Go Cultivate!

Latest Episodes:

Connecting housing & community health – with Becky Gray Aug 05, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, Kevin speaks with Becky Gray, Director of Housing for Chaffee County, CO, to discuss the County's early efforts to build a more resilient regional housing system. We follow up on their work since the County hosted Kevin and Monte Anderson for a workshop last year.

Curious about the original radio show discussed in this episode, featuring Kevin and Monte? We aired it as a podcast episode last year.

Note from your producer: The audio quality in this episode is not quite what it usually is! We had an issue with the normal recording and had to fall back on the recording of the video call (which we're very glad we had). We think this episode is still definitely worth listening to, despite it all!

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

And if you haven't yet, sign up for our weekly email digest. It's not lame! (Each week we collectively curate a list of the things we read that caught our attention. Then we hand-package your copy, spank a first-class stamp on that baby, and drop it right in your email inbox.) Sign up here!

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money, Custodian of Records, and Isaac Horwedel.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-69

A recovery toolkit for local leaders – with Rachel Quednau Jul 29, 2020

Show notes

Our friends at Strong Towns have put out a new resource for folks in local government called The Local Leader's Toolkit: A Strong Towns Response to the Pandemic. Jordan speaks with Rachel Quednau of Strong Towns and then with Verdunity's AJ Fawver to discuss some of its key points.

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money and Custodian of Records.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-68

Are We Doing Doing This Right? // Comprehensive Plans Edition Jul 22, 2020

Show notes

For this month’s edition of ‘Are We Doing This Right?’, we’re turning our attention to the comprehensive plan. There’s a lot to talk about, including:

History! Where did comp plans come from?
How to know when your city’s comprehensive plan is outdated (or even harmful)
An alternative vision for what comprehensive plans could be… from all the way back in 1967
Why some comprehensive plans just sit on the shelf gathering dust
What it means for comprehensive plans to “fail”—and what causes failure (from AJ’s experience)
Some examples of comprehensive plans we like, for one reason or another
Are comprehensive plans really necessary?
Best practices for comprehensive plans

Want to do some further research on the topic? Head on over to the show page for this episode to find a list of resources we found helpful in compiling this show.

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money; Custodian of Records; and Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, & Emmylou Harris.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-67

Who gets to participate? – with Shari Davis & Derrick Braziel Jul 08, 2020

Show notes

In this episode we’re joined by Shari Davis, Executive Director of the Participatory Budgeting Project, and Derrick Braziel, co-founder and Development Director of MORTAR Cincinnati.

On today’s show, we follow the money. We discuss public budgeting processes, the moral weight of budget decisions, and the opportunities we have to make these documents “living, breathing reflections of community need and community-driven investment.” Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process by which all people in a community can play a role in shaping the kinds of projects their governments spend money on. We discuss what this means in general, and what role PB plays in rethinking public safety and economic development.

We also discuss the reality for many Americans—especially in communities of color—who have a business idea but lack the connections to necessary tools and resources to get off the ground. Derrick started MORTAR to help people from marginalized groups get the training and resources to start and grow their own businesses. In addition to the programs MORTAR runs, Derrick discusses some of the policies they pushed for locally that have helped ensure the viability of the Cincinnati's Black-owned businesses.

In addition to this background, we discuss:

Some of the biggest barriers to challenging the status quo in city governments
Trust and mistrust in local government
Fighting for systemic change while also experiencing trauma
How COVID-19 and the growing movement for Black lives have affected the ways Derrick and Shari are thinking about their work—and what’s possible
The importance of narrative shift when conditions shift—and the importance of sharing stories that seldom get told
What we mean by “safety”—and who we’ve too often left out of the discussion
Investing in the broader ecosystem of social justice
How PB is a tool to build the infrastructure for what reinvestment in community looks like
Whose talent we’ve historically been leaving off the field in our communities—and what the implications are for today’s recovery efforts
The challenges associated with discussing changes to policing and first response
How we might make society more democratic and participatory as a whole
Key takeaways for local government leaders
Book recommendations! (See below)

Links to things mentioned in this show:

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money & Custodian of Records)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-66

Are We Doing Doing This Right? // Bike Networks Edition Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

We're back with another edition of Are We Doing This Right?—this time to ask that question about bicycle networks. If it seems like the conversation surrounding bike networks is straightforward, it's not quite. We dip our toes in what is a much, much bigger and richer discussion, and do our best to examine some of what we're getting right and wrong about bike networks. This one could have lasted for hours, but we had to cut it off well before exhausting our notes! We may have to return for a part two. 🤔

For links to some of the things we discussed (and many more we didn't have the chance to get to), head over to the show page for this episode.

(Update: We fixed a weird little audio glitch that happened in the middle of the episode.)

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money, Custodian of Records, and Marcos Valle.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-65

Advocating for Texas cities – with Bennett Sandlin Jun 17, 2020

Show notes

Today’s episode features a conversation with Bennett Sandlin, the Executive Director of Texas Municipal League. We talk about:

what a Municipal League is and what they do;
the ongoing dialogue between local governments and state officials in Texas about resource gaps, property tax caps, and annexation;
how COVID-19 has had an impact on city budgets;
ways TML is available to help all of their member cities, including the many small, rural communities throughout the state;
what to expect at TML’s annual convention coming up (tentatively) this October in Grapevine, TX.

Want to take advantage of our COVID-19 discounts? Head over to verdunity.com/covid for more information on our assessments, fiscal analysis, and workshops.

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money and Custodian of Records.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-64

Building vibrant communities – with Quint Studer Jun 10, 2020

Show notes

Quint Studer is the author of Building a Vibrant Community, which we discuss in this episode. His most recent book, The Busy Leader’s Handbook, became a Wall Street Journal bestseller. He is the founder of Studer Community Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on improving the quality of life in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida. He is also the founder of Vibrant Community Partners, which coaches communities in building out a blueprint for achieving growth and excellence. Quint speaks and works with communities across the country, helping them execute on their strategic plans, create a better quality of life, and attract and retain talent and investment.

Quint also talks about four areas he feels are critical to building communities that thrive, some of his takeaways from his community work, and why small and midsize communities have a great opportunity to lure talent away from the big cities.

Check out:

Vibrant Community Blueprint

The Busy Leader's Handbook

Pensacola Metro Dashboard (Studer Community Institute)

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money and Custodian of Records.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-63

Emerging stronger Jun 03, 2020

Show notes

Most cities lack the resources to keep up with infrastructure and service demands, yet daily decisions continue to prioritize growth and short-term wins over long-term costs and impacts.

If you’re in local government and are looking for ways to get more out of your existing resources—while building community trust and making immediate progress—we've been working on something we think will help you do just that.

We’re hosting a free, 10-part training webinar series called Emerge Stronger, where we're walking through the process we use to help city leaders align vision, policies, and investments with what citizens are willing and able to pay for. These interactive webinars are taking place every other Friday through September.

If you missed the first webinar (hosted May 22), where we talked about how you can assess the plans and other tools that your city already has at its disposal, you can still watch that one here.

The next webinar will take place on Friday, June 5, at 1:30pm Central. Register here! In this one, we'll talk about how you can assess and maximize the various resources your community has available. In particular:

How to use land use fiscal analysis to quantify the costs and revenue productivity of your city’s land, buildings, and infrastructure—and how it can be used to align your city’s development pattern and service model with what residents are willing and able to pay for
How to align and inspire your existing staff to maximize engagement and achievement of priority outcomes
How to identify and tap into other partners in the community such as school districts, philanthropic groups, local businesses, and other “implementers”

Want to take advantage of our COVID-19 discounts? Head over to verdunity.com/covid for more information on our assessments, fiscal analysis, and workshops.

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(Music in this episode is from Custodian of Records)

Talking tax bases & sustainable development – with Patrick Lawler and Chad Janicek May 28, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, Kevin chats with Patrick Lawler and Chad Janicek, the co-founders of ZacTax, an online sales and hotel tax analysis platform for local governments. Before making the jump to ZacTax full-time, Patrick and Chad both worked in local government, most recently as City Manager and ACM for Hudson Oaks, TX. They share our passion for helping communities move toward a more sustainable development and operations model, and using data to inform decisions.

We talk about what led them to create the early version of ZacTax while they were working at the city, how the software has evolved, and what their data is showing about the impact of COVID-19 on city finances.

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money, Custodian of Records, and Harlem Hamfats.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-62

From local advocate to elected official – with LeVette Fuller May 22, 2020

Show notes

LeVette Fuller, Shreveport councilmember and co-founder of Re:Form Shreveport, joins the show to talk about her journey from citizen advocate and "land-use nerd" (her words) to local elected official—plus a few specific challenges the city has faced during her tenure.

Some of what we cover in this show:

LeVette's background in community advocacy and how Re:Form Shreveport was started
What motivated her to run for City Council
How actually serving on Council compares to what she thought it would be like
An example of a key issue and how she handled the research, response (voting), and reaction
The importance of downtown to the city's identity and culture
The role that horizontal expansion and annexation has on city services and budgets
How last year's budget process compares to what they're going to be dealing with in their upcoming FY21 budget
Advice for other people thinking about running for Council

Mentioned in the show: The Memphis 3.0 Plan

Follow LeVette on Facebook (that's her official councilmember page) and Twitter.

The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.

You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.

(This episode features music from No Money, Custodian of Records, and Isaac Horwedel.)

verdunity.com/podcast/episode-61