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How a small, Midwestern town has changed over the decades—and where it aims to go

A Post-Election Field Report From America's Refugees and Immigrants
Words and stories from the towns where the newest Americans live


The Treasures of Birmingham
For almost a century, the local library has guarded its city's history.




What It Takes to Settle Refugees
The people of Erie, Pennsylvania, have welcomed immigrants and refugees, and believe that their town is better off for having done so.



Are America's Small Towns Really Struggling?
A tour of three cities that are finding unique ways to mitigate the country's jobs crisis



Life in the Air
Getting from here to there by small plane

Old City, Old Buildings, New Life
An art museum with a long history reinvents itself with passion and an entrepreneurial spirit.


The Ebbs and Flows of Coastal Maine
Quoddy Village was built ahead of its time.

Erie's Unlikely Benefactor: Its Casino
Legalized gambling is a familiar part of the modern American landscape. But an innovative scheme in a lakeside city in western Pennsylvania shows new possibilities for putting casino revenue to positive public use.


Little Town, Big Art
“The arts” might seem a frill or nicety. In Eastport, Maine, they’ve been at the center of economic and civic plans and have helped the little city “punch above its weight.”

A Waterfront Library
In Erie, Pennsylvania, a public institution is building on its nautical past to open a world of opportunity for local residents.

The World Comes to a Tiny Town: Eastport's Lesson in Globalization
Even the most remote-seeming corners of America can find themselves in the middle of quick-moving global trends.



'America Is a Dream Country'
What does it mean to spend years as a Syrian refugee and then land in a brand new life in Erie, Pennsylvania?

Erie and America
The challenges of Rust Belt America are real, and well-known. What’s less familiar is the response some mid-sized cities are making.

The Education of Ryan Lochte
What he could learn from America’s public pools

A Carnegie Legacy in Dodge City
Synergy of arts and civic life in a Kansas town

Dodge City Postcard
Notes from the ground, from the sky, and from the people of Dodge City, Kansas


Educating Migrant Children in Dodge City
“We’re a port of entry 1,000 miles from the border.”

Dodge City's New Frontier
A high school in the famed Kansas town is embracing its rapidly changing demographics.

New Pioneers in Southwest Kansas
Mexican immigrants on the Great Plains try to build new lives, with hope and help.

The Story of Ernestor
Dodge City, Kansas relies on undocumented immigrants—from meatpacking workers to the city’s assistant finance director.


What Rural Economies Look Like From Above
In Kansas, the advent of an energy industry is inscribing itself on the physical landscape, adding wind farms to wheat farms.



Finding Health Care in the Desert
With the closest hospital 100 miles away, Ajo, Arizona’s Desert Senita Health Center acts as the region’s clinic.

Why the Maker Movement Matters: Part 2, Agility
Business are finding that “makerspaces” enable them to reduce what’s known as the mind-to-market gap: how long it takes for an idea to become a thing on a shelf.