the new group he has formed with others in the planning and development sphere called Cultivate Collaborative which will help to apply Strong Towns concepts on a practical level. Kevin also discusses the group's first event in Frisco, TX on November 4 featuring Chuck Marohn and Monte Anderson. Learn more about the event and sign up.