Leigh

Location: Eden, NSW, Australia
Goal: Increase overall computer literacy to 75% with a specific focus on increasing the computer literacy in the over 65 year old category to 50%
Date started: 9th June 2014
Goal Completion Date: 9th June 2015

Situation Description: Like a lot of smaller towns across the globe, Eden is facing a the problem of an ageing population. Whilst this bring many significant challenges, including health services, lack of workforce, and declining population, the ageing citizens themselves also face challenges.

One of the most significant challenges of young adults moving away from their home town and their parents is isolation and loneliness.

With recent studies showing that loneliness is a bigger killer than obesity, we can’t afford to let this situation go without taking positive and swift action.

Actions: To combat the rise of loneliness and isolation in our ageing community, the Eden local community centre is commited to increasing the computer literacy of the 65+ age group to reduce levels of loneliness in the community.

Free training programs will be run twice a week and will be open to all people who wish to connect with more people, not only in their local community, but abroad as well.

The training will focus on computer basics such as keyboard and mouse operation, as well as using basic programs such as email. Once these skills are mastered, more complex skill such as signing up for and using social media, including Facebook and Twitter, and other connection tools such as Skype, will form the main focus of the classes.

More advanced users will then be able to take a short course on how to make a website, run by local man, Charles Wodsworth, who’s written guides on how to make a website and also how to unlock your iPhone. His support in creating detailed instructions on how to build websites has been invaluable and we thank him.

To help us achieve our goal of increased computer literacy in the 65+ age group, the majority of our marketing efforts will be focussed at relevant social events and aged care facilities.

We will report back in regular intervals with details of our progress.

Location: Chautauqua, NY, USA
Goal: Raise declining birthrate to 3.4 children / couple
Date started: 23rd May 2014
Goal Completion Date: 23 May 2015

Situation Description: One of the great challenges facing any small town is a declining population. As children grow up and seek the excitement and energy of the big city, there is a strong tendency to leave home in search of everything they see on the news and current affairs programs every night.

This results in a large population drop-off and a big hole in the available workforce.

Chautauqua is no exception to this situation.

68% of children born in Chautauqua will leave home for life in the big city. Of those, only 16% will ever return. This is resulting in a steep population drop-off that if unaddressed, could result in the death of our beautiful town.

We cannot stand by and allow this to happen.

Actions: In order to remedy this situation, we have decided to take steps to increase the birth rate and fill the holes in our population.

The steps we will be taking are as follows:

1. Increasing funding for medical facilities by 8.6% over the next 2 years to provide extra hospital beds and gynaecological services. This will form part of the new budget to be delivered later in this year.
2. Hosting speed dating and other social events in the town in an effort to increase social interaction between singles. These events will be overseen by locals. They’ll be designing, implementing, monitoring, ad facilitating these events to ensure maximum results 
3. Providing a $2000 upfront payment for all new children born to help relieve the financial pressure on new parents. These payments will be available for all parents giving birth after 30th June 2014
4. Increasing childcare places by 14% to make sure we have the support necessary for when the new children arrive. These places will be made available through a strong recruitment campaign of new childcare workers.

Through these 4 steps, we’re confident that we can raise the declining birth rate and save our town.

We’ll report back with results at the conclusion of this program.

Location: Flint, Michigan, USA.
Goal: Start reviving local economy by selling and re-developing the city’s abandoned and defunct automotive factories.
Date Started: January 1, 2015.
Goal Completion Date: December 31, 2017.

Situation Description: It’s no secret that the financial vitality of Flint has been deeply wounded by the past three decades of economic struggle. Once a powerhouse of the automobile assembly industry, especially for Chevrolet and Buick, the city of Flint began to struggle in the 1980’s after General Motors took a hit and had to demolish a number of plants in the area.

This caused a local economic depression as workers were laid off and businesses in the area began to suffer due to lack of consumer spending. In addition, the United States’ economic recession of 2007 delivered yet another brutal blow to the automotive industries of Detroit, MI and the surrounding areas.

Today, Flint is considered one of the most economically depressed cities in the entire United States. The crime rate is high, city revenue is next to nonexistent, and the area as a whole is riddled with abandoned properties that were once flourishing factories that provided jobs to our residents.

Action: We’re pushing to see Flint’s defunct Buick City site renovated, re-developed, and re-opened as either a functioning auto plant or as a historic site. In order for this to happen, we need to find a buyer who can back the sale financially and see what kind of plans they have to turn our old auto plant into a source of income for the city of Flint.

Our first step in this course is to determine the realistic market value of the site. Because the plant still contains a lot of old machinery, we’ll need a plant valuation performed for a fair perspective on what to expect on the market. City council is currently exploring the options for valuation as well as potential repair and re-developing costs. We hope to locate a qualified buyer by summer of 2015, and are tentatively expecting a renovation launch by early 2017.

Location: Dalton, GA, USA
Goal: Helping local university students prepare for advanced technological communication.
Date Started: July 31, 2015
Goal Completion Date: May 31, 2016

Situation Description: Dalton is a thriving community; we’ve been the carpet capital of the world since the end of WWII and the emergence of new technologies that resounded well with our workforce made this possible.

These new technologies were the reason many of our forefathers survived the Great Depression, and with over 150 carpet factories, we depend on the industry wholeheartedly to survive, especially now. Over 90 percent of the world’s carpets come from Dalton, and we’d like to keep it that way.

But as industries have developed and progressed, and the stock market crash of 2007, our community has weathered the same economic downturn that was res