“The Midwestern Exodus Is Finally Ending”
Jeanne Whalen and Paul Overberg report that decades of migration away from the Rust Belt have begun to reverse, with Akron among the metros turning losses into gains.
Featured
WLBT · May 8, 2026
“Jackson home values surge 32%”
WLBT’s report on Jackson’s residential market tracks the early movement in the same city Jackson Rising — the citywide planning effort M|B|P designed, launched and ran — set out to turn.
Read the story at WLBT
01
In the News
“Jackson home values surge 32%”
Citing Redfin and Zillow data, WLBT reported Jackson home values up 32.4% year over year — the largest jump in the metro.
“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”
The East Palo Alto City Council voted unanimously to advance the Civic Commons — a new library, City Hall, police headquarters and athletic field — anchored by a $20 million city allocation and a public-private funding plan.
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Talks & Appearances
“Josh McManus | Urban Strategist, Better Together Project”
Josh McManus sits down with host Paul Wolf of Visit Jackson’s Soul Sessions — on decades of work in cities like Detroit and Chattanooga, the Jackson Rising effort, and Better Together, the project to bring architect Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee’s vision to life.
“Josh McManus: Jackson’s Comeback Story”
Josh McManus joins host Grant Callen for a long conversation on the rise, decline and revitalization of American cities — why Jackson’s challenges are not unique, what Jackson Rising set out to do, and how the Chastain campus can help anchor a neighborhood’s renewal.
“Jackson Falling / Jackson Rising / Jackson 2050”
Josh McManus’s keynote to the Greater Jackson Chamber — the case for where Jackson has been, the turn underway, and what the city could be by 2050.
“On Crapitalism…”
And the origins of our discontent — three sources standing in the way of the Right to Rise: collapsing community, comparison culture, and Crapitalism.
“4 Pillars of Place-Based Change”
Thirty years of lessons from the front lines — four core ideas for making place-based change, starting in Chattanooga.
“The Right to Rise”
A meditation on America’s birthday — the belief that each generation should have a real shot, not a theoretical one, at doing better than the one before it.
“Combatting Death by Downward Mobility”
A million miles on American asphalt, chasing opportunity and purpose — and what it takes to keep moving in places the economy left behind.
Let’s make a Big Plan.
If your place has a hard site or a hard problem, that’s the work we do.
bigplans@mbpcompanies.com