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The Creative Class, moving into new industries

February 8th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

I’ve often felt that a missing part of Richard Florida’s Creative Class theory has been a lack of emphasis on creative individuals who work in non-creative industries.  For those unfamiliar, Florida believes that cities must compete for talent because individuals who belong to the “creative class” drive our economy.  In short, cities that attract talent thrive; those that don’t die.

So who are these creative workers that cities need?  Florida finds them in the fields of science, research, health care, finance, computer science and the arts, to name a few. 

His research casts an ominous shadow on rural communities, both past and future.  Historically, he finds little evidence of creative workers in rural communities.  And in the future, he sees little opportunity for rural communities to attract them. No talent, no future.   

In the following interview on Big Think, however, Florida suggests creative works are migrating to jobs not usually associated with the creative class.  

(video source:  “Reinveting the Way Workers Learn,” Big Think )

Creative workers in home repair and food processing.  Those jobs don’t sound as foreign to rural communities as computer science and research. 

In this light, rural communities are still in competition with urban areas for creative individuals.  But the question becomes, how can we help them put their creativity to work building businesses that connect to the geographic advantages each rural community possesses? 

As Florida highlights later in the interview, that process becomes easier when we reinvent our school systems.  Let’s talk more about that later. 

I’m excited to see that the Creative Class theory is growing to be more inclusive.  At the Rural Learning Center we’ve always sense creative people in our rural communities are overlooked.  Too often, however, we’ve neglected to harness and apply their creativity.

Tags: brain drain, creative economy, Richard Florida
Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 0 )

Brain Drain or Brain Gain: We need to learn more

February 5th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

Ben Winchester’s research on “rural brain gain,” has drawn some interesting responses in North Dakota. Based on an article titled “Report suggests ‘brain gain’ instead of brain drain,” which appeared in the January 28, 2010 Grand Forks Herald and was reprinted in the January 30, 2010 Fargo-Moorhead InForum, I’d have to say North Dakotans don’t find a lot of applicability in Winchester’s research for their state.  (If you are into negative comments, you’ll want to check out the comments at the end of the InForum article.)

Does Minnesota research apply elsewhere?

The skepticism begins with North Dakota demographer Dr. Richard Rathge who questions the applicability of research about rural Minnesota compared to rural North Dakota.  As he notes, people are more inclined to move to rural places that are high in natural amenities (e.g., West Central Minnesota) than to places with few natural amenities (e.g. North Dakota).

No doubt.  USDA research supports Rathke’s assertions.

But my gut still tells me that there’s something to Winchester’s research.  I’ve personally witnessed numerous examples of people who move to Miner County to raise their children.  The number of people moving in may not be as high as that Winchester found in his study.  But they definitely didn’t move to Miner County for the natural amenities.

And that’s why Winchester’s research is valuable.  We need to better understand what groups of people are moving to rural communities, and what’s their motivation.  Just saying young people are moving out isn’t good enough.

Does the term “Brain Drain” hurt marketing efforts?

When I originally raised the question “Should we banish ‘brain drain’ from our vocabulary?” in a blog post a couple weeks ago, I was trying to figure out if the term “brain drain” does more harm (in promoting our communities) than good (in raising awareness of a problem). I’ve yet to reach a definitive answer.

Based on what I’ve read in the Grand Fork’s article, I’ve concluded that Rathge would say that the question is mute.  At the end of the Grand Forks article, he is quoted saying:

“Here in North Dakota, we’ve seen many decades of outmigration of young adults. Community builders have been talking for decades about ways to hold them, including being positive rather than negative.”

“The bottom line is we need to provide opportunities for people who want to stay. We have to be serious about economic development in North Dakota.” (source: Chuck Haga, “Report suggests ‘brain gain’ instead of brain drain,” Grand Forks Herald, 1-28-09)

It’s more than a job

Getting serious about economic development in rural communities is vitally important.  But it requires a strategy that is more complex than new business recruitment alone.

That’s what I like about the research being conducted by Dr. David Ivan with his “Can small towns be cool?” project.  The themes he identifies in his presentations (which I outline here) offer rural communities a model for rural economic development worth consideration.

So, whether it’s brain drain or brain gain in our communities, I hope we’d all agree that it is something we ought to pay attention to.

Note:  Access to the Grand Forks Herald and Fargo-Moorhead InForum articles may require individuals sign up for a free membership with Forum Communications have been archived.  I did notice it has been reprinted and can be read on the Farm Bureau site.

Tags: brain drain, brain gain, North Dakota, people attraction
Posted in Community Engagement, Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 0 )

OTA Sessions: Let’s make it a rural thing

February 4th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

“Chris” received a gold star for his comment on my last post.  While referencing the social media presentation Lindsey and I gave to Miner County residents, Chris highlighted the OTA Sessions conference being held in Sioux Falls, SD on March 25th and 26th.

The conference looks so enticing that Lindsey and I rushed to sign up. It looks so valuable that I’m calling on other passionate supporters of rural communities to attend. 

What is OTA?

What “OTA” stands for is a mystery.  I think its secrecy is part of the organizer’s creative marketing strategy.

But the list of speakers leaves little doubt concerning the quality of the event.  Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel, Julien Smith, Spike Jones, Jonathan Harris, and Scott Monty may not be well-known in the stuffy board rooms of corporate America, but they are rock stars in the social media and creativity worlds.  Their participation alone is enough reason for me to highly recommend the conference.

But as the OTA Sessions website describes, a larger purpose serves as the conference’s backdrop:

 ”The OTA Sessions are a chance for all of us Midwesterners to shatter the perception that creativity and thought leadership live solely on the east and west coasts.”

In other words, conference organizers are calling on us to “deny the lie” that all the smart, creative people have left the Midwest.

Ah, yes.  Brain Drain. 

We’ve been talking a lot about that term lately.  I’ve questioned the idea of banishing the term from our vocabulary because it negatively portrays the reality of rural population movements.  We’ve also been talking about how we can transform small, rural communities so that fewer talented young people leave. (See this post titled “Can South Dakota’s small towns be cool“)

What about a rural Focus?

Although OTA is tended for all creative types in the Upper Midwest, I’d like to issue a special challenge that creative people in small, rural communities attend.  It will be a great opportunity for us to learn from some of our nation’s thought leaders, as well as a chance for us to network and learn from each other. 

As I stated earlier, Lindsey and I will be in attendance, both at the conference and at the networking event the evening before.  If you chose to attend, I hope you will drop us a line and help us connect at the event. 

This may be the most influential group to grace the stage of a conference in South Dakota.  Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

Oh, heh.  I almost forgot.  Early registrants receive a discount AND 3 free books from the authors.

Tags: brain drain, OTA, people attraction, Sioux Falls SD, social media
Posted in Economic Development, Rural, Training and Events | Comments ( 3 )

Is your community ready for social media?

February 2nd, 2010 by Mike Knutson

Last night Lindsey and I engaged in a little social media training for residents in Miner County, SD.  During our session, we noted the changing landscape of advertising, and cited Pepsi’s withdrawal from its traditional advertising during the Super Bowl in favor of sponsoring a community grant program called the Pepsi Refresh Project as an example.  Marketing and advertising is definitely going “social.”

This morning, I hopped onto Facebook to find an update from Mark Rembert at Energize Clinton County who recommended people support a project in the Pepsi Refresh grant contest called Studio H. Learning of the project has inspired me to include the video explaining the project below.  

 

Combine design thinking, vocational trade training, and community citizenship in a youth engagement project — all within a high school setting.  The image of design:SD on steroids comes to mind.  If you agree, I hope you will vote for the project on the Pepsi Refresh page.

Reflecting on this project has created a couple thoughts that I’d like to share.

First, I hope rural communities are inspired by the Studio H project to develop their own youth engagement projects.  I love the idea of combining design and construction training in a community project.  But each community is different, and youth engagement projects need to meet the needs of both young people and the community.     

Second, I hope the Pepsi Refresh Project helps people see how marketing is becoming “social.”  The idea of taking money that previously directed at advertising and using it to engage your customer base is a great way to build a stronger brand.  It’s caused me to think more about how small, rural communities might use online contests as a part of their branding efforts.  (Note:  There are issues with “crowdsourced” contests of this nature, as is highlighted here.) 

And finally, I hope that the Pepsi Refresh Project helps rural residents and community development practitioners understand the importance of delivering social media training to people in rural communities.  I loved the idea advance by David Becker at the Friend of the Farmer blog to develop a social media training program for rural farmers.  (I shared my thoughts in greater detail in this post.)  The idea, along with support from local extension educator Jim Krantz, caused Lindsey and I share the presentation (which I’ve embedded below) with Miner County residents last night.      

Our presentation is intended as an overview of social media.  Beginning February 15^th and continuing each Monday through March, we will offer hands on training for specific tools like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.  If you are a Miner County resident and are interested in this training, I’d encourage you to contact the Miner County Extension office. 

If you are a rural community outside Miner County, I’d encourage you to answer the question:  Are people in our rural community interested in using social media?  If the answer is “yes,” I hope you find a way to bring training to your community.

Tags: crowdsourcing, Design SD, entrepreneurship, marketing, social media, web 2.0
Posted in Rural, Training and Events, education | Comments ( 6 )

Can South Dakota’s small towns be cool?

January 29th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

I’ve commented previously about efforts by travel magazines to identify “cool small towns” (read here and here). Although these lists provide some perspective for rural community development enthusiasts, I’m a bit skeptical of them largely because they are written from a “tourist’s point of view.” In other words, they’re about what urban dwellers believe is cool, and I’m not sure that always translates to what’s important to the future of rural communities.  But a new list caught my eye yesterday because it identifies small towns that “are cool” based on how well they are transitioning into the 21^st century economy.  Now that’s a list worth looking at.  

Actually, the list is just new to me.  Dr. David Ivan at Michigan State University’s Land Policy Institute has been researching the subject for the last 4-5 years.   With Richard Florida’s “Creative Class theory” as the backdrop, Dr. Ivan centered his research around the question, “Can small towns be cool?”  Through his research, he has identified both themes of success (i.e. - best practices) and success stories (i.e. - what small towns are doing good things).  Rural community development enthusiasts will find value in both. 

Through review of Dr. Ivan’s presentation at the 2009 Small Town & Rural Development Conference, I was able to identify the following 10 themes being employed by successful small towns. 

• Strong engagement between citizens, community organizations, and government (note: he identified third places as a key factor in building civic engagement, slide 10);
• Local entrepreneurial investment in community;
• Community fosters an environment that support entrepreneurship;
• Regional view of the economy;
• Willingness to adapt for new opportunities;
• Actively pursues cultural economic development opportunities;
• Cultural efforts are not overly contrived;
• Cultural efforts reach out to community youth;
• Deliberate effort to engage youth;
• Conviction that in the long run you have to do it yourself.

 What a great list!  Readers at ReImagine Rural will recognize many of the themes as regular topics of discussion.  One theme I was surprised to see not addressed was school involvement. Granted youth are prominently featured, but most rural communities operate under the principle that the school is the heart of the community.  It causes me to wonder how we can have a successful community without school engagement. 

 

Where’s South Dakota in all this?

I became aware of this study because of Richard Longworth’s December 2009 blog post titled “Some success.” A Google search for “Can Small Towns be Cool” made me aware that I had missed an earlier post on the same subject (May 2009) from my favorite small town entrepreneurship blogger, Becky McCray. Both Longworth and McCray both identify specific towns that are on the “cool town list.”  Sadly, no small towns in South Dakota made the cut. What’s up with that?

As Longworth points out, Dr. Ivan is still conducting research and is interested in hearing of other successful small towns.  Hopefully, South Dakota’s towns haven’t been reviewed yet. But just in case, I’m going to suggest one.

 

How about Hills City?

I didn’t make the Design SD charrette in Hill City, SD last fall.  But from what Lindsey tells me, they should be on the list. 

Hill City terms itself “the heart of the hills” due to its location and proximity to major Black Hills attractions, including Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore.  But today, the town is probably better known for its arts economy.  Several years ago, a prominent artist made Hill City his home, and brought with him an idea that Hill City had the potential to develop an arts-based economy.  Since that time, the town’s leadership has embraced the idea and Hill City’s Main Street has transformed itself into an upscale shopping destination for tourists and residents alike.  Organizations like the Hill City Arts Council and Heart of the Hills Economic Development Corporation have joined forces to host events, encourage entrepreneurs, and build a stronger community (see their explicit goals here).  Hill City is definitely one of South Dakota’s cool towns!

I’ve got a few pressing tasks yet today, but I’m definitely going to send Dr. Ivan my recommendation.  And I hope you will share your recommendation as well. 

Additional Resources:

•  “Can Small Towns Be Cool? Study Translation Paper” by Dr. David Ivan
• Design South Dakota

 Photo Credit: Cliff1066 - Flickr

 

Tags: coolest small towns, creative economy, Hill City SD, Michigan, small town cool
Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 7 )

10 Reasons “Third Places” matter to Rural Communities

January 26th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

Admittedly, I go a little overboard on emphasizing the importance of “third places” to the future of rural communities, but my gut tells me they play a more vital role in the social and economic wellbeing of our rural communities than most people give them credit for.   

For those who haven’t heard of them before, third places are where people meet and socialize outside of their homes (first places) and their work (second places). Sociologist Ray Oldenburg is credited with drawing attention to third places through his influential book, The Great Good Place.  Back in January 2009, I wrote this post titled “Does your Community need a Coffee Shop and other Third Places?”  It’s still one of our more popular posts here at Reimagine Rural.    

Lacking in any of my previous writing about third places, however, is a comprehensive explanation of how third places impact the economic wellbeing of small, rural communities - or any community for that matter.  For that reason, I’ve produced the following resource guide to illuminate why rural communities must get serious about their efforts to develop strong third places in their communities. 

10 Reasons Third Places Matter to Rural Communities

1. Third places are cool…and rural places could stand a little cool. It’s no secret that young people today crave “cool” environments to live and hang out. What receives less attention, however, is research that suggests Gen Yers often choose where to live before seeking permanent employment; and that “coolness” plays a role in this decision making process. If true, this tells us that for rural communities to attract young people, they need to develop some cool places young people crave. And what better way to do it than by creating a place where young and old can get together. (Another article on the subject can be found here.)

2. Third places introduce new people to the community. I’ve noted in previous posts, how important it is for new residents and visitors to feel welcomed by a community.  Wall Street Journal writer Gwendolyn Bounds offers a personal perspective of how Guinans, an Irish pub, welcomed her into the Garrison, NY community and played a critical role in her choice to move there. As Bounds came to frequent the pub, “regulars” at Guinans taught her (a former NYC resident) a great deal about how to live in a rural community (i.e. use a chain saw, fix the plumbing, and deal with the snow). It’s possible that new residents can become a part of a community without a third place, but third places seem to make the process a lot easier.

3. Third Places improve the quality of life in a community. Quality of life means different things to different people. Some say quality of life requires a community to have a strong “night life.” Other, say it requires safe environments. But as this research suggests, people who live in communities with third places perceive the quality of life in their community as being higher than those who live without them.

4. Third Places are good for tourism. When people go on vacation they are typically looking for a unique experience. More and more, they also want that experience to be authentic. In other words, they want to get a sense of a community’s character, rather than an image developed by a corporate marketing department. If your community has a scenic wonder like the Grand Canyon, or man-made attraction like the Mall of America, you may not need to worry about a third place. But as tourism expert Roger Brooks of Destination Development Inc. notes, third places are a part of each community’s “brand” and can become places where locals and visitors meet each other. If you want further proof on the importance of third places to tourism, just look at what the Irish pub has done for tourism in Ireland.

5. Third places can help improve the business climate in your small town. Increasingly entrepreneurs need to work from anywhere and at anytime. That’s why cell service, broadband internet, and wifi accessibility are vital infrastructure to any rural community. But does your community have a place where entrepreneurs can meet with clients and business partners, take advantage of technology, and remain connected to the office? If not, your community may be frustrating entrepreneurs more than you realize.

6. Third places stimulate creativity. I work from home quite a bit. Sometimes, the solitude becomes deafening, and I need to be around people. I’ve discovered that in addition to combating isolation, third places help stimulate both my productivity and creativity. Surprisingly, I’m not alone. I recently learned that J.K. Rowlings turns to cafés for inspiration while writing her monumental Harry Potter books. Now she’s creative! (And just think what would happen if a third place in your community inspired the next Harry Potter series.)

7. Third Places help people age in place. Back in the 1990s, the Rural Learning Center focused on developing senior housing options (like independent and assisted living) in our community because we learned that helping seniors age in place was important to their quality of life. F. Kaid Benfield recognized that same issue in this blog post where he emphasized that communities who follow smart growth principles should develop third places for seniors that they can walk to. The point here is that seniors need to be active and engaged. That could be accomplished with a senior citizens facility. But a more efficient use of resources would involve developing third places where all generations visit.

8. Third Places can help create jobs.  Cooltown Studios has published numerous blogs posts about third places in urban areas.  I particularly like this post, which highlights how third places help build conversations that lead to entrepreneurial thinking, a requirement for growing our economy.   On one hand, saying that third places lead to job growth is a bit abstract for me, but I do believe it’s a good reminder that entrepreneurs need places to network and build conversations in order to generate new ideas that will hopefully lead to job growth. 

9. Third Places will never be replaced by social networking sites like Facebook. There’s a school of thought suggesting that physical third places are being replaced by virtual ones. In other words, Facebook is the new third place. Now let me be clear: I believe rural communities should consider developing an online social networking strategy as a part of their economic development work. It’s a great way to connect with people both inside and outside your community. But as Mary Newsom writes on Citiwire: online social networks as third places are “mere metaphors for the real thing.”

10. Third Places help build conversation …. and conversation leads to trust. One of the beautiful things about quality third places is that they bring together people of all socio-economic backgrounds. As conversation emerges in a third place, people begin to know, understand, and trust each other. Sociologists call this bridging social capital and have recognized its importance in community and economic development in rural places. (As this paper suggest, bridging social capital is the entry point for strengthening your community socially and economically.) On a basic level, most of us can appreciate that whenever people come together for open conversation, they begin to trust each other. And when people trust each other, it’s a lot easier to get things done in our communities.

I’ve been thinking and writing about the importance of third places in rural communities for a couple years now, and I’ve really noticed the growth of good resources being published online. In addition to sharing some of those resources as links above, I’ve attempted to save my favorites to my Delicious account.  Even though I’ve saved over 60 recourses, I know the list is incomplete. 

That’s why I’d like to ask for your help.  Feel free to check out my list of favorites on Delicious, but just as important, please share your favorites with me.  And don’t think that my “10 Reasons Third Places are important to Rural Communities” list above is complete either.  I plan to revise the list in the near future, and include your thoughts and new discoveries in it.

 

Photo Credits:

• Top Right: Calamity Sal - Flickr
• Middle Left: Shannonmcneise - Flickr
• Bottom Right: powerbook — Flickr

Tags: Gwendolyn Bounds, people attraction, social capital, third places, tourism
Posted in Community Development, Community Engagement, Economic Development, Quality of Life, Rural, Uncategorized | Comments ( 4 )

Buy Fresh, Buy Local South Dakota goes online

January 25th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

The Buy Fresh, Buy Local South Dakota initiative has taken another step.  They’ve launched a new website, and stand ready to help South Dakota’s producers and consumers build a more robust local foods economy.

As I wrote in a post a couple weeks ago, schools in our rural communities can play an important role in the growing local foods movement.  Not only can schools help teach children healthy eating habits, but they can stimulate economic development at the local community level.  And as Business Week recently reported, local foods initiatives play a more significant role in economic development than most people realize.   

The Buy Fresh, Buy Local South Dakota website is another educational tool for helping people learn more about foods grown in the region.  It includes a calendar of upcoming events and a  forum for asking questions.  I intend to keep it on my radar, and will turn to it with my questions. 

Currently, there’s only one question in the forum.  In a nutshell it acknowledges the difficulty of buying locally grown foods during our winter months, and essentially asks, “How can we get more?” 

I’m anxious to learn what ideas others will add to the conversation.  My response might be, let’s be more aggressive in our support of local foods this spring, summer, and fall, so that more of our producers feel comfortable making the financial investments required to turn their operation into a year-round production.  That would be something to look forward to!

 

Tags: Buy Local, local foods, South Dakota
Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 0 )

My Milk Story

January 22nd, 2010 by Mike Knutson

I don’t often post stories about my childhood, but this NPR story, titled “Got (Good) Milk? Ask The Dairy Evangelist,” had me reminiscing about what has grown to be a fond childhood memory of mine. 

 

My Story

Growing up, I hated milk.  In fact, one of the few concessions my parents made involved allowing me to add a little Nestle chocolate mix to my milk. A little chocolate milk mix meant I’d down a glass of milk at each meal without complaining. But that changed one day when we went over to our neighbors for dinner.

Whenever eating at someone else’s house, I knew better than to throw a tantrum about having to drink plain milk.  So on this occasion, I dutifully downed the glass presented to me with my meal, and the strangest thing happened — I liked it!  (Yes, Life cereal fans, it’s true: “Hey Mikey.  He likes it.”)

The milk, which somehow tasted different than what I was used to drinking, came from a cow that our neighbors milked. Feeling somewhat full of myself for drinking my milk without a fuss, I later admitted to my parents that “I liked that milk, and I’d drink more if it always tasted that way.”

Not too many months went by before my dad returned home with a cow in the trailer.  Turns out, he actually purchased that very cow from our neighbor, and I earned a new chore.  It was my job to milk the cow every evening.  No kidding: admitting that I liked fresh milk cost me about 30 minutes of my free time each day.

Milking was an interesting experience.  As school activities began infringing on my evening chores, I earned morning milk duty.  Getting up at 6:00 am so that I could make swing choir and stage band practice at 7:30 taught me a lot about responsibilities.  It also probably explains why I enjoy getting up at 5:00 am.

We soon had more milk than we knew what to do with and my original distain for milk soon turned to a weakness for all things dairy:  whole cream on my Corn Flakes for breakfast, and homemade ice cream for the holidays.  My parents even “shared” extra milk with the neighbors, creating a little local economy. 

While growing up, I never felt that milking chores was a fair tradeoff for the benefits of being able to enjoy milk.  But over the years, I’ve grown fond of the experience. It wasn’t until reading the NPR story, however, that I realized I don’t really like milk anymore.

 

Warren Taylor’s story

Warren Taylor is an Ohio dairyman, who as the NPR story states, “is on a crusade to put cows back on pastures and bring the flavor back to milk.” (source:  John Burnet,  “Got (Good) Milk?  Ask The Dairy Evangelist,” NPR, Dec. 10, 2009)

“Bring back flavor to milk?”  That is something I hadn’t considered in a long time. 

Taylor believes the process for changing the taste of milk starts with changing what cows eat.  This means letting them chomp on grass, rather than the typical feed stock of corn and soybeans.  (Feeding corn & soybeans means dairy farmers need less pasture ground, and it increases milk production.) 

Taylor also believes milk tastes better when it is:

• Sold quicker to the consumer (within 48 hours)
• Not homogenized
• Pasteurized at a lower temp (165 degrees, rather than the industry standard of 185 degrees and the ultrapasteurized standard of 285 degrees)

Unwittingly, my family followed all of Taylor’s practices, and I’ve got to believe that it’s a big reason milk tasted better to me as a kid.  I must admit, however, that I have no scientific research to back up this belief.  As the article and ensuing comments indicate, not everyone agrees with Taylor: quality, cost, and food safety seem to be the issues at play. 

I’m sure we will hear more about this issue in the future, and I hope to learn from the debate that’s sure to emerge.  Until then, I’ll just ask, “So how does milk taste to you?”

 

Photo Credit:- David Jones - Flickr

Tags: dairy farm, farmers, Ohio
Posted in Rural | Comments ( 1 )

No vision, No resources

January 19th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

Last week I had an interesting conversation on Twitter concerning a ReImagine Rural blog post I wrote titled “Should we banish ‘brain drain’ from our vocabulary.” The post focuses on Ben Winchester’s research suggesting much of rural Minnesota is experiencing an in migration of college educated adults age 30-45.

The Twitter conversation emerged when Joe O’Sullivan (@jaosullivanx) a reporter from Watertown, SD, sent me a tweet saying, “I see people here who grew up rural return 15 years later w/ degrees. Positive development, but can you bank on it?”

My response was, “B Winchester tells us that there are more who move back than we realize. But that’s also why we need (to) intentionally work at it.”  Later I sent him a second tweet with a link to a report that highlights the importance of rural communities being intentional about developing people attraction strategies. 

Joe responded writing, “I like. But it seems that communities have either a lack of vision, or resources, or both. How do you get around that?”

 

“…lack of vision, or resources, or both” 

It’s a valid point and good question.  In making the statement, I think Joe is trying to bring “reality” into the conversation about the future of rural communities.  Too many of our rural communities don’t have a vision for the future and they don’t think they have any resources.  So what do we do about it?

My mind was flooded with thoughts, which would have required a 2-3 page essay to convey; something Twitter’s 140 character limit prevents.  Instead, I paired my thoughts down to, “No doubt! And add determination. No easy answers, but I’d say use appreciative inquiry and stick with it. What do you think?”

I recommended appreciative inquiry because I firmly believe that every community has assets.  They just need to approach their vision for the future by leveraging existing assets.  In many ways that’s what we did in Miner County, and assets started multiplying exponentially. 

I also mentioned determination because community and economic development work is fraught with frustration; economic growth seldom happens in a flash.  Only those with determined community leaders emerge successfully.

I hope that my advice was good, but I realize that I’m no expert on the subject.  What works in one rural community is not universally right for all rural communities.   So, let me repost the question here:  How do you get around rural communities who lack vision and resources or both?

 

Photo credit:  BozDoz - Flickr

Tags: appreciative inquiry, brain drain, brain gain, people attraction
Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 0 )

Nurturing an Entrepreneurial Generation

January 18th, 2010 by Mike Knutson

We know that Gen Y is an entrepreneurial generation.  But what can we do to take advantage of this opportunity in our rural communities?    

While thinking about the above, I felt inspired to compile a list of 5 Thoughts about Entrepreneurship, as it applies to young people.  While not particularly profound, I think the value of the list is that it speaks to the importance of events like Launch ‘10 that connect entrepreneurship, education, and community involvement:

• Entrepreneurs are made, not born.  While some people may be genetically inclined to be risk takers, entrepreneurship is the culmination of life experiences. 
• Educators have a responsibility to teach young people to be entrepreneurial. By this, I don’t mean that educators should try relating their entire curriculum to starting a business. Rather, I think it suggests educators need to inspire young people to ask questions and be inventive. Ideally that starts in the elementary grades, but it’s never too late.
• Communities and educators need to inspire young people to become entrepreneurs, and take risks by starting their own businesses. Inspiration can come from a lot of sources, but I’m always reminded of how I was inspired by the stories of high school students when I was in grade school. Whether it was athletics or music, I wanted to be like them. Are you sharing those stories?
• Communities play important roles in developing and supporting entrepreneurs. Often, rural economic development professionals think supporting entrepreneurs revolves around helping them find the financial resources to start their business. That’s late stage thinking. If communities want to increase the deal flow of new business development, they need start working in the entrepreneurship chain much earlier.
• It’s never too late to become an entrepreneur. Enough said.

Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, SD created the Launch Conference five years ago with the goals of accomplishing much of what I’ve described in the list above.  This year, their one-day conference features keynote addresses from Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET) co-founder Sheena Lindahl and EET facilitator Arel Moodie (two highly accomplished young entrepreneurs); and Dr. Kay Palan, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Iowa State University.

One of the things I like about the conference is that it brings together entrepreneurs, faculty, and community development professionals.  It fits well with the Rural Learning Center’s guiding principle that “It’s all connected.”

I have the date of this year’s conference (Feb 25^th) marked on my calendar.  If you’d like to learn more or register for the conference, I’d encourage you to check out the conference website by clicking here or by clicking on the advertisement in the right sidebar.

Tags: Dakota Wesleyan University, entrepreneurship, Gen Y, Launch'10, Mitchell SD
Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 3 )