Maroney Commons: “Uncommon innovation” made common

December 28th, 2011 by

It’s old news now, but worth repeating. The Maroney Commons, a conference and training center in Howard, SD, recently received the 2011 Rural Smart Growth Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Smart Growth is a set of community design and transportation principles that govern the sustainable development of communities. In many ways, these principles are the vanguard against the urban sprawl that plagues our country. But the principles have impact in many other areas; hence the reason it makes sense to honor a rural project, where sprawl isn’t as much of an issue. The Maroney Commons, a project developed by the Rural Learning Center, received this recognition for numerous reasons: First, it was built on Howard’s Main Street, rather than on undeveloped land outside of the town’s center. Second, it was designed through a process that engaged local citizens; community members provided input through a series of meetings on what they thought the project should look like and be like. And third, the Commons was built to LEED Platinum standards, making use of building materials from old, dilapidated buildings and state-of-the-art renewable energy. To learn more about the project, I would encourage you to check out the facility's website and watch the EPA video embedded below.   I’d also encourage readers to watch the Keloland television news story about the award. Titled “Uncommon Innovation,” it highlights the potential of innovative thinking as an economic development strategy. As reporter Perry Groten states:

So many small towns struggle to keep jobs. But by going green, the Maroney Commons could become a high-tech hub that employs a strategy of recycling to revitalize the rural economy.”

 

The economies of urban and rural economies alike are being driven by innovation. As we’ve talked about previously, rural communities need to reimagine and reinvent themselves. They need to develop and tap into new competitive advantages -- or they won’t have a reason to exist. That doesn’t mean that every rural community needs a conference center like the Maroney Commons. But Rural America would be a stronger place today if more communities made “uncommon innovation” more common.    

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Posted in Community Design, Community Development, Economic Development, In the News | Comments ( 2 )

My Return and “Rewriting the Rural Narrative”

December 21st, 2011 by

My return to Reimagine Rural as a guest blogger is finally at hand.  And fittingly, the subject of my post is a Lakeland Public Television interview with Minnesota Extension Researcher Ben Winchester. Titled “Rewriting the Rural Narrative,” the interview focuses on how many of the messages we hear about Rural America – and assume to be true – are often incomplete.  For instance, Ben’s research shows that while young people do move away from their hometowns following high school, there is a movement of college educated adults age 30-45 year olds who are moving to small towns.  In that context, saying Rural America struggles from “brain drain” is not completely accurate. Regular readers of Reimagine Rural know that story; we’ve shared Ben’s research numerous times.  What I enjoy about this interview, however, is that Ben fleshes out additional advice for rural communities.   For instance: I could go on and on with pieces of information like the above.  Most 30 minute interviews are long for my tastes.  But this one is a gem and is worth watching more than once. I wasn’t able to embed it in this post, so you will need to click on the link to watch it.  I’m thankful Ben sent me an e-mail with a link to the interview.  If you find it as valuable as I did, you will share it with others.

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Posted in Community Development, Economic Development | Comments ( 2 )

A farewell of sorts

October 14th, 2011 by

It’s with a mix of sadness and excitement that I announce my departure as the main curator of content at the Reimagine Rural blog. Beginning on Monday, I will go to work for Horizon Health Care of Howard, SD as the Prairie Health Information Network Director, helping them and two other rural community health centers with the implementation of their electronic health records.

Reimagine Rural: the beginnings

When we started the Reimagine Rural blog back in October 2008, we were one of the few blogs focused on rural issues. Overall, I knew very little about social media and to be honest, I really didn’t want to know anything. I jumped in with both feet, however, learning as I went along because I sensed that social media could be a valuable tool for rural communities and organizations. Our overall goal for the blog was to be a resource for rural communities as they tried to reimagine and reinvent their futures. In that first post, I admitted that neither I nor the Rural Learning Center were experts on community and economic development. We simply wanted to start a conversation that could lead to greater insights. I think we’ve succeeded. And now, many more bloggers have joined the cause. I’ve struggled writing this post perhaps more than any other that I have written. In fact, I’ve created numerous renditions. One post began as a thank you to everyone who has helped me through the years; I must be old because that list went on way too long. Another offered tips on what I’ve learned during my time in the economic development field; but that post seemed as if I was regurgitating old posts. And my final one offered a wish list for Rural America; unfortunately, it depressed me to think that most of these wishes would never come true.

A farewell of sorts

So this is my farewell of sorts. I say “of sorts” because I won’t be leaving my work in rural communities. In fact, I won’t even be leaving the building. Horizon Health Care is headquartered in the Rural Learning Center building. John Mengenhausen, its CEO, is also the president of Howard’s economic development group, so we’ve worked together for many years. For regular readers, let me assure you that Reimagine Rural won’t go away either. Over time, it will take on a new form and character with new authors leading the way. My hope for my departure is that it will provide an opportunity to reimagine the blog’s future. It’s an opportunity to make it better. (If you have ideas on how to help do so, I’m sure Joe Bartmann would greatly appreciate it.) And finally, I hope that I don’t totally disappear from the blogosphere. A month ago while considering this job opportunity, I wrote about Odessa Sherbaniuk’s volunteer efforts to keep the conversation alive on the Reasons Rural Rock project, an effort she started while a college intern this summer. While I know it will be impossible for me to live up to her high level of commitment, I do want to provide occasional guest posts. I also know, however, that it will be a challenge, especially during the first few months of my new job. So perhaps a “see you later” is a more appropriate. For anyone who wants to contact me in the future, feel free to do so through one of the social media accounts that I maintain. I’d love to stay connected. And above all, if you are ever in Howard, stop by our offices and say hello. Knowing that I can stay connected makes leaving my work with the Rural Learning Center much easier.

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The Great Wide Open – Revisited

October 13th, 2011 by

I have a love-hate relationship with urban reporters who write about the demise of rural South Dakota.  I love that they care enough about the problems we deal with on a daily basis to write about them.  But hate that these stories often perpetuate stereotypes and myths created by a lack of familiarity and understanding with the subject. For instance, Maureen Callahan recently wrote an article about the demise of Rural South Dakota in the New York Post.  Callahan appears to be a talented writer who flew into Rapid City, drove out to small towns in Western South Dakota like Belvidere (pop: 49), Cottonwood (pop. 6), and Scenic (pop. 1), and interviewed anyone she could find.  She also contacted both local officials and subject matter experts.  It’s hard to find fault with her research.

Insightful or Substandard?

Throughout her work, she produces some interesting insights.  For example, she compares the depopulation problems of Rural America to the decline of Detroit. 
In many ways, what’s happening here mirrors what’s happening in Detroit, on the decline for so many decades but now in critical condition, with the population declining 25% in the past 10 years. The city is planning to raze 10,000 empty residential structures, with the goal of moving those holdouts who live in deserted areas closer to the centralized, functioning part of town, with its hospitals and grocery stores and taken-for-granted goods and services. America on the whole, it seems, is downsizing.”  (Source:  Maureen Callahan, “Great wide open:  How rural America has become a vanishing way of life,” New York Post, Oct. 8, 2011)
I recognize the similarities.  For me, the major difference is that people are generally concerned about Detroit's future and don't assume that the city's decline is inevitable.  I wish the same were truer for Rural America. Mixed with those insights are occasional sour notes.  Callahan hits one of them when she quotes state demographer, Mike McCurry, who describes the people who want to stay:
Our small communities lack the threshold of people to keep kids doing their best. I grew up learning that I was an export commodity -- that there were going to be no jobs for me. The young people here have basically disappeared. If you want to keep a kid in South Dakota, you want him to be a dropout.
There’s much truth in the statement.  It stings, and I hate to admit it.  The problem, however, is that the statement is not the whole truth.  I know of two residents of a nearby town of approximately 1000 who have built successful careers in the field of technology (one of whom helps produce the infamous TED Conference).   Why not include people like them in the story? There are other opportunities that she misses.  For instance, she quotes Pierre, SD’s community development coordinator, Scott Carbonneau, about his belief that Pierre has an opportunity to attract young professionals who want to return after seeing the world.  Instead of supporting his statement with “brain gain” research, she focuses on the negative aspects of attracting young people to rural communities.  To be fair, however, I can’t blame Callahan for not highlighting those who seek to return.  After all, those of us who live here do a poor job of lifting up successful entrepreneurs and talented rural residents.  We’re also guilty of focusing on the negative, thereby reinforcing the image that our towns hold no future for young people. 

What does this mean for us?

There are many ways to react to stories like this.  Many rural South Dakotans will ridicule the erroneous, stereotypical elements of the story.  In fact, I first learned of the article from Cory Heidelberger at Madville Times who falls into this camp: 
Callahan’s article smells of condescension and superficiality: for example, she deems Rapid City “ridiculously clean” and “almost entirely white.  Hmm… did she go anywhere other than the airport before heading out to find a few colorful rural characters to reinforce her readers’ big-city stereotypes of South Dakotans?  (source:  Cory Heidelberger, “NY Post Finds Rural South Dakota in Decline; What to Do?” Madville Times, Oct. 11, 2011)
Other people will simply dismiss the article altogether because they don’t want to hear outsiders point out our blemishes.  Another approach is to figure out how we can use the article to better our rural communities. According to Bernie Hunhoff at the South Dakota Magazine, that’s how residents of Gregory, SD responded a few years ago when the Chicago Sunday Tribune published an article describing Gregory as a dying community.  According to one resident, the negative story spurred the community to action.   As Bernie writes, “So right or wrong, a critique can be a kick in the butt.”  (Source:  Bernie Hunhoff, “Diane Sawyer on the Rez,” South Dakota Magazine, Oct. 11, 2011) With that in mind, I hope everyone read Callahan’s article.  Agree or disagree, my guess is that reading it will spark strong emotions.   It’s then up to you to decide how to spend the energy this emotion creates.  You can expend it by grumbling about big city folks who don’t understand rural folks.  Or you can use it to reflect and act on what needs to change in your hometown.  I hope you’ll do the latter.

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural, Rural Life | Comments ( 2 )

Agripreneurs Live Here

October 5th, 2011 by

I’ve been watching farmers for a long time. Growing up as a farmer’s granddaughter and daughter I had no other aspirations than to not spend the rest of my life tied to this land. But being a farmer’s wife, mom to farmers, mother-in-law, sister, friend and now “Grandma” to up and coming young farmers has taught me a deep appreciation of local agriculture here in Miner County, SD where I make my home.

Less than 2% of us

I used to put 100 pennies in a line on the kitchen table and explain that the first penny and about half of the second represented the number of farmers and that these few, in turn, grew the food for all the rest of us.  Today’s farmer feeds an average of 155 people so I need to revise my teaching tool!  We all need to be paying more attention to our young farm families.

Above Average

I also believe really good farmers are well beyond the average. It’s not enough to academically understand all that goes into farming from soil testing to crop planning to machine maintenance and storage. It’s not enough to have the ability to think generations ahead in a breeding program, plan for proper nutrition and health, drive facilities design, construction and management. Today’s agriculture is all of those things and more. You have to be a marketing expert,financial planner, strategic thinker and a resilient soul. You have to consider your neighbors – the wildlife and plant life with which you share space and resources and your human neighbors who look to you for help and assistance.

More than making a living

I recently learned a new phrase and I think I’m going to love it –“agripreneur”. This is a new phrase and just being developed but I will add that I hope it begins to describe the business, entrepreneurial and comprehensive ability components of today’s successful young farmers. It’s a competitive world pitched against large ag corporations and the number of young farmers is fewer and fewer. You have to be good at what you do. You have to keep learning and growing in your work. You have to love it so much that you attend to it every day, 365 days a year. Hopefully you are so devoted to it that you teach your children to love it just as much as you do. The other 153 plus of us are counting on you!

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Posted in Agriculture, Community Development, Gen Y, Quality of Life, Rural, Youth | Comments ( 0 )

What’s the role of advertising in rural economic development

September 30th, 2011 by

What is the role of advertising in your community’s economic development strategy?  That question came to mind awhile back when I read a post titled “Is Advertising a Waste of Money?” Ed Burghard, the post’s author, heads up the Strengthening Brand America Project, an effort targeted at “helping economic development professionals in every state better understand how to leverage the power of place branding as a strategy to become more globally competitive for foreign direct investment.”  The blog he has helped create maintains a clear focus on recruiting businesses and investments as a form of economic development. In this post, Burghard admits that he regularly hears complaints from economic development professionals who say advertising is a failure because it doesn’t lead companies to relocate to their community.  He goes on to say that measuring business relocation is the wrong measure:
The most appropriate measure of success is a positive impact on the perception of your community and an increased willingness to learn more. You need to determine if that outcome is worth the investment given the resources you have available to attract capital investment.” (source:  “Is Advertising a Waste of Money?” Ed Burghard, Strengthening Brand America blog,  Sept. 5, 2011.)
In other words, advertising should help build the brand awareness that opens the door to a conversation about a business relocating to your community. The post sparked a great conversation among economic development professionals on the value of advertising.  Both the post and the comments are definitely worth the read. Although I think Burghardt offers great advice in this post, it feels like the subject is less relevant to small, rural communities.  It’s been my experience that most small towns simply don’t have the finances necessary to significantly change peoples’ perceptions.  That is why I think investing in the product (i.e. – the community itself) will often achieve a greater impact than advertising.  Do great things and offer great value and then word-of-mouth will help build the brand awareness in lieu of the advertising.  Of course, this advice is not universal.  Some rural communities probably benefit from advertising.  And that’s why I ask “What’s the role of advertising in your rural community’s economic development strategy?”  If your community has had a good or bad experience, we’d love to hear about it.

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments ( 2 )

Understanding Poverty in rural places

September 27th, 2011 by

“It’ll be next week before I’m okay again!” That was my honest response to participating in the Poverty Simulation sponsored by NESDCAP in Sisseton, SD on September 14. Ann Pollert, Executive Director at North Dakota Community Action Partnership based in Fargo, North Dakota, facilitated the simulation held in St. Catherine’s Hall. I admit that I registered and drove to Sisseton because of the working relationship we have with the team at NESDCAP and NESDEC. I expected to show up as a good team member would. What I didn’t expect was an experience that would keep coming back to me for days afterward. We were assigned a “family” and given the specifics of our home situation. In my case I was a 21 year old community college student – mom was out of the picture, dad in jail for 45 days, my sisters were 13-year-old twins and our little brother was 3 years old. We had $100 in cash, daycare and rent paid to the end of the month. GO! I spent the next few hours working as hard as I ever have in real life trying to apply for some help with my siblings, pay our rent, pay for food. Getting to class was the first thing that fell off the plate. I LIED on my application for part time employment indicating that I would be a dependable employee by showing up for work on time, working my full shift and taking advantage of training opportunities. The girls skipped out of a field trip because we couldn’t afford the $5 they needed to participate! I was so angry with the parents who had put the three little kids and ME in this position. It wasn’t fair! It isn’t fair. That’s what the simulation really brought home to me again. Working hard, paying attention, having a plan is not enough. Programs address only one aspect of real life – each program requires so much from the applicant in terms of information, follow-up, etc. that it doesn’t take long to simply wear out. No one at the community level has authority or oversight of the whole set of needs. I’ve had firsthand experience in being a single mom, low-income, living on the edge. I thought I had put those emotions and nightmares behind me but the Poverty Simulation reincarnated these for me. I needed to be reminded of the real-life challenges many people face every day. I needed to see why more and more people are in this situation every day. It means a good deal to the long term for our communities. I needed to remember what poverty looks, smells and feels like. I hope this experience stays with me and with my work in building better communities for a long time. Photo:  Ann Pollert presenting at the simulation.

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Posted in Community Development, Training and Events | Comments ( 2 )

Jason Dorsey on Gen Y and small towns

September 23rd, 2011 by

Yesterday I sat in on a live chat video interview between Jodi Schwan of the Sioux Falls Business Journal and Gen Y expert Jason Dorsey. It’s been my experience that most Gen Y experts either trash rural communities or show a lack of understanding about what rural communities have to offer.  With that in mind, I didn’t expect much from Dorsey.  But after listening for about fifteen minutes to what seemed like good advice, I decided to use the chat feature to ask:
What advice do you have for small, rural communities who are trying to communicate the value of living of living in their community?"
Rather than bumbling through the question, Dorsey nailed his response. 

Market around lifestyles and relationships

In a nutshell, he said:  Since Gen Y is all about lifestyles and relationships, rural communities need to showcase those aspects of life in their community.  Help people recognize how they can experience outdoor activities and enjoy a more relaxed pace of life.  Make sure they know that your school offers children a great education.   And emphasize the friendships that people build within your community.  And use social media (especially a Facebook Page) to show what makes a small town special.  (Hopefully, regular readers of Reimagine Rural have heard that before.)

Watch and listen yourself

Dorsey offers greater details during the interview.  I’ve embedded the Sioux Falls Business Journal’s recording of the interview below.  (He addresses my question around the 18:00 minute mark.)
Watch live streaming video from sfbusinessjournal at livestream.com
  I think the video has more to offer, however, than just his response to my question.  For instance, Dorsey addresses what small business owners can do help maintain employees when other businesses can offer more money.  That’s definitely a message small town businesses owners should pay special attention to.  I’ve not heard of Jason Dorsey before today, but I’ll pay closer attention in the future.  It’s nice to hear from a Gen Y expert who understands small, rural communities and offers good advice.

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Posted in Community Development, Community Engagement, Gen Y, Rural, Uncategorized | Comments ( 0 )

Training the next generation of farmers

September 22nd, 2011 by

I hear a lot of talk among my farmer friends about how tough it is for young people to become farmers.  My wife and I have a nephew who was born to be a farmer.  Luckily, his father and grandfather both farm.  Over time, they will provide access to land.  In the meantime, and equally important, they will help him learn the ropes of farming.  Not everyone, however, is so fortunate. If you don’t have access to land and/or mentors, what do you do? Going back to college for a degree in agriculture might be an answer.  But not everyone can afford (in either time or money) to take that option.   That’s why I appreciate the efforts of Dakota Rural Action.  For the last three years, they have offered a new farmer course called Farm Beginnings. It’s geared toward newcomers to the field of sustainable agriculture, and their classes are held on Saturdays during the winter months.  I’ll let you check out the details of the class on the Dakota Rural Action website.  I’d point out that class size is limited and scholarships are available.  The deadline is September 30th.  I’d also recommend that people check out profiles of people who have graduated from the program.  It’s always nice to hear about the impact training programs have on people’s lives.  The Farm Beginnings class is a great opportunity for people who live in eastern South Dakota, northwest Iowa, and southwest Minnesota – but not so great for people in other parts of the country. It’s made me wonder what other options are available around the country to train the next generation of farmers?  Whether traditional or sustainable agriculture, I’d be interested in learning about what other people are doing.   Photo:  Aaron (program graduate) & Kirstin Johnson.  Photo by Kirstin Johnson.

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural, Training and Events | Comments ( 5 )

More inspiration from Odessa in Alberta

September 14th, 2011 by

If you are like me, you’ve occasionally complained about young people (i.e. – What's that stupid music those kids are playing?).  But more often, they are a source of inspiration.  Such is the case with Odessa Sherbaniuk. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Odessa’s efforts to start a Twitter conversation around the topic of Why Rural Rocks.  The project started as a part of her summer internship with the University of Alberta, Augustana campus.  (The internship program is pretty cool on its own.)  Each week this summer, Odessa offers a recap of the top tweets-of-the-week.  While following this online conversation has been exciting, what I find most inspirational is that Odessa has decided to continue the project even though her internship is over.  She has even created a new blog titled Reasons Rural Rocks to showcase her effort If you haven’t done so already, make sure you check out this new blog.  I’d also highly recommend you add Reasons Rural Rocks to your RSS Feed Reader so that you can stay up-to-date on Odessa’s latest posts. For those who haven’t figured out how using RSS Feed Readers can help save time, I’d encourage you to read this blog post by Michael Hyatt and watch the short video embedded in it.   Feed Readers are really easy to use and can help you stay on top of what’s being posted on your favorite rural community development blogs.  I’d also recommend that you ask yourself, “What can I do to help build stronger rural communities?”  Odessa offers a great example of how a young person can contribute using social media.  Whether young (like Odessa) or old (like me), it’s a question worth answering.

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Posted in Community Development, Rural | Comments ( 1 )

 

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