In a report entitled, “America: A Nation of Small Towns,” the U. S. Census Bureau notes that in the most recent national census, 76% of the approximately 19,500 incorporated places in the United States had fewer than 5,000 people, and almost 42% had fewer than 500 people. So, as the Thriving Cities Lab looked for a national pilot city early in 2024, we set out to find a small town.
How fortunate we were to be introduced to Cave City, Arkansas, population 1,994. With engaged city leadership and proud community members eager to make Cave City into a place that their children and grandchildren would be proud to call home, we came to appreciate that this small town embodied many of the hopes and challenges of thousands of similar communities.
With the help of a core leadership team in Cave City, we introduced the Civic Endowment Framework and asked stakeholders to evaluate their city and their role in helping it thrive during our initial meetings in May, 2024. A civic capacity survey and a Cave City Thriving Survey followed. Through the summer of 2024, the project team conducted remote interviews with stakeholders in Cave City and Sharp County and the data team reviewed and compiled publicly accessible data and reports comparing Cave City to small towns in Arkansas and across the U.S. In October, 2024 we presented and discussed our preliminary findings at a second convening with stakeholders in Cave City. The Phase One report that follows summarizes all the qualitative and quantitative data gathered in the project to date.
You can read the Cave City Thriving Phase One Report here (pdf).