Author Archive

It’s time to invest in our inner core

May 14th, 2012

How does your small town look in-and-around Main Street?  More specifically, how do the houses look in the neighborhood around your community’s core?  Is the age of the 80-120 year old housing stock showing? In some rural communities, one senses that the inner core is like an inner city ghetto that one must escape out of to get to the new housing developments on the cities’ edge. I was reminded of this issue by a recent blog post written by Becky McCray at Small Biz Survival.  Becky highlighted the efforts of Burnet, Texas (pop. 4735)  who is seeking “to encourage the development of affordable housing options to residents of Burnet by encouraging the development and utilization of existing residential lots in an historically underutilized portion of the city.” (source:  City of Burnet Texas website). The key work here is “existing.”  Many small towns have promoted and supported the development of new housing developments on their community’s edges.  Few, in my experience, have programs to support in-fill housing. Burnet’s program offers a 100% rebate on the “water, sewer, and electric tap fees; building, plumbing, and electrical permit fees; HVAC unit fees; and plan review fees” as an incentive to build on existing lots in an area that needs redevelopment. To qualify, houses must be in the targeted area, and the potential homeowners’ income must fit in the 80%-120% of Area Median Income level. I hear many small town leaders complain that too many of their public servants (i.e – teachers, police officers, and county employees) live elsewhere.  A program like this would be a perfect opportunity to target those professional groups and show them that you care about them. Developing a program like this, however, is just one piece of the puzzle for revitalizing the inner core of rural communities.  As we have discussed here previously, zoning and housing code enforcement is vital and a good purchase, rehab, resell program will go a long ways. I’m interested in hearing about other strategies that meet this same need.  If you know of an examples, I’d love to hear about it. Photo credit: Flickr - TexasEagle

Posted in Community Development, Housing, Rural | Comments (0)

Talent attraction: Let’s start a conversation

April 5th, 2012

What makes New York City so successful?  Mayor Michael Bloomberg says NYC’s economic growth is directly connected to its ability to attract talent.
Many newly successful cities on the global stage – such as Shenzhen and Dubai – have sought to make themselves attractive to businesses based on price and infrastructure subsidies. Those competitive advantages can work in the short term, but they tend to be transitory. For cities to have sustained success, they must compete for the grand prize: intellectual capital and talent.” (Source:  “Cities must be cool, creative and in control,” Michael Bloomberg, Financial Times, March 27, 2012)
Competing for talent is a subject many cities are focused on.  The idea is that attracting talented, innovative people will lead to economic development because talented, innovative people are the people who create jobs and economic growth.

So, does the same apply to small towns as well?

There’s been a lot less research conducted on this subject in rural communities, but I think talent attraction applies to rural communities as well.  Just think of Wall, SD.  Where would that small town in Western South Dakota be today if they had not attracted Ted and Dorothy Hustead to start a pharmacy in 1931?  Rather than being a bustling tourism community, I suspect it would have dried up like most other communities in the region.  (Incidentally, the Husteads lived in Miner County, SD prior to moving to Wall.  Our loss was Wall’s gain.) Accepting that economic development is not just about job attraction is a difficult premise for many people here in South Dakota to embrace.  I’m hopeful, however, that the idea will pick up steam because more communities are beginning to think about what they need to do to attract workers to fill their labor shortages.  The two are not totally disassociated.

What does it take to attract talent?

I’m excited to see that Rebecca Ryan of Next Generation Consulting will be making the keynote presentation next week at the SD Governors Office for Economic Development Annual Conference.  I’m hoping her message there offers insights to South Dakotans on what it takes for communities to attract talent.   Ryan has been a leading advocate of the complimentary idea that young people choose the places they live, not because the community offers them a job, but because the community is a great place to live. I first became aware of Ryan’s work after a 2008 presentation helped inspire the residents of Iron County, WI  and Gogebic County, MI to better understand why people move to and live in the region.  From what I’ve read, there were community leaders listening that night who felt Ryan’s ideas applied more to young people in cities than in rural areas. But thanks to research that this project – called the Gogebic Next Generation Initiative – has produced since Ryan’s original presentation, we know that her ideas hold true for rural areas as well.  (Click here to read more about past articles on this initiative and its research.) If you haven’t heard of Rebecca Ryan before, I encourage you to watch the video embedded above.  It’s a bit promotional, but you’ll see she’s a dynamic presenter and offers great insights. Jobs are important to the future of communities across Rural America.  But we also need to think about and develop strategies that attract people.  I’m hoping Ryan can help start that conversation here.

Posted in Economic Development, Gen Y, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (0)

Civic Branding: A refresher

March 20th, 2012

Thanks to Aaron Renn at the Urbanophile, I received a great refresher on civic branding.  In a brief post titled "Don't Brand Your City," Renn shares a fifteen minute Chicago Public Radio interview  with Jeff Leitner and Howell J. Malham of Insight Labs.  The central question they analyze:  Is it possible to successfully brand a region (like the Great Lakes) for tourism and economic development? A lively interview, Leitner and Malham question the concept. Now, let me be clear, I still think that every rural community needs to be concerned about its brand.  Your town’s identity does matter.  But we need to be smarter about how we attempt to strengthen our brands. I hope you listen to the audio interview embedded below and then take a look at a few of my follow-up comments.  If you have some additional thoughts on the topic of branding rural communities, we’d love to hear them.

Click here to listen - Luring tourists to the Great Lakes region (WBEZ91.5, Nov. 15, 2011)

My take aways

First, before we start, let’s make sure we're on the same page when we say the word branding.  To me a community’s brand is its identity.  It’s what people think and talk about your community.   Logos and jingles are nice, but let’s not be fooled into thinking that they are your community’s brand.  Their just a part of it;  a small part of it. Second, if you want a strong brand, you need to have strong features that make your community special.  In the interview, Jeff Leitner drives this point home with the Seth Godin truism “The best way to be remarked on is to be remarkable.” This means saying “Our town is a great place to live and raise a family,” isn’t good enough.  It is a start….but it is not the end game.   What are your community’s remarkable features that make it an awesome place to raise a family? Perhaps it’s a remarkable lake with an incredible bike path; perhaps it’s an incredible summer festival that brings everyone in the community together;   or perhaps it’s exceptional outdoor activities that families can do together. If your town doesn’t have those things, you’re time and money are best invested I developing them -- before trying to promote your brand. A third take away is that branding is not about you (or in this case your community); it’s about your audience.  While commenting on the ability of branding to help develop an affiliation with a region, Leitner tells us that the way to do this is by “demonstrating to the world what you are going to help them do.” In other words, don’t just tell me that your community is filled with great businesses.  Demonstrate to me how your community can help me become a successful entrepreneur.  What types of assistance will I get in your community that I can’t get somewhere else?  Do you have an entrepreneurship support system in place? And while demonstrating value, remember the power of stories.  If our community does have a system for supporting entrepreneurs, share the stories of entrepreneurs who have benefited from it.  That’s a “demonstration” that people will believe.

 Wrapping it up

Listening to the interview, some people will throw up their arms and decide that civic branding is a waste of time.  I think that is a mistake. Rural communities need to develop stronger brands so that people recognize the value they have to offer.  Just realize that the first step isn’t to hire someone to build the build the brand for you.   (Note:  My apologies for originally mispelling Howell Malham's last name.) Photo credit: Punk Toad - Flickr

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments (2)

Let’s talk: Innovation in education, anyone?

February 18th, 2012

Hey everybody.  We need to talk:  What are you doing in rural education that is innovative?  How are you overcoming the unique challenges faced by rural schools?  Are your students experiencing increased academic achievement? That’s the message I caught in a recent tweet from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation  ( @WK_Kellogg_Fdn). On Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. ET, John White, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Rural Outreach, and Sterling Speirn, president & CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will be hopping on Twitter to chat about unique rural partnerships and innovative solutions that people are developing. My mind immediately goes to the Rural School and Community Trust’s efforts to bring rural schools and communities together through place-based education.  If the Rural Trust hadn’t invested in our efforts in Howard, SD back in the mid-1990s, I’m confident that innovative projects like the Maroney Commons would never have developed. If I were to pick a new initiative, however, I would select the work of the Center for Midwest Innovation, a project being developed in partnership with the Rural Trust.  They are quickly becoming a great source on how rural schools, communities, and foundations can partner to create innovative educational projects. I might also highlight the efforts of the GoTeachSD program, which the Rural Learning Center is a part of developing.  Centered at the University of South Dakota, GoTeachSD has a clear focus on increasing the number and improving the quality of teachers in rural schools. I’m always interested in hearing about great work in rural education.  Unfortunately, because of work conflicts, I won’t be able to join the conversation live.  So I figured I could contribute by writing this post.  And I’ll be sure to check out the summary of the Twitter chat that will be posted to the US Dept of Education’s Blog afterward. I know you are all probably busy as well, but I hope you find a way to join in this conversation.    It’s too important to ignore.   (To learn more on this event, check out this Dept. of Education blog post.   Photo Credit:  limonada - Flickr    

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Posted in education, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (2)

Don’t know and don’t care

February 7th, 2012

Writer and photographer Lisa Hamilton traversed the California countryside last year, intending to explore the health of rural communities.  She ran into two problems.  She describes those barriers in a recent article titled “California's Real Rural tells hidden stories,”
First, people in our cities generally don't know much about "the rest of California," have barely ventured off Interstate 5. Second, they don't really care. Surprise Valley? Lost Hills? Mecca? Why should it matter what happens in these distant, faceless places? Why, in fact, did I care about these places, so many of which I had never even seen? I thought about it as I traveled those many miles.” (source:  "California's Real Rural tells hidden stories", Lisa M. Hamilton, San Fransisco Chronical, Jan 29, 2012).

Don’t know and don’t care

Although these attitudes are less prevalent here in the Upper Midwest, they do still exist.  And they serve as major barriers to the ability of rural towns to attract the people and businesses they need to grow and prosper. In response, Hamilton decided to change her focus and reintroduce rural Californians to urban dwellers by telling the stories of the people who live in rural places -- people who often go unnoticed. Hamilton has posted her stories and photography to RealRural.org.  They are compelling and insightful. In the near future, people will also be able to view her works in the San Francisco BART trains, the Los Angele’s public transportation system, and at the California Historical Society.  (I hope the later is not intended to imply that rural life is a thing of the past.)

What does this mean for us?

As I read the about the project, I couldn’t help but think: “Wouldn’t it be great to recreate this project in South Dakota or Minnesota, or Iowa?  Wouldn’t a similar effort help urban dwellers better understand the opportunities life in our rural towns offer?” Another option, however, is to do what I’ve recommended many times before.  Rather than rely on other people to tell our stories, we need to tell the stories  ourselves.  Every community has interesting people. Every town has daily occurrences that don’t occur in urban settings.  Every rural place can boast of offering a lifestyle that someone, somewhere is seeking.  And with the advent of modern technology, it’s relatively easy to capture these stories via a camera and share them on a community website.

Why wait?

So don’t sit back and wait for someone else to tell your stories. The stories you tell may not be as "professional" as Hamilton’s, but I think people will recognize the authenticity and will connect with them. And once you’ve shared your stories. Stop back and share them with everyone here at Reimagine Rural. Tell us how you produced them and what you’ve learned. Your work can be an inspiration to us.  

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments (6)

Maroney Commons: “Uncommon innovation” made common

December 28th, 2011

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

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

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.

Posted in Rural | Comments (10)

The Great Wide Open – Revisited

October 13th, 2011

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)

What’s the role of advertising in rural economic development

September 30th, 2011

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 (3)

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