Strategies from the Rural Shrink Smart Initiative

Join a group of faculty researchers from Iowa State University for this workshop with discussions and interactive activities focused on quality of life in Iowa’s small towns. This workshop builds on five years of engagement by members of the team with a group of shrinking towns in Iowa where residents have been actively and positively working to protect, sustain, and even improve their quality of life even as they experience population loss. With funding from the National Science Foundation, the team has been developing educational resources for people interested in new approaches to building identity and a sense of belonging in small towns. These resources include new digital tools to help more people in small towns use public data and data visualization strategies to communicate with residents and inform community decisions. Social scientists argue that people’s perceptions of quality of life often correlate with the strength of their local relationships, what is called social capital within a community. The team sees this in their collaborating towns where many people participate in community activities, volunteer their time, and help to fundraise for community needs. This workshop will introduce these concepts in more detail and situate them within everyday experiences that contribute to people’s feelings of belonging and being valued. Examples of data tools that might be useful will also be presented, and feedback requested about what other types of data towns may want to have. Attendees will leave with new perspectives on how they can actively contribute to positive quality of life in their own communities and ways to encourage others to join them in these efforts.