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Revitalizing small towns around Kansas City

Rural communities across Kansas and Missouri are trying their hand at revitalization. In the face of population decline, many towns are putting effort into beautification — updating bike trails, investing in local business and Main Streets, and renewing interests in local history — in the hopes of attracting visitors and new residents.

For many years, the dominant narrative has said that small towns across the Midwest were drying up and losing their populations to metropolitan areas. During the pandemic, many large cities saw their populations decline as folks fled to the suburbs.

KCUR's Steve Kraske sat down with Flatland's Cami Koons to talk about how some rural communities are revitalizing their downtown districts with hopes of attracting younger, city-dwelling tourists.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Trevor Grandin, Byron Love and KCUR Studios, and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

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As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.
Trevor Grandin is a contributing producer for KCUR Studios.
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