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1 month ago | 
providencejournal.com | Tiffany Owens Reed
401Gives, Rhode Island's largest day of giving, has raised $14 million for local nonprofits in five years. The event helps raise awareness for Rhode Island nonprofits and provides flexible funding for emerging needs. Most all nonprofit fundraisers and volunteers will tell you that raising money on behalf of a cause that is meaningful to them, or any organization making a difference in their community, is incredibly rewarding.
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1 month ago | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
To understand how one city leader can spearhead the housing reforms your city needs, look no further than Rebekah Kik, the deputy city manager for Kalamazoo, Michigan. Kik began to notice the “broken teeth” pattern of vacancy in Kalamazoo’s neighborhoods 10 years ago, during her daily bike rides to work. There were no bike lanes back then, so she would weave through residential streets looking for safe routes. She began to wonder why there were so many empty lots.
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2 months ago | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
Not even a year after tying the marital knot, Noah Tang, 28, found himself standing in a house alone, realizing that his wife was not coming back. The separation was final and the divorce would become final just a few months later. Beyond the whirlwind of emotions was the looming practical question: the mortgage. How would he pay it now that he was alone? Then an idea hit him.
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Jan 22, 2025 | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
Just before the recent snap of cold weather landed in Texas, I zipped my son into his sweatshirt and marched him to the car. It was time for our daily “outside time,” and I had decided that today would be a little different from our normal walk around the neighborhood. Ten minutes of driving later, we parked just beyond downtown Waco. I pulled him from his car seat, crossed two streets and walked through the entrance to the village at Magnolia Silos.
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Mar 11, 2024 | 
theapopkavoice.com | Tiffany Owens Reed
Not long ago, I was driving around town at a normal speed when I suddenly braked to about 5–10 miles per hour on a street close to a school. It wasn’t another car in front of me braking that caused the slower speed, the presence of pedestrians, or a malfunction of my car. Rather, it was the presence of bollards lining sections of a school crosswalk in such a way that I had to brake to move through them.
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Aug 21, 2023 | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
At about eight months pregnant, all kinds of new social encounters are starting to become more common: little smiles from women I pass. Men hastily opening doors at cafés and gas stations. Cashiers asking me, “How far along are you?” while scanning my groceries. And then there are the apologies I’ve received from well-wishers sympathizing with the experience of being pregnant in 100-plus degree temperatures. At first, I was caught off guard by this last one: the heat really hasn’t bothered me.
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Aug 14, 2023 | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
Ever since I was young, I’ve been a sucker for a good skyline. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I recently spent a few weeks in Austin, Texas, and one of the perks was the view of the downtown skyline from the living room window. Watching the sun rise and set against the backdrop of the dozen or so sparkly skyscrapers was a special treat.
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Aug 7, 2023 | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
For three weeks out of the month of July, my husband and I worked as dog sitters in West Lake Hills, a small suburban city six miles from downtown Austin, Texas. Established in 1953, it’s a small city (four square miles) with fewer than 5,000 residents; 40 miles of city roads; and its own school district, fire department, and police force.
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Jul 31, 2023 | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
As June came to a close, my husband and I packed up our essentials (books for him, spices and sourdough starter for me)—and drove two hours south to a large home in Westlake Hills, Texas, a small suburb next to Austin. We stepped inside and slid open a door where two large dogs greeted us. A half bag of treats later, the barks subsided and we began to settle into our three-week gig as Austin-based dog-and-house sitters. The gig was kind of random, to be honest.
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Jul 24, 2023 | 
strongtowns.org | Tiffany Owens Reed
A few weeks ago, my husband and I pulled away from our driveway in Waco, Texas, and pointed the car north, toward I-35. It was around 10:00 a.m. and we had several hours of driving ahead of us. My final destination was Huntsville, Alabama, where I’d spend the week with a childhood best friend. After dropping me off in Nashville to meet her, Rob would continue on to Ohio for a philosophy seminar. It would be a long drive, but as someone who grew up on the road, I didn’t mind too much.
