Archive for the ‘Community Development’ Category

Has your rural community settled into compliance?

March 5th, 2010

Seth Godin wrote an interesting post last week that I’ve been mulling over since I read it.  His post, titled “It’s easier to teach compliance than initiative,” highlights how schools have perpetuated compliance (instead of initiative) because it is easier to teach and easier to test for.  In other words, compliance is the easy way out.

I think the same is true for our rural communities.  Many of our small towns have laxidasically watched as economies have faltered, people have moved, and Main Streets have emptied.  That’s what the road of compliance looks like. 

My analogy of how this plays out in rural communities looks something like this:

Small town economies are like a large boulder rolling down a hill.  It doesn’t take anyone’s time or effort for the boulder to continue rolling down the hill.  But, if you recognize that rolling down the hill isn’t the right path for the boulder and you want to change its course, it takes a ton of effort.  First, you have to stop the boulder.  Then, you have to push the boulder up the hill.  It takes time, effort, strategy, people. And initiative. 

The goal of initiative is changing the momentum; whether it’s a boulder rolling down a hill or changing the economy of your community.  Compliance, or looking the other way, is the easy path, but it is probably not the path of success.

So, what path do you choose: the path of compliance or the path of initiative?  As Godin points out, today’s economy rewards those with initiative. 

Photo Credit:  Rita Willaert, Flickr

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Have you upset anyone lately?

March 3rd, 2010

Last night I upset someone - and for a change, it wasn’t my wife.  While watching my alma mater, Dakota Wesleyan University play in the GPAC Conference Men’s Basketball Conference Championship, a fan from the opposing team yelled at me to “sit down.”  Apparently standing up to cheer when your team scores what could be the winning basket is inappropriate at the college she supports. 

Even though my alma mater won the game, this scolding still bothered me this morning.  I didn’t think I had done anything wrong.  Luckily, I caught a tweet from Becky McCray that brightened my spirits.  That tweet read:

RT @jrr2ok: If you haven’t pissed off some people in four years, you probably haven’t done much that matters.

In the grand scheme of things, I have to admit my cheering probably didn’t matter that much.  And the lady who complained to me was probably just trying to pick a fight with me because her team lost.  But anyone who has served in a leadership role in a community can relate to that situation.   Doing things that matter causes problems, and leaders have to be prepared to deal with it. 

But when you get yelled at because you’re doing something that matters, whether it is supporting a basketball team or fighting for your rural community, I hope someone is there to brighten your day, like Becky did for me.  And remember that you don’t have to apologize for it either. 

 

Note:  Thanks to Jim Rogers for the original tweet.

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Chamberlain Sun’s figured out Facebook

February 27th, 2010

On Monday, Lindsey, Becki, and I are meeting with Miner County residents to talk about Facebook Pages for businesses.  Actually, we hope to do more than just talk.  We’re going to help business owners set up their own pages and talk about the strategies they might employ on Facebook.  It’s this last part about strategies that excites me.

Today, however, I noticed some web traffic to Reimagine Rural from the Chamberlain Sun Facebook page.  When I traced the links back, I discovered the page was set up by the Chamberlain Sun newspaper to spotlight the Chamberlain/Oacoma, SD community.  It’s the first example I’ve witnessed of a small town South Dakota newspaper using Facebook!   

Way to go Chamberlain Sun!

I’d like to highlight what I see the newspaper doing (in other words, their strategy) with their Facebook Page because I think they’ve got some good stuff happening.  Here’s a bit of it:

Very impressive.  I could keep going, but readers should be able to learn from and hopefully be inspired by the newspaper’s use of Facebook. 

I’m going to add the Chamberlain Sun’s use of Facebook to the list of examples we use on Monday night in our Facebook class.  If you know of any other great examples of businesses in small, rural communities who do a great job of using Faceboook, we’d love to be able to share them as well.

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Pumping Sunshine: the Ord, NE way

February 23rd, 2010

Have you been thinking about developing a blog as a part of your community development strategy?  If so, I highly encourage you to check out Ord Pumping Sunshine, a blog published by Caleb Pollard, Executive Director of Valley County Economic Development & the Ord Area Chamber of Commerce.

I’ve never met Caleb in person, but I’ve been familiar with Ord, Nebraska since the late 1990s when both Ord and Howard were active with the Rural School and Community Trust.  Since that time, I’ve been impressed with the community’s entrepreneur support system and continued investment in young people.   There’s no doubt they are one of the rock stars in rural community development. 

Caleb has been the executive director of the chamber and development group for about a year and one-half.  He brings with him experience with sales and marketing in the technology and health care fields, which might explain his zeal for blogging.  Caleb recently answered the following questions for me, which I hope will inspire more rural communities to recognize the value that blogging offers. 

 

What’ the purpose of Ord Sunshine Pumping, and why use a blogging platform?

First, I love to write, especially about issues involving rural development.  It’s my passion and I find blogging is a great way to share a story about rural issues.  I feel we have a great story to share in Ord, because of the tremendous success we’ve had in the last 10 years and blogging is such a great social tool to share it with, like communities facing the same issues we’ve had.  Since we’ve had this great success, blogging makes it easy to take those models, ideas, examples and overall rural economic philosophy and share it with the world.

More importantly, however, is the that the blog allows me a direct conversation with my community, in a dynamic and social way, to weave the “what” of what we are doing with the “why” of its importance.  There is no filter, and with social media like a blog, you can connect it to a greater whole and then you begin to see why the work we accomplish in Ord is so important to all rural communities.

We often hear from community leaders who say they don’t have time for writing on a blog. How do you deal with time issues?

Everyone has time.  Saying they don’t have time is a total cop-out.  Many people don’t like to write, and that’s totally okay.  But using the “I don’t have time” routine is just an easy way out.  As for blogging, I find it is a great outlet for me to tell our story.  But making time is about prioritizing my schedule to make it work.  Plus, blogging cuts down on a ton of extra time I spend with press releases to local and statewide media, along with our monthly, quarterly and annual reporting.  Blogging actually saves me time.  Prioritizing my schedule means something has to lose or it’s delegated to one of my staff.  I’m blessed to have great staff that gives me the ability to dedicate my time to blogging.  Plus, I find when you’re passionate about something, getting it done isn’t too tough.

When did you start the blog and what have you learned about the process of operating a community blog since then?

I’ve been blogging on and off for about 6-7 years now, and our current blog has been in operation for a little over a year.  What have I learned?  First, building a robust conversation about *positive* things is much harder than talking about the negative.  Second, finding local contributors that are willing to take on the workload of actually doing the writing is difficult.  I’d love to have more contributors on our blog and we’re just starting to expand our efforts this year.  I anticipate having 2 additional contributors by year’s end, but like you said above, it’s a time sink.

Finally, I think honesty is appreciated.  While I’m the Chamber dude, and pumping sunshine is part of my modus operandi, being honest about my love for rural communities, especially in Nebraska, has won our blog a lot of fans.  Authenticity counts BIG TIME.

Do you have any stories that exemplify the impact the blog has had on your work?

Yes, two specifically.  First, in Spring of 2009 I wrote an innocuous post about wine tasting in Central Nebraska.  While some of the wine aficionados may bat an eye at this, we really do have some fab wineries in Central Nebraska and their wine is pretty darn competitive to what I’ve had out of Chile or Napa.  Seriously.  This one post here earned us a lot of publicity.  A writer from NPR happened to be driving through the Great Plains and picked up on the blog post and bam!  We had national coverage.  The piece ran on NPR here: 

The other post I would say exemplifies our “what” and “why” would be this post on our 100 new business in Valley County (and Ord) since 2000.  Of those 100, 78 are still in business, lending to the power of dedicated economic gardening.  We spend a lot of time and effort grooming entrepreneurs and building supportive programs to keep their businesses in operation.  To say we’ve seen 100 new businesses in a county of 4500 and a community of 2200 is straight amazing.  That post can be found here.

Photo Description:  The above photo show FFA students from Ord H.S. who participated in a project with the local economic development group and an ethanol plant.  It’s an example of Ord’s continued commitment to engage the youth in their community.

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Got (interesting) people?

February 22nd, 2010

Yesterday I caught a Tweet from @Richard_Florida which read, “When I asked Jane Jacobs about this, she said: ‘When a place gets boring even the rich people leave.’  http://is.gd/8RwVh…”.

I believe the “this” Florida references is the gentrification of some urban neighborhoods, especially as it occurs in once down-and-out and working class neighborhoods. 

I draw this conclusion largely from the New York Times article that he links to titled “A Contrarian’s Lament in a Blitz of Gentrification.”

The article looks at the gentrification of New York City’s neighborhoods, through the eyes of Sharon Zukin, a Brooklyn College professor.  Zurkin laments this gentrification and identifies urban theorist Jane Jacobs as partially to blame.

Jacobs looked at cities as organic, self-regulating organisms that planners often screwed up.  She loathed the suburban car culture and it’s sterile, middle-class only suburbs.  Her zeal for local economy, mixed use neighborhoods and a bottom up approach to community planning have no doubt played a role in the resurgence of urban neighborhoods across the country.  But as the article points out, gentrification can be an unwanted result.

I’m a huge fan of Jane Jacobs, but Zurkin raises some good points.  I found one of her comments in the article particularly interesting:

“Much of what made these neighborhoods unique lives on only in the buildings, not the people.” (source:  Michael Powell, “A Contrarian’s Lament in a Blitz of Gentrification,”  New York Times, 2-18-10)

People, not buildings, make a place interesting.  That’s something all of us in community development should hold onto.

I also think most of our small, rural communities could benefit from becoming “more interesting,” and I’d advocate that we consider some of Jane Jacobs’s ideas for inspiration. 

To begin we can look at the physical design of our communities as a starting point.  Simply put, we have to look better.  It’s that belief that lead the Rural Learning Center to co-develop Design:SD. 

But design alone is not the answer.  We must showcase the talents and creativity of the people who live in our small towns.  That’s why the emphasis on cultural activities in Dr. David Ivan’s “Can Small Towns be Cool?” research resonates with me.  It’s also part of the reason I advocate that rural communities consider the strategy of developing “third places” as a part of their economic development plan. 

The above are by no means the only ways rural communities can become more interesting.  But it’s a start.

So what’s your community doing to make itself more interesting? 

 

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Hazelton, ND - And the stereotypes grow

February 18th, 2010

Something I didn’t mention in my post yesterday was that my heart goes out to the Hazelton, ND community.  It’s probably the only time Hazelton has made the national news, and it’s a negative story.

The story of a family leaving a community when they don’t feel comfortable could be told about most every community across our country - large and small.  It hardly seems fair to tag it on Hazelton.

But what troubles me most about the article are the stereotypes the article perpetuates.  For instance, the author writes; “Besides cash and free land, Hazelton had little else to offer except elbow room.”  A quick trip to the community’s website and blog shows that they’ve got a lot more going for them than free cash and land! 

In short, the community is portrayed as the bad guy, and the family as the victim.  As I wrote yesterday, “None of us, as outsiders, will ever know the complete story,” and I’m sure blame goes both ways. 

I could go on to identify other stereotypes, and I bet our readers can as well.  But the problems with the stereotypes don’t end with the story. 

 

It’s just the beginning

After posting my thoughts on the article yesterday, my good friend Marc Rentschler left me a message via Facebook saying that the Minneapolis radio stations were ridiculing small towns saying, “Of course they (the Tristani family) wouldn’t be welcomed. Small towns don’t want any change and fear anything new.”

I didn’t need to hear the exact words being said on Minneapolis radio stations to understand the negative things being said.  I’d already read them in the comment sections of newspapers and blogs from across the county that had published or commented on the story.  And the comments there are much worse!  No wonder rural communities have such difficulty attracting and retaining residents.  (see this post to see some of what’s being said elsewhere.) 

 

Problems do exist

Problems in rural communities obviously exist (much like the problems of large cities).  What I fail to understand is why people are so quick to place blame and tear others down.  It’s like people relish in the problems existing in small towns.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t want to let Hazelton or any small town off the hook, which was largely my point yesterday.  This story can be used as a great learning experience.  And that’s where I would hope the conversation can be focused.

 

Where do we go from here?

I don’t know what can be done to overcome the stereotypes perpetuated by stories like this.   But I’m going to spend some time thinking about that very subject, and I hope you will too.

 I’m going to begin by reading a study conducted at the University of Minnesota Morris titled “Media Messages of Rural: Lessons from Minnesota.“  I got the lowdown on it last week when I met with Ben Winchester and Neil Linscheid, two outstanding Minnesota Extension Educators who played key roles in producing the research. 

In a nutshell I expect to find that reporters draw on their urban expectations and definitions of rural as they write their stories.  My guess is that I’ll see the majority of the stories have a negative slant, and that the reporting seldom digs in deep. 

I hope, however, that reading it will help me get beyond placing blame on reporters and get to real solutions.  I’ll let you know what I find, and I hope you will share as well. 

 

Note:  A friend of mine reminded me that there’s also a danger in the stereotype of idyllic rural communities.  As he noted, perhaps the Tristiani family had unrealistic expectations for life in Hazelton.  Anyone who expects Mayberry RFD is bound to be disappointed. 

 

Update (2-21-10):  The Bismarck Tribune has published an updated story titled “Period of adjustment: Some transplants to Hazelton say they’re here to stay”

 

Photo Credit: Tom T - Flickr

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What are others saying about Hazelton?

February 18th, 2010

As I noted yesterday, there’s quite a bit of online conversation about the Hazelton story.  I thought I’d highlight some of it for readers so they don’t have to go looking for it.  Some of the comments are thoughtful, but most lack sincerity and understanding.  Hopefully we the conversation deepens over time.

 

Madville Times blogger Cory Heidelberger raises the argument that small towns can’t afford to picky in his post titled “Small Town Development:  You’ve got to want it” because small towns need every resident possible.  It’s a good point.  All small towns need to be open to new people and ideas.   

When I first read the comments posted about this article in the InFargo Forum, all I could this was, “Wow!  I can’t imagine the story generating this much interest.”  As of my writing there are over 250 comments about the article.  My second response was “Why are North Dakotans so negative about their small towns?”   Am I missing something or what?  I don’t have a problem with people pointing out issues with small towns, but the venom with which many of the comments are made is discouraging.    And the bickering, well that’s just embarrassing.  (Readers have a limited time to see this article before it’s archived.)

Jon Trouten offers some thoughtful comments in his post titled “What would it take to relocate to Small Town America” on his personal blog title.  It sounds like Jon grew up in small town Minnesota, and the idea of moving closer to his parents is appealing.  But as Jon notes, being married to another man with biracial and handicapped children would present some challenges.  Sort speaks to Cory’s point, doesn’t it? 

Perhaps the most radical blog post comes to us from the Miami News Times.  In an article titled “Small-Town Values? Miami Family Shunned After Moving to North Dakota,” the author makes fun of “small town values” saying “But we’ve always had a feeling that was a crock. We’d much rather live in welcoming, sunny South Florida than a judgmental small town any day. We’re not saying we’re angels here in Miami, but — damn it — we don’t shun anyone down here.” 

Shawn Fury, a freelance writer uses the Hazelton story to write about his hometown of Janesville, Minnesota. Titled “Small Town Blues,” the article is deeper than most small town reminiscing.  Shawn now lives in Manhattan, and doesn’t see much future in small towns.  But I appreciated his thoughts.

 

Update: Here are a few more posts I’ve stumbled upon since originally publishing this post.

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Building a winning team

February 11th, 2010

Build or buy?  That’s the central question asked in the article titled “Building a winning team” that recently appeared in computing.co.uk.  More specifically, the article uses a professional sports analogy to question whether IT companies should invest in developing their staff (build from within) or hire professionals from outside the company (buy talent) when filling leadership positions.   

The article has me thinking about how this issue applies to rural communities; what’s the best way for rural communities to fill job openings such as economic development directors, city managers, utilities managers, and even educators?

One study says build from within

Back in 2001, I read an article recommending that community development organizations hire local residents for job openings because a study had shown that hiring from within the community produced better long-term results.  The study claimed that local hires tended to be more committed to the cause, stayed longer in their jobs, and often tapped into existing relationships within the community to get the job done.  The study stuck with me because I was newly hired from within the community to work on economic development and housing issues. 

While I believe the study has merit, I also have witnessed many rural community development organizations benefit from talented economic development professionals who moved into the community for job openings.  It causes me to wonder if there really is a perfect answer. 

I wish I had saved that article citing the advantages of hiring locally; if some is aware of similar research, I hope they will share it. 

Personally, I think the success of a job candidate, regardless of occupation, probably depends most on their passion and determination - two characteristics that also say a lot about the success of a community. 

Where’s the magic?

But I want to throw out one more point for consideration that moves us back to the professional sports analogy.  The success of professional teams often depend less on whether the team builds its own players or hires free agents than on the blend of talent that is assembled and how they interact.  It’s a sort of magic that emerges when talented teammates bond with each other.   

I think the dastardly New York Yankees (sorry I’m a Minnesota Twins fan) are a good example.  The Yankees won the 2009 World Series because they had the money to blow assembling the best free agents possible. But that same strategy has not always yielded the same success for the Yankees, as evidenced by their dry run over the last decade. 

Rural communities are in a race for talent.  Buy or build, I’ll let you decide.  But at the end of the day, I think the relationships that exist between the newly hired, their coworkers, and community members adds something special to the mix that helps produce outstanding results. 

Sociologists call it social capital…and most preach that it’s a critical part of building a winning community. 

 

Photo Credit:  Affiliate - Flickr 

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Can South Dakota’s small towns be cool?

January 29th, 2010

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 21st 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. 

 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:

 Photo Credit: Cliff1066 - Flickr

 

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10 Reasons “Third Places” matter to Rural Communities

January 26th, 2010

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:

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