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5 Ways Rural Communities can get ready for Gen Y
December 11th, 2009 by Mike Knutson
This is the 3rd in a series of posts offering my thoughts about an article Gwendolyn Bounds wrote for the Wall Street Journal titled “Green Acres is the Place to be.” Her article highlights a small but hopefully growing trend of young people moving to rural places. When I started writing, I only intended one article. But the story continues to garnish my attention. (You can read previous post here and here.)
The people highlighted in the Bounds’ article all purchased small tracts of land in Rural America. They are raising animals, growing crops, and hunting animals for food. It’s interesting to me that none decided to live in a town or hamlet.
I think I understand why these young people, called Gen Y, are attracted to purchasing a house and land in the countryside, and I think it’s a good thing - at least in the Midwest, where the countryside has been depopulated. I do recognize the potential problems around urban sprawl and the conflict between hobby farms and production agriculture. But in general, I think the positives outweigh the negatives in my part of the country.
I also think there’s an opportunity for small, rural towns to position themselves as places where Gen Y wants to move. Previously, I’ve written about that subject in a series of posts tagged “attracting college educated.” Regardless of whether they live in town or outside, however, I think there are things that rural communities can do to prepare for and maximize the movement of younger people to Rural America. And I’d like to share my thoughts on that subject below.
5 tips for preparing your community for a Gen Y
Following the theme of understanding the characteristics of Gen Y, I’d recommend rural communities consider the following activities:
1) Help create economic opportunities. Yesterday, I highlighted that individuals moving to rural places were seeking a variety of opportunities. The subject is mute if economic opportunities for the rural transplants don’t exist. To some people that means rural communities need to recruit businesses for new job growth. And that’s good strategy for some communities. But I’ve long been a fan of entrepreneurship training programs, like economic gardening. Developing and marketing a good entrepreneurship program could be a boon for attracting Gen Y. After all, Gen Y is known to be very entrepreneurial. (Read more about Gen Y’s entrepreneurial tendencies here and here.)
2) Make sure your community has third places that help introduce newcomers. We’ve talked previously about the importance of pubs, coffee shops, cafes, and community centers that function as “informal meeting places where community is built.” (Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place) If you don’t believe me, check out this blog produced by Gwendolyn Bounds about a little pub in Garrison, NY. Bounds credits the sense of community she experienced while visiting the pub as part of the reason she moved to the region from NYC.
3) Develop good broadband internet capacities and wi-fi hot spots. No doubt about it; Gen Y is very techy. In fact, some experts say young people look at technology like cell phones and other wireless devices as extensions of themselves. That’s hard concept for many older people to grasp, but not having good Internet access in your rural community will drive young people crazy - and possibly somewhere else.
4) Help young people figure out “What am I going to do in this town?” In case you haven’t noticed, Gen Y is very social. Granted, some of that social activity is on-line, but they love to get together for a good time as well. That’s what led college student Morgan Andenas to write a blog post last summer titled “What am I suppose to do in this town?” in which she recommends inviting young people to be a part of community projects that include social opportunities. Another idea for helping young people fit in can be accomplished by creating Young Professional Groups.
5) Rethink how you “engage” Gen Y in your community. Too often, older generations treat young adults like kids, which is a real turn-off to them. They firmly believe they have something valuable to contribute, and are sometimes offended when you don’t ask them to do so. I still think this post titled “How to Engage Gen Y in Rural Communities” is an excellent guide for any person or organization that wants to make younger people feel a part of their organization or community. Younger people today want to feel valuable.
Before wrapping up this post, I’d like to make one more point. I realize that most small town residents in the Midwest and Great Plains probably don’t believe there’s a significant opportunity to attract Gen Y to rural communities through entrepreneurship, third places, technology and engagement. I too have some doubts about it growing into a full-fledged movement. But I do believe we can make our rural communities more attractive to younger people if we are intentional in our efforts. In fact, I believe that’s something we have to do in order to have a future at all.
And if you want a proof that intentional efforts of this nature can be successful, take a look at what they are doing at Energize Clinton County in Wilmington, Ohio. Their efforts are already starting to attract Gen Y.
Photo Credit: Daquella manera - Flickr
Tags: broadband, Economic Gardening, entrepreneurship, Gen Y, Gwendolyn Bounds, third places
Posted in Agriculture, Economic Development, In the News, Rural, Rural Life | Comments (
2 )
December 11th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Mike, I think you are dead on. At this stage it is a little difficult to picture this as a movement, but unless we get intentional in our actions it never has a chance.
December 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Darin,
There it is: Whether preparing your community for the Baby Boom Migration of this USDA study , or the movement of younger people, we need to be more intentional in our actions.
It’s my bet intentionality is a big part of the reason the Main Street Approach is so successful.