Reimagining Rural events set for Thompson Falls

Clark Fork Valley Press

Reimagining Rural sprung from an idea and desire to help create a vibrant future for Montana’s rural communities. Reimagining Rural will bring people together who are passionate about creating vibrant, robust rural places, growing local capacity and who are eager to learn, connect, and lead change.

The event includes three statewide virtual sessions of rural communities across Montana who are coming together to have a conversation focused on creating innovative ideas for our communities.

Each session features a virtual speaker followed with a local, discussion centering on incorporating the ideas or fresh perspective locally in our town.

Communities will be able to connect and interact with each other and can choose to work on a local community project.

The session dates and topics include:

• Sept 15: speaker and rural expert Ben Winchester will share his “brain gain” research that counters negativity common in current discussions of rural communities. Ben is a Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality. You can see Ben at:

https://extension.umn.edu/contacts-community-development/ben-winchester

• Sept 29: Deb Brown and Becky McCray of SAVE YOUR TOWN will challenge the communities to think about and embrace an “Idea Friendly” approach to community work that doesn’t depend on a board or formal structure. They will walk the group through practical steps to help shape a brighter future. Learn more at:

https://saveyour.town

• Oct 13: Sharing of ideas from participating towns plus a Q&A with the speakers.

Each session runs from 6-8 p.m. and will be hosted at the Thompson Falls High School, Room 18.

The sessions are free and open to everyone. Please feel free to share this opportunity with others. Our local site hosts are MSU Sanders County Extension and the Sanders County Community Development Corporation.

Please pre-register at https://sanders.msuextension.org.