Podcast · News

Go Cultivate!

by Verdunity · English · News

A podcast for community builders. Discussing ways to grow financially resilient, resource-conscious, and people-friendly cities.

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 1 hr 2 min
Latest: 1 Aug 2023
Language: English

Latest episode

1 Aug 2023 · 44 min

Season 3 Wrap Up — with Kevin Shepherd

We’ve reached the end of 'Go Cultivate!' Season 3! To wrap us up, Kevin details the impacts that the suburban experiment has had on our country and asks the question: what does ‘quality of life’ really mean, and does an auto-centric lifestyle support these outcomes? After defining actionable steps to take in order to address the challenges posed by the suburban development pattern, Kevin emphasizes the importance of finding and connecting with other people and groups in your area to drive meaningful change at the local level. We believe that by working together, we can create more vibrant…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E106 · 14 Jul 2023 · 16 min
Meet the Verdooners — with Matt Meals
In this episode we are sitting down with Matt Meals, the newest addition to Verdunity’s engineering team. He and Kevin discuss Matt’s journey to Verdunity, and his perspective on how land use fiscal analysis gives cities the education they need to plan for communities to take root, as well as how it empowers citizens to take active roles in shaping the future of their communities. Throughout the interview, Matthew emphasizes the importance of context and community in engineering and design, and shares how his passion for environmentalism and sustainable energy led him to where he is today.
E105 · 4 Jul 2023 · 1 hr 17 min
Leadership and Inclusive Prosperity — with Dr. Kaye Monk-Morgan and Shaun Rojas
In this episode, AJ interviews Dr. Kaye Monk-Morgan and Shaun Rojas of the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) where Kaye is the President and CEO, and Shaun is the Senior Director of Civic Engagement. Their discussion emphasizes the importance of building a culture of civic leadership and engaging with community members to address their concerns and build stronger, healthier, and more prosperous communities. The conversation also touches on the idea that leadership is an activity rather than a title or position, and the need to develop skills and engage in activities that promote leadership.
E104 · 27 Jun 2023 · 16 min
Meet the Verdooners — with Maddie Bonney
Time to roll out some new Meet the Verdooners episodes to introduce y'all to the newest members of our team! In this episode, Kevin sits down with Maddie Bonney, our new Planner, and they discuss her personal motivations for pursuing a career in planning, including her desire to improve quality of life and promote self-sustaining economic development. She explains how her values align with Verdunity's focus on fiscal health and local wealth, and they discuss the relationship between the design of our neighborhoods and the mental health of the people living there.
E103 · 7 Jun 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
Plangineer to Storyteller — with Andy Boenau
Moving communities beyond status quo is hard. Entrenched practices in zoning, transportation planning, and road design have created places that are unsafe, unhealthy, and inequitable for many, while others who have benefitted from these systems staunchly defend them. In this episode, “Plangineers” Andy Boenau and Kevin Shepherd discuss how their careers evolved from engineering to planning to advocates for change in their respective roles today. They discuss why radical changes to traditional planning and engineering approaches are needed in order to create more inclusive, sustainable, and…
E102 · 11 May 2023 · 47 min
Development Bills at 2023 TxLEG—with Michael Kovacs and Tom Yantis
In this episode, Kevin talks with two city management officials about which bills concern them and the unintended consequences that could result if they’re passed. Michael Kovacs, the City Manager of Fate, a fast growing suburb east of Dallas, and Tom Yantis, the Assistant City Manager of Taylor, a community outside Austin that recently landed one of the largest economic development deals in Texas with Samsung have been leaders in adjusting development processes to ensure their cities have the money they need to maintain quality services and infrastructure long-term while keeping housing and…
E101 · 2 May 2023 · 1 hr 19 min
Rural Community Transformation — with Julianna Dodson
Rural communities are a focus for us here at Verdunity. In this episode, AJ interviews Julianna Dodson, Deputy Executive Director, and Radically Rural Director for the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship. Together they chat about how to transform these places for the better. You might be surprised to hear that rural communities face some of the same issues that bigger cities do – housing shortages, inability to find affordable child care – but they also face issues like the hollowing out of medical support systems that historically have been a part of the rural fabric. Julianna…
E100 · 4 Apr 2023 · 1 hr 11 min
Place and Prosperity — with William Fulton
William Fulton is one of America’s most established thought leaders in urban planning. From 2014 to 2022, he served as Director of Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research. Prior to moving to Houston, he served as Mayor of Ventura, CA and Director of Planning and Development for San Diego. He’s the author of multiple papers and books, including his most recent book Place and Prosperity, which is the focus of this episode.
30 Mar 2023 · 2 min
2023 Podcast Survey
Whether you're a long time follower of our Go Cultivate! podcast or just started listening, we'd love some feedback. This annual survey guides our team in creating content you actually want! As a thank you, all submissions will be entered into a drawing to win a $50 Amazon gift card - winner will be announced in our May 2nd podcast episode! Head to verdunity.com/2023survey to complete the survey!
E99 · 7 Mar 2023 · 1 hr 2 min
Enabling Desirable Neighborhoods - with Melissa Milton-Pung
It's not enough to hope for better neighborhoods. Meaningful policy needs to be enacted to make better places possible. Melissa Milton-Pung and the Michigan Municipal League have been working to give advocates the tools they need to push for zoning and housing reform in Michigan. But the lessons they provide can be applied across the country.
E98 · 7 Feb 2023 · 1 hr 14 min
Bridging Infrastructure Gaps — with Mark Funkhouser and Liz Farmer
Fiscal policy, municipal finance, thoughtful budgeting, and infrastructure maintenance. If you ever wanted to know where and why your city's money gets spent, you'll want to hear this. Mark Funkhouser, former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, with decades of experience in municipal finance, and Liz Farmer, a writer, thinker, and consultant on policy and budgeting, are two of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to local finance. They present us with some really tangible options for getting more out of those in this episode and explore how the systems we have built are fragile, like…
E97 · 3 Jan 2023 · 52 min
Engaging Youth in Planning — with Mara Mintzer
We’re kicking off 2023 with an interview with Mara Mintzer, a co-founder and Executive Director of Growing Up Boulder, an initiative to engage with city children and youth and offer them opportunities to affect change within their community. In 2017, Mara hosted a TEDx talk on including young people in city planning—which has amassed nearly 2 million views—and she recently co-authored the book, "Placemaking with Children and Youth: Participatory Practices for Planning Sustainable Communities". In this episode, we discuss Mara’s mission and inspiration, young people’s natural ability for…
E96 · 22 Dec 2022 · 28 min
Meet the Verdooners — with Kevin Shepherd
Kevin Shepherd, the founder and CEO of Verdunity is here to talk about where the company has been, where it might be going in the future, and what gifts your city-focused friends might enjoy. Spoiler alert: he loves books. Kevin is an engineer, but as is usually pretty obvious, not your typical engineer, and its interesting to hear from him some of the struggles he has faced trying to communicate a message of fiscal responsibility to sometimes very resistant parties. This episode rounds out our Meet the Verdooners mini-series. We hope you've enjoyed getting to know a little more about our…
E95 · 20 Dec 2022 · 30 min
Meet the Verdooners — with AJ Fawver
Episode 5 of “Meet the Verdooners” introduces us to AJ Fawver, who leads Verdunity’s Community Consulting Program. In this episode we learn what initially brought AJ into the planning world and what element of community building she is most concerned about. AJ is a firm believer that we serve communities best when we remember that people are at the center of everything we do, and she greatly admires communities that are willing to have difficult conversations in order to effect positive change in their cities. After the episode make sure to check out AJ’s book recommendations: The Local…
E94 · 15 Dec 2022 · 16 min
Meet the Verdooners — with Tim Wright
Tim Wright's work spans the gamut from missing middle housing to incremental development and infrastructure right-sizing. He has been an engineer on the kinds of projects that can transform a place into a more sustainable, connected community. Hailing from the great state of Louisiana (Shreveport to be exact) and proudly lacking on sleep (as he's a brand new dad), Tim is an integral part of the team here at Verdunity. Tim is also the founder of Re:Form Shreveport, an organization that is working to improve the city of Shreveport by fostering deep community connections and volunteerism,…
E93 · 13 Dec 2022 · 18 min
Meet the Verdooners — with Mari Austin
Mari Austin is Verdunity's Process and Communications Coordinator. Her work is too varied to adequately explain in a podcast blurb – but it ranges from process improvement to multimedia production (including this very podcast), to fostering a positive and forward-looking company culture here in-house. Mari comes from outside the world of municipal planning and engineering, and thus brings a unique perspective to our team. But it's clear in this episode how much Mari brings to the work that we do here; her personal experience living in underserved communities and looking up at the systemic…
E92 · 8 Dec 2022 · 18 min
Meet the Verdooners — with Karina Castillo
Episode 2 of "Meet the Verdooners is back with Karina Castillo, a planner here at Verdunity. If you are a young planner, ready to go out and change the world, there is some interesting backstory you might enjoy from Karina. There are some real gems of knowledge here when it comes to trying to get good work done – who really makes the big decisions in your community, and are those the same people who are most qualified to solve the issues in front of them?
E91 · 6 Dec 2022 · 19 min
Meet the Verdooners — with Marshall Hines
We are heading into this holiday season with a little series of episodes called "Meet the Verdooners. You'll get to hear from each of our team members and get a little background on them and what makes them tick. This first episode introduces Marshall Hines, our Creative Director and the person responsible for helping us communicate this message of fiscal responsibility in the most compelling and understandable way possible.
E90 · 1 Nov 2022 · 1 hr 12 min
Community Branding and Engagement — with Ryan Short
On this episode of Go Cultivate! we have Ryan Short, the CEO of CivicBrand, a firm that blends together branding, communications, and direct engagement with communities. As we think about the kinds of places we want our cities to grow into and be in the future, it's important to directly connect with members of the community to help identify and then take ownership of a place.
E89 · 4 Oct 2022 · 1 hr 19 min
Neighborhood Evolution in South Bend - with Mike Keen and Monte Anderson
How sustainable is any system which requires the agreement and buy-in of those with the deepest pockets and largest portfolios to be successful? Can many small players create the same value in a place that the big guys do? This week's guests will tell you that the former simply isn't sustainable, and not only is the latter, but it also creates more lasting value for the community. Monte Anderson and Mike Keen are working in two different places (South Dallas and South Bend, Indiana). Still, they are working to create incremental wealth in the communities where they live, and as you will…
E88 · 6 Sep 2022 · 1 hr 1 min
Navigating Different Stages of Growth - with Kent Cagle
Kent Cagle has been a city manager in Texas for over 20 years, and has worked in local government in Texas for nearly 35. He has worked in cities that are growing rapidly, and ones that are built out and having to determine how they can balance a budget with limited resources. He is the current city manager in Killeen, Texas and oversaw the city's recent Comprehensive Planning effort. Kent shares a great deal of knowledge on how he has navigated the changing landscape of local government and provides some useful insight on how to actually get things done. Hint: he's very pragmatic about it…
E87 · 2 Aug 2022 · 50 min
The Rosetta Stone of Zoning - with Sara Bronin
If just about anyone tells you that they totally understand zoning codes, they are probably lying to you. Well, unless they are today's guest. Sara Bronin is a Mexican-American architect, attorney, and policymaker. She's also a professor of planning and law at Cornell University. She founded and directs the National Zoning Atlas, a tool that aims to depict critical aspects of zoning codes nationwide in an online, user-friendly map. If there is one thing we love discussing here at Verdunity, it's zoning and how it can be improved. You won't want to miss this episode.
E86 · 6 Jul 2022 · 1 hr 2 min
Embracing Incrementalism - with Colleen Askew
Incremental improvement is a key element to the success of any place. The biggest projects, developments, and infrastructure also come with the biggest collection of dangers and places that something can go wrong. Starting from the bottom and working to solve an immediate need in the most effective way possible can also solve big problems over time, we just need to embrace that way of thinking. Kevin and Colleen Askew discuss just this (and more).
E85 · 7 Jun 2022 · 1 hr 14 min
Resurrecting a Dying Downtown - with Jason Duff
Jason Duff is the Founder of Small Nation which encompasses a group of companies, leaders, and investors who develop places, spaces, and dreams for small towns and small-town entrepreneurs across the county. Jason and his team at Small Nation have completely revitalized the town of Bellefontaine, Ohio. In 10 short years, they have turned a dying town around and helped make it a Best-in-State destination. If you want some serious inspiration for how your downtown can be enlivened with passion and hard work, this is a must-listen.
E84 · 3 May 2022 · 1 hr 7 min
Rethinking Budgeting – with Andrew Kleine & Shayne Kavanagh
Andrew Kleine is the author of "City On the Line" and is working tirelessly toward a future in which municipal budgeting produces the results that leaders are looking for. Shayne Kavanagh, the Senior Manager of Research for the Government Finance Officers Association, has spent his career looking at how government policy interacts with the fiscal health of the places in which he works. To some municipal budgeting is a *Black Box*, but today's conversation aims to make this sometimes confusing topic a little more transparent. Can the budgeting process be communicated to the public in a way…
E83 · 5 Apr 2022 · 1 hr 6 min
Demystifying Affordable Housing — with Deborah Myerson
Have you ever heard the phrase "affordable housing" used by 5 different people, but it seems like every one of them is talking about something slightly different? This episode will help shed some light on this sometimes confusing, always complex subject. AJ and Deborah go deep and we are here for it.
E82 · 1 Mar 2022 · 1 hr 14 min
The Battle Over Broadway – with Kea Wilson
On this episode Kevin speaks with Kea Wilson, Streetsblog Senior Editor, about the saga Broadway in San Antonio. What happens when state and local officials disagree about what kind of thoroughfare best serves a community?
E81 · 3 Feb 2022 · 1 hr 11 min
Vibrant Downtowns - with Catherine Sak
AJ interviews Catherine Sak, Executive Director of Texas Downtown. What makes a great downtown? What do we sometimes miss that can influence the way new visitors feel about our downtown? This episode covers it all!
E80 · 11 Jan 2022 · 45 min
Serving You Better: 3 Reflections from 2021 and Initiatives for 2022
From Kevin Shepherd: Today I want to take a few minutes to talk about a few themes from our work last year and preview a few initiatives our team at Verdunity has planned for 2022 for us to meet and serve more of you better. First I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have followed us over the past few years, shared our content, and given us feedback. We are SO GRATEFUL for all of you out there working to cultivate strong neighborhoods, communities, and local economies. Pushing past business as usual is really hard work, and it takes special people like you who are willing…
E79 · 7 Dec 2021 · 1 hr 41 min
Fiscally Informed Planning - with the City of Taylor, Texas
Kevin sits down with Mayor Brandt Rydell and Assistant City Manager Tom Yantis from Taylor, Texas to discuss how and why a fiscally-informed comprehensive planning process can align varying interests in a community and provide a roadmap for growth and development that is financially resilient. The group also explores how education focused engagement efforts can benefit any planning process.

About Go Cultivate!

A podcast for community builders. Discussing ways to grow financially resilient, resource-conscious, and people-friendly cities.

Go Cultivate! is a English news podcast from Verdunity. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Verdunity
Language: English
Category: News
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 1 hr 2 min
Latest episode: 1 Aug 2023
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1429015716

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