National Speaker, Author Visits Ludington for Strong America Tour
Charles Marohn is the president of nonprofit Strong Towns. He’s going coast-to-coast providing cities like Ludington the tools they need to succeed.
“Part of what we do at Small Towns is give people a sense of, ‘we can do this,” Marohn says.
The City of Ludington is being nationally recognized this week as a feature stop on Marohn’s Strong America Tour.
“When I come to a city and I’m looking at the place, I want to see what the downtown is like, I want to see the connection between the surrounding neighborhoods, and I want to see if there are people out walking, are there people out participating in this community?” Marohn says.
His philosophy is helping the small towns figure out their core.
“The one thing that we find about small towns is that the highest returning investment we can make are often small over looked things,” Marohn says.
Like trees along the streets, crosswalks, or flowers in a park.
Rather than trying to compete with cities with larger budgets, they should focus on the little, often overlooked things
“Just to have him stop here and the opportunity for him to look at our community,” says Brandy Miller, president and CEO of the Ludington & Scottville Chamber of Commerce. “I think it just gives us greater vision and maybe a more pointed purpose moving forward.
Educating them on smart infrastructure and development practices.
Miller says, “We’re working together affordable housing, we’re working together on transportation and making that accessible for everyone and I think just having that greater vision is just everybody is doing their part.”
But more importantly, Marohn says a strong town is when a community comes together despite their differences.
“When we sit down together and kind of balance all of these different objectives, what we wind up with is a place that…it winds up to be the best ultimately,” Marohn says.
Ludington will be featured in an eBook by Marohn that shows what a Strong America looks like today.