Coming from relatively prosperous Iowa, I continue to be stunned by the scenes of grinding rural poverty when you get off the freeways and revisit Hwy.
Not to be Pollyannish, but Lyle Muller and I did a series for IowaWatch/Investigate Midwest in 2021-22 about several small towns who are managing to maintain their quality of life despite static population growth. There are several "Shrink Smart" communities working with Iowa State University and the Iowa League of Cities on this. One is Bancroft, where I discovered your grandfather helped build the baseball stadium. :) There's also a very strong rural Mennonite community all around the city of Elma that has helped them quite a bit. Here's the lead story in the series: https://investigatemidwest.org/2021/08/26/small-towns-featured/ Others are on the Investigate Midwest website.
Art Cullen, that is a brilliant idea, giving the dying small towns to immigrants, brilliant! How can it be accomplished? Your bet is so right. They would bring those places back to life.
Not to be Pollyannish, but Lyle Muller and I did a series for IowaWatch/Investigate Midwest in 2021-22 about several small towns who are managing to maintain their quality of life despite static population growth. There are several "Shrink Smart" communities working with Iowa State University and the Iowa League of Cities on this. One is Bancroft, where I discovered your grandfather helped build the baseball stadium. :) There's also a very strong rural Mennonite community all around the city of Elma that has helped them quite a bit. Here's the lead story in the series: https://investigatemidwest.org/2021/08/26/small-towns-featured/ Others are on the Investigate Midwest website.
Art Cullen, that is a brilliant idea, giving the dying small towns to immigrants, brilliant! How can it be accomplished? Your bet is so right. They would bring those places back to life.