Uncategorized

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]A few months ago, COVID-19 seemed like a short-term inconvenience. Now, with communities across the country at risk because of the financial, emotional and physical consequences of the coronavirus...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Undefined entryways.  Borders attributed to neighbors.  Landlocked with no room to annex.  Shared assets where you don’t get top billing.  It's enough to make a town say “Woe is...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Listen and learn. Think before you speak. Never refuse a breath mint. These are words that I heard repeatedly as a kid and phrases that guide me every day...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Each spring, cities and towns across America are swept up in the unbridled optimism of seeing nature in full bloom. As has become the norm, this year has proven...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]When you think destinations, you probably rarely think in terms of counties. There are only a few counties that come to mind as recognizable destinations, and a majority of...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]“Ask not what staying home on the couch can do for you, but what staying home on the couch can do for your country.” - Karen on Twitter This is a...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]This is the question answered in North Star’s process where research drives the creation of a strategic DNA statement about what is authentic and ownable for your community and...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Consider the news in the past several weeks and months alone. From Australia to California, Mississippi to the Caribbean. It’s one natural disaster and weather event after another. They...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Many smart, progressive communities have a strategic plan in place or have undergone a visioning process that specifies the critical success factors and opportunities for a preferred future. Usually,...

[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type="row" type="full_width" text_align="left" css_animation="" css=".vc_custom_1559326103163{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}"][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Kern County, California, and its largest city Bakersfield sounded familiar to some, but most just know of it in passing on the way to glitz and glamour or gigawatts...