Our Towns

Basics

• A book by James Fallows and Deborah Fallows
• Copyrighted 2018-2019
• Details their journey through the USA to study how troubled communities are fixing their issues
• It also discusses the inverse relationship of national and local politics; National Cooperation goes down, local Cooperation goees up

10 / 10.5 Things Needed for a Community to Thrive

1. Divisive national politics seem a distant concern

IE Local projects are not halted by national politics

1. You can pick out the local patriots

Obious leaders

1. “Public-private partnerships” are real

non corrupt publi-private partnerships are commonplace

1. People know the civic story

united message + goal is had + widely understood

1. They are near a research university
2. They have, and care about, a community college
3. They have unusual schools

Ie ones with out of the box methods, special facilities (makerspaces), job training etc

1. They make themselves open
2. They have big plans

Big ideas but also long term thinking, which they pointed out as being easier at a local level than the national level

1. They have craft breweries

Application to OSE

• 5-7 are similar to the OSE Club and OSE Campus Ideas

Useful Links

• Wikipedia Page on James Fallows
• An "Atlantic" article on the Signs a City Will Succeed