The Bottom-Up Revolution
Strong Towns organizer Nick Dennis shares how, once he hosted a simple meetup, he discovered a whole network of already active people in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who just needed a way to connect their efforts. He and Norm talk about a small church turned neighborhood hub that’s now a coffee shop, bar, and venue where they even hosted a talk on Escape the Housing Trap. They also dig into Celebrate Lancaster and an open streets event that closes Water Street so people can enjoy the city on foot instead of in cars. Together, they show how these gatherings and small experiments are slowly reshaping how Lancaster experiences its streets and public life.
Transcript (Lightly edited for readability)
Hey everyone, Norm here. Before we jump into today's conversation, I want to give you a bit of context. This interview comes from our Strongest Town contest, where we had the chance to sit down with leaders from our top eight communities. As part of the contest, we featured interviews from the Final Four, and we released all four of those episodes at once into your podcast feed. I hope that was a burst of awesome discovery for you, or at least a good excuse to walk your dog just a little longer so you could listen to them all. But that also meant some really great conversations didn't make it into the main series, and honestly, that would have been a shame to leave them unheard. So we're sharing them with you here. As you listen, I think you'll quickly hear just how much insight, creativity, and care these communities are bringing to the work of building strong towns.
I also want to congratulate West Allis, Wisconsin, this year's Strongest Town winner. We're looking forward to recognizing their achievement at the Strong Towns national gathering coming up in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and then sharing more of their story in a mini documentary coming out this summer. In the meantime, think of this conversation as a window into places that are doing meaningful work and will very likely be strong contenders again in the years ahead. Let's dive in.
Hello folks, and welcome to this Bottom Up Short. I'm Norm with Strong Towns, and one of the privileges of my work is getting to connect with so many different people who are looking to do Strong Towns-inspired things in their community. Joining me today as part of the Strongest Town contest is one of our Final Four contestant communities, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Nick Dennis is here to represent this awesome community that is in the running to be named this year's Strongest Town. Nick, welcome. Do you want to share a little bit about yourself and your place in the community?
Sure, absolutely. Thanks, Norm. My name is Nick Dennis. I got involved with Strong Towns probably around the pandemic. I got furloughed from my job, and so I thought it was a good time to go back to grad school. I went and got a public health degree, and they really hit home this idea that where you live dictates your health because of all the built environment and everything that goes with it. I had some classmates that recommended some urbanist YouTube channels, like Not Just Bikes, and that sort of took me down the rabbit hole toward Strong Towns. That's how I got involved.
I was looking to see if Lancaster had a Strong Towns group I could join, and they didn't. So I started one up. The first couple of meetings were at my local library, then we moved to a coffee shop, and now we meet at a retail store that one of our members owns and lets us use. It's been a really cool journey.
That's awesome. It reminds me of a couple of things I picked up reading through some of the description of your community. It seems there are a lot of great conversations occurring about what we value, what we want to see for our place, and how we capitalize on the love we feel for our community, while also addressing real concerns. Can you share what those working relationships look like and how they're a key part of the value you see in your community?
Lancaster is kind of special in that we have a really robust nonprofit community and a lot of people who want to volunteer and give back. Every year we do something called the Extraordinary Give, where nonprofits come together and the community comes out for this big fundraiser for all the local nonprofits in the area. I think last year they raised around $10 million. There's already a lot happening in Lancaster, and so a lot of our Strong Towns work has been about plugging into the good work that's already happening and trying to connect the different people who are already doing that work — finding ways to share the load so we all don't have to do it ourselves.
There's a group called Hourglass that is a deliberative forum between business leaders and local government officials. There's also a Coalition for Sustainable Housing made up of housing nonprofits working on affordable housing and homelessness. Finding where we plugged into all of that was one of the first steps we took as a local chapter.
That totally resonates with one of the six core principles of Strong Towns, which is that strong communities cannot happen without active citizens — and we define that as someone who not only cares for their community but assumes a sense of ownership over it, not just being a passive recipient. Any indicators of a lively, passionate nonprofit sector that is confronting real challenges — not just with hands out to other levels of government or outside agencies, but saying, 'We've got to do this ourselves' — I love those moments of extraordinary giving and leaning into the idea that this is our place, our opportunity.
That's fantastic. What are some of the things that, if you were a newcomer to the community, you'd point someone to? What are some of the festivals or places that really contribute to that sense of being a great place where everyone is able to prosper?
The first thing that comes to mind is this little church where the congregation wasn't quite able to maintain the whole building, so they sold it to these two guys who were really handy and turned it into a community center for that neighborhood. Now it's got a coffee shop and a bar, a stage for shows. It's called West Art, and it's really an awesome place. It has the neighborhood in mind — they didn't put in a big parking lot so that everybody could drive there. The attitude is: if you can get to West Art, that's where things are happening. They just do cool stuff and people show up.
We actually used that space in November and invited Chuck to come give a talk about his Escape the Housing Trap book to a group of developers and municipal leaders. The community loves West Art, and people are always saying, 'We need one of those up in the northern part of the city' or 'We should do one over here.' It's just such a cool little space.
The city also organizes a bunch of events. Celebrate Lancaster happens every year, and they shut down a block or two of the main drag through town so everybody goes out and uses the streets for hanging out and celebrating instead of driving. There's also an Open Streets event every summer where they close down Water Street and have vendors and food trucks. Our Strong Towns group would love to take that one step further — you love these sorts of community events, so what if we did this more permanently? A long-term goal for us is seeing more bike paths or pedestrian-only parts of the city.
From your work in public health, you can also see how much thickening up the fabric of the community can really help. If every journey begins as a walk — whether from a couch to the front door and into a vehicle, or maybe extending it just a little bit further — there are different ways streets can be opened up for pedestrians and activities. What are some of the other efforts being made to make the streets safer within the community?
There's an initiative from the city called Vision Zero, where they're trying to reduce pedestrian accidents and deaths. They've been converting one-way streets to two-way streets, adding bike lanes, and there's a whole conversation about putting in a traffic circle in some parts of town. The city has really taken the initiative to look at traffic data and actually do something about the way the roads are designed to decrease accidents. That's pretty cool.
Our group has also been working to increase the number of people biking around. We organized a bike bus around a summer concert series that happens at a park just outside the city. A lot of people who live in the city wanted to bike there, but once you get outside of town the speed limit goes up to about 35 miles an hour and it feels unsafe to bike. We figured that if there's a group of us biking together, it might feel a little safer. We've been doing it for two years now. Every time there's a Sunday night concert at Long's Park, we have a bike bus that goes from the city out to the park. We've also been working with Long's Park to see if they could put in more bike racks and other things to continue encouraging people to bike more places.
Let's pivot, because you shared an article about Lancaster that I never would have known about. You guys were the capital of the United States for a day. Can you share a little bit about that? I think that's fantastic, and the fact that everyone still remembers and honors it is a pretty cool feature.
There's a lot of really interesting history in Lancaster. In 1777, we were the capital of the US for a day. I believe it was as the seat of government was moving — from New York or Philadelphia down toward DC — and they stopped and had to sign some things in Lancaster. So Lancaster was the capital for a day.
There's also a lot of history around the Underground Railroad. Thaddeus Stevens is a big figure here in Lancaster and was involved in that. We have a long history with the Amish and Mennonite communities and that spirit of community giving and caring. We're also the refugee capital of the United States. There's an organization called Church World Service that has helped settle a lot of refugees in the Lancaster area. I believe we resettle something like 20 times the number of refugees compared to anywhere else in the US.
Wow. That must create a lot of bottom-up opportunities for folks who have either lived in the community for a long time with limited resources, or those who are new arrivals. We talk at Strong Towns about the value of providing for that first increment — before a food truck gets established, it's a table; before it's a table, it's a dining table. All those increments need to be present and pathways need to be open so that if you have an idea and want to make a small bet, you can try it. It looks like there are things like this happening through various festivals and opportunities. Is it increasingly being seen as something to value in your community, and what might that look like going forward?
We've really created an interesting culture here in Lancaster. There are people who can trace their family roots to Lancaster five or ten generations back — original Lancastrians — and then there are new people who were just resettled from another country and are figuring out their way around. So we have a pretty eclectic food scene and an interesting mix of cultures.
There's a restaurant that features a rotating cast of grandmothers from refugee families who cook in the kitchen. You go there and you might get a completely different dish every time. It really has created a cool, unique culture here in Lancaster.
I love that. It captures something when you're able to say, 'We all have a place here, we can all work together in building a more inclusive community.' One of the byproducts of the suburban pattern of development is that everything becomes more exclusive and expensive unless you take very deliberate steps to combat that and address what's going on. So definitely something to celebrate.
As we come up on our time here, can you share what, from your experience taking action in the community, has stood out as the kind of advice you'd give someone who feels their community isn't yet ready for its moment? There's room to grow and an opportunity in front of you. Do you want to share some ideas or suggestions that have helped you step into this?
For a while there I was just watching videos on YouTube and reading the Strong Towns blog, thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great if we could do things like that' and 'Wouldn't it be nice if we had good public transportation and I didn't have to drive everywhere.' At some point I realized sometimes you just have to take that first step and put yourself out there.
It was pretty quick that I found there were a lot of people in Lancaster who had been Strong Towns members and had been following Strong Towns for a really long time. It connected me with a new community I didn't have before, and with a lot of people who are passionate about the same things I am. Sometimes it feels like you're the only one thinking about this kind of stuff, but I've found it's actually very popular.
I should share what that looked like for me. I attended a public hearing on rental restrictions in my community that were proposed to be relaxed, and I just took note of everybody who spoke up in favor of the changes and reached out to them by email — with some trepidation, I'll admit. For you, what did that look like? What was that catalyst moment?
I put myself out there on Meetup, and the first couple of people who showed up to my early meetings were those connector-type folks who say, 'Oh, you need to talk to this person' and 'You need to talk to that person. I'm so glad you started this, because I didn't have the time to do it. But if you can do this kind of stuff, I think there's room for it.'
That totally connects with something our Strong Towns Chicago group did — a group exercise around 'What are your broccoli items and what are your ice cream items?' The idea is: what are the things you'll do but find hard, and what are the things you genuinely enjoy? For some folks, hitting the button to organize is the hard part. But they might say, 'If you need me to keep up a spreadsheet of newsletter contacts, I'll do that.' For me, I'm someone who will often start something, so keeping up all the back-end stuff is the tricky part. I love that people came along and said, 'I'm so glad you've taken this on, because I can assist in other ways' — being the connector, being the supporter along the way. That's fantastic.
All right, in 30 seconds: why put Lancaster over the top as our Strongest Town contest winner this year?
The very first winner of the Strongest Town contest was Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which is only about an hour away from us in Central PA. I think there would be a really nice poetic quality to Lancaster being the Strongest Town ten years later.
I love that, and I'm rooting for you. I'm just discovering so many more things, including this new bit I'll now pull out any time I need a trivia question to stump someone: not only was Lancaster the capital of the United States for one day 240 years ago, but it is also in the running as the Strongest Town contest winner. Nick, keep up the great work in Lancaster. I love the enthusiasm and energy you bring to this, and thanks for carving out time today.
If you're listening and following along in the Strongest Town contest, head over to strongesttown.com, make sure to vote for Lancaster, and recruit friends and family. If you're listening to this after the contest has closed, I hope you've gotten as much value out of this conversation as I certainly have. Thanks for listening. Take care, and take care of your places.
This episode was produced by Strong Towns, a nonprofit movement for building financially resilient communities. If what you heard today matters to you, deepen your connection by becoming a Strong Towns member at strongtowns.org/membership.