The Growing Small Towns Show

The future of small towns doesn't depend on us finding more people; we need to better engage the ones who are already there.Each week, join Rebecca Undem, small-town champion and rural entrepreneur, as she chats with people who are doing their part to grow their community. You'll hear ideas and learn ways to better support your business community, create a sense of belonging for all, and foster a rich arts and culture scene in your small town. If you live in a small town, care deeply about your community, and share the belief that "if you're not growing, you're dying", this is the podcast for you.

The Growing Small Towns Show is a society podcast hosted by Rebecca Undem, with 100 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Rebecca Undem hosts The Growing Small Towns Show, a society show with 100 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #14

  S6:E14 - Mental Health Awareness in Small Towns with Chris "Rhino" Swenson

  Jun 3, 202654 minS6

  <p >We're closing out Part 1 of Season 6 with an episode about something near and dear to our hearts, and oh-so-important in rural and ag communities: mental health. For Mental Health Awareness Month, Rebecca sits down with therapist Chris Swenson — owner of Rhino Wellness Center and host of the Rhino Resilience podcast — to reframe what strength really looks like in rural communities. (Yes, we know that May is technically Mental Health Awareness Month, but we recorded this episode in May, so it counts, right?) Chris breaks down his four-pillar Rhino Resilience framework, explains mental health as biology (a regulated nervous system with...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #13

  S6:E13 - How to Harness Creativity to Create Value in Small Towns with Jordan DeGree

  May 4, 202658 minS6

  <p >Some people are just wired to make things better–in their businesses, their communities, their small towns–even when it's hard, and nobody around them quite gets it. This episode is for those people. We get it. Today's guest, Jordan DeGree, gets it. And he has created the Rural Ideas Network to connect you with other people who get it, too. Today's episode is what support and connection can look like, and where you can find them. About Jordan: Jordan DeGree is an entrepreneur, social innovator, artist, and comedian. No, just kidding about the comedian part. He's experimented with seve...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #12

  S6:E12- Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in Small Towns with Amy Jacobson

  Apr 27, 202637 minS6

  <p >Amy Jacobson is the Director of UND's Special Education Resident Teacher Program, and on today's episode, she breaks down two innovative pathways that have trained roughly 600 special education teachers for North Dakota schools since 1997, including one designed for people who don't even have an undergraduate degree yet. The programs combine paid, year-long internships with layered mentorship and heavily subsidized graduate education, creating a model with remarkable retention rates in rural communities. Whether you're in North Dakota or not, this episode is full of transferable ideas for any small town looking to think outside the box about recruiting and retaining...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #11

  S6:E11 - How Thinking Like a Futurist Can Benefit Small Towns with Rebecca Ryan

  Apr 20, 20261h 5mS6

  <p >Rebecca sits down with futurist Rebecca Ryan for a conversation about why and how small towns need to stop planning for the past and start envisioning multiple possible futures. They discuss the PHOEBE energy assessment, the three futures framework, and why traditional stakeholder-based visioning often fails. It's one of those episodes that both challenges how you think while also encouraging you to work in your strengths, build trust over polish, and remember that the future isn't something that just happens to us—we happen to it too.</p> <p >About Rebecca: Rebecca Ryan is a noted top 50 professional futurist, ec...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #10

  S6:E10 - Connecting Students and Employers with the Career Carousel

  Apr 13, 202642 minS6

  <p >This episode is about Oakes, ND's first-ever Career Carousel, a speed-dating-style event that connected 52 high school juniors and seniors with 14 local employers for four-minute rotational conversations. The goal was to give students a safe, constructive space to practice professional interactions, learn about local opportunities like tuition reimbursement or who's hiring in Oakes, and help employers connect with future talent. The pilot was a hit, which we're tickled about, and we're so excited because reaching even one student makes these efforts worthwhile.</p> <p >In this episode, we cover:</p> <p >How the room was set up for max interactions...

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on The Growing Small Towns Show. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.