Sarah Rose is an artist from Spokane, Washington, who uses her art to raise awareness about street safety and the protection of native insects. She is active in her city’s Local Conversation, Spokane Reimagined, and often speaks with local reporters and at city council meetings. She joins Tiffany on this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution to talk about how the intersection of advocacy and art is driving change in Spokane. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Local Recommendations: Pacific to Palouse Wine Bar Page 42 Bookstore Zola “One Block Revolution” by Summer Hess Connect with Sarah Rose: Instagram Website Spokane Reimagined (Website) Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram) Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Hannah Rechtschaffen, Director of the Greenfield Business Association, shares her insights on fostering community pride in Greenfield, Massachusetts. She discusses the town’s initiatives to enhance local engagement and proudly compete in the Strongest Town contest. The conversation highlights the balancing act between preserving local culture and embracing economic growth, alongside the vital role of local businesses in community success. Rechtschaffen emphasizes the importance of celebrating local history and events to strengthen connections within the town.

Kip Santos is a trained civil engineer and construction manager who quit his job to build Local Conversations full-time. Now he splits his time between the U.S. and Canada, nurturing the groups he's founded and building missing middle housing In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Santos talks about what inspired him to quit his job, what his different groups are working on, and how he became an small-scale developer. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES The Strong Towns National Gathering is coming to Providence this June! Get your ticket today. Local Recommendations: Nitro Coffee Bar East Bay Bike Path Providence Athenaeum  Del’s Lemonade Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram) Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Sean Hayford Oleary, a city council member in Richfield, Minnesota, discusses his advocacy for housing reform and community development. He shares insights on legalizing duplexes and revising zoning laws to combat housing shortages. Oleary highlights Richfield's success in becoming a stronger town, notably making it to the Sweet 16 in the Strongest Town Contest. The conversation also emphasizes the importance of community engagement and citizen involvement in creating safer, more accessible neighborhoods.

Montana Gau is the founder of Strong Denver, a Local Conversation in Colorado. A software engineer by trade, he built the group into a registered nonprofit with a board of directors and several hundred members. Now, city officials are reaching out to the group for collaboration on a variety of initiatives. In this episode of the The Bottom-Up Revolution, Gau joins Tiffany to discuss Strong Denver’s origins and where the group is now. He talks about how his role shifted as the group grew, from advocating “on the ground” to creating a space where others can more effectively advocate, and the new challenges and opportunities he has because of it. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Local Recommendations: Rino Neighborhood South Broadway Washington Park Irish Rover Pub  Strong Denver (Twitter/X) Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram) Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Travis Goedken is the city manager of Decorah, Iowa. In this Bottom-Up Short, he joins Norm to talk about a few of the practices and reforms that are making Decorah strong, including making its budgeting easier to understand for residents, embracing a highly collaborative planning process, and opening up new housing options by finding creative loopholes in restrictive state laws. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Feeling inspired? Vote for Decorah in the Strongest Town Contest! Travis Goedken (LinkedIn) Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Ryan Andrews is the CFO of Hiatus Homes, a small-scale development company in Bend, Oregon. He is also the CFO of the Hiatus Capital Fund, which helps Bend locals invest in development projects in their own community. He’s managed more than 20 investment funds and syndications across real estate debt, equity and venture capital, and he specializes in capitalizing construction and development projects. In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Andrews discusses the importance of local investment and explains how to fund small-scale development in a way that channels profits back to locals, instead of outside investors. He and Tiffany discuss the success this model is having in Bend and how it could be replicated in other cities. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Feeling inspired? Vote for Bend in the Strongest Town Contest! Local Recommendations: Crosscut Pub Mount Bachelor Community Inc. Hear more about Hiatus Homes: “The Bottom-Up Revolution Is...Making a Big Impact With Tiny Homes” (podcast) Hiatus Homes (website) Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram) Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

David Jenkins, a city councilor in La Plata, Maryland, delves into the importance of making municipal finances accessible to residents. He discusses innovative practices for transparent budgeting that empower community participation. Jenkins shares his insights on the challenges of fiscal communication and calls for the establishment of citizen finance committees. He emphasizes the need for effective auditing and long-term planning as cities grow, encouraging stronger community engagement through financial literacy.

Dr. Jonathan Gingrich is a professor of engineering at Dordt College in Iowa. A trained chemical and environmental engineer, he started teaching transportation engineering due to staffing shortages. Unsatisfied with the standard materials required for the class, he incorporated the book "Confessions of a Recovering Engineer" by Chuck Marohn into his curriculum and had his class conduct a Crash Analysis Studio. In this episode of The Bottom-Up Revolution, Dr. Gingrich shares how his unusual background helped him see past engineering codes and look for a better way to design streets. He explains the logistics of incorporating crash analysis and safe street design into the classroom, as well as the benefits it had for his students. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES Local Recommendations: Dordt College The Fruited Plain Casey’s Bakery Learn more: Crash Analysis Studio "Confessions of a Recovering Engineer" by Chuck Marohn “How One Professor is Inspiring the Next Generation of Transportation Engineers” Tiffany Owens Reed (Instagram) Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here!

Josh Stewart is an advocate from Littleton, Colorado. A year ago, his 12-year-old son was struck and killed by a car while biking to school. Since then, Josh has been relentlessly pushing for safer streets in his community. He joins Norm in this Bottom-Up Short to share his story and what he’s learned over the last year of advocacy work. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “The Cost of an Extra Foot” (article) “Large Trucks Need Better Street Design” (article) Learn more about the Crash Analysis Studio model for responding to and preventing car crashes. Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn) Do you know someone who would make for a great The Bottom-Up Revolution guest? Let us know here! Subscribe to The Bottom-Up Revolution on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Podbean or via RSS.