Save Our Towns, Episode 3, visits Glade Spring

How can mayors improve their small towns? One way is to entice residents to become engaged in local government. 

That can be harder than it sounds, says Larkin Dudley, professor emerita in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. She outlines in Save Our Towns, Episode Three, how mayors can set up citizen advisory boards by recruiting people willing to make tough decisions about their neighbors. 

The "Examples of Awesome" segment profiles downtown Glade Spring, Virginia, which created a trendy, shopper-friendly environment, while Mayor Lee Coburn tells how his tiny community, though ravaged by a tornado, overcame natural disaster and inertia to carry out the plan.

Episode Three also reveals St. Paul, Virginia, Mayor Kyle Fletcher's novel idea to raise money for his town. 

Save Our Towns is Virginia Tech's monthly Internet video series that is distributed to mayors and town managers in 80 Virginia towns and independent cities in 25 counties. Episode Three is posted at Save Our Towns or can be viewed in this YouTube video:

Save Our Towns is designed to help community leaders:

• Learn about  Virginia Tech projects in Appalachia;
• Find resources such as case studies and funding opportunities;
• Contact experts interviewed in the series and read their full transcripts.

In Episode Four, due to be released in November, viewers will learn which Virginia counties boosted their economies by making a surprising choice of what kind of trees and vegetables to grow, and Jeff Mann, who teaches creative writing in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, shares how he expresses his Appalachian identity in fiction and memoir.