Archive for the ‘Economic 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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Youth Engagement: A path to reinventing rural education

March 4th, 2010

We talk a lot about the importance of youth engagement in rural communities. It’s a great way to connect with young people, and make sure they realize how valuable they are to the community.

I recently discovered this great example of youth engagement in rural Perth County, Ontario. 

Under an initiative developed by the Perth County Econoimc Development Offices, MS2 Productions, a local production company, has been offering Social Media Boot Camp training classes to local businesses.  The training involves a 3-hour overview session on social media marketing and hands-on training focused on specific social media tools, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

To promote the training, the company produced a video which I’ve embedded below. (It’s so good, I wish Perth County, Ontario was closer so that I could have attended.)

 

Perth County Social Media Boot Camp from MS2 Productions - Your Complete on Vimeo.

But it is what’s happening behind the scenes that sets the training apart. In addition to encouraging businesses within each rural community to work together, they are engaging students as social media consultants.  As Melissa Schenk, Executive Producer of MS2 Productions explained to me via e-mail:

Local Businesses will hire CO-OP students to be their Social Media Marketers… The Baby Boomers learn from students how to use the Social Media Sites, but the students in turn - learn more about local businesses, how to better put these social media sites to good use, and are providing a valuable resource of information in their communities. Not to mention students are engaging more with businesses, that they might never have had the opportunity or an interest in otherwise.”

In short, young people and business owners are learning from each other.  And in the long run, these young people will better appreciate life in their rural communities and be better prepared to recognize business opportunities after completing their education.

Additionally, I think projects like this will lead to the educational reform that Richard Florida has been talking about lately: creativity, technology, and social.  All are 21st Century skills that young people need to be successful.  Come to think of it, those are the same skills rural communities leaders need as well.

Note:  Melissa Schenk  sent me a message correcting my initial post, which did not credit the Perth County Economic Development Office for the project.  My apologies to Bernia Wheaton, Perth County Economic Development Coordinator.  I love this story even more knowing that economic development professionals are leading the charge!

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Posted in Community Engagement, Economic Development, Gen Y, Rural, Training and Events | Comments (3)

Symbols of Entrepreneurial Spirit

February 26th, 2010

I believe in the power of symbols.  The wind turbines we put up in Miner County back in 2001 served as a symbol of inspiration as we “reimagined” the future of our rural community.  They became a powerful visible reminder of the work we were trying to accomplish.

I was reminded of the power of symbols yesterday during two presentations at the Launch10, an entrepreneurship conference by Dakota Wesleyan University.  The first reminder came from keynote speaker Sheena Lindahl, and the second came from three young South Dakota entrepreneurs, Matt Douglas, Matt Smart, and Lezlie Kaitfors.  Both presentation offered symbols of entrepreneurship and success for the largely college-aged crowd in attendance — but in very different ways.

Sheena’s presentation revolved around taking limited resources and turning them into something big.  To make her point, she drew on her personal story of growing up in poverty in rural New Hampshire (or Vermont, I forget which). 

Sheena described herself as an average high school student who always wanted to go to New York City, despite being afraid of it.  Facing her fears (a common theme throughout the day), Sheena enrolled at New York University and hopped on the bus for NYC - even though she didn’t have the money to pay for the semester.  Through determination and hard work, she consistently overcame every obstacle put in her path.  Today she’s a Gen Y entrepreneur rock star. She’s definitely someone every young person in the audience can aspire to become.

While a symbol herself, what struck me most about her presentation was how NYC served as the symbol that inspired her.  She was going to “make it” in New York City, and that thought drove her.  

Although unintentional, I’m afraid that young people in the audience may also interpreted NYC as a symbol for success.  In other words, they have to go off to the big city to achieve their dreams of entrepreneurial success.  Maybe that’s just my interpretation, and I know Sheena didn’t intend it.  But as a rural community fanatic, I worry about the constant messaging that preaches this idea.

Personally, I was more inspired by the round table involving the young South Dakota entrepreneurs.  After briefly highlighting their personal stories, the session turned into a question and answer period.  In contrast to other speakers during the day, these three entrepreneurs were not polished presenters who made their living telling others how to become entrepreneurs.  They shared an authentic and inspirational message about what it’s like to be young South Dakotan entrepreneurs. 

I was particularly struck by how well they answered a question about what South Dakota high schools should be doing to help develop future entrepreneurs.  I want to share their responses with you:

Through these and other answers, the three reminded the audience that young people don’t have to go out of state to be successful entrepreneurs.  That’s a message that excited me!

But what’s more powerful?  Images of NYC or stories of young people?  I’m afraid that NYC’s visibility is naturally more powerful.  I guess that’s where Sheena’s message of overcoming adversity comes back into play.  Those of us with a passion for South Dakota have a responsibility to share stories of successful South Dakota entrepreneurs. 

In the future, we’ll try to do a better job of that here at ReImagine Rural.

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Still wondering “what if…?”

February 25th, 2010

How do entrepreneurs find the inspiration to start their ventures?  And where do entrepreneurs turn to find the resources necessary to grow their businesses.  Those are poignant questions for rural community leaders. Obviously there are no simple answers, but I’m hoping to better understand the opportunities surrounding them at the Launch10 Conference at Dakota Wesleyan University today.  It’s a conference that brings entrepreneurs, college students, educators, and community members together to talk about their futures. 

While talking to Jim Beddow about the Launch10 Conference a couple weeks ago, I learned that fellow Wesleyan alumnus, Eric Pulse is part of new business venture in Kimball, SD (pop. 745). Thinking that he might have an interesting perspective on these questions, I gave Eric a call, and we chatted about his venture, The Original Kimball Popcorn Ball. It turns out he had a lot to share.

I’d really hoped to share the story about the startup of this rural business in greater detail today, but time just hasn’t cooperated.  I do, however, want to share one piece of advice Eric had to offer. 

Before ending our call, I asked Eric what advice he had for entrepreneurs.  He responded, “Don’t be the person who sits back and wonders in ten years, what if…?”

Sage advice.  I think it speaks to rural communities as well, which brings us back to why I’m attending the Launch10 conference.

There are lots of models for supporting entrepreneurs.  Littleton, CO’s Economic Gardening process and the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship’s E2 model come to mind.  But communities leaders, like business leaders, can’t sit back and wait for entrepreneurs to appear and then expect them to be successful on their own.  Instead we’ve got to be intention and be prepared to support them.  Or else in ten years, we’re going to be the one’s wondering “what if…?”

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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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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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What can we learn from Hazelton, ND?

February 17th, 2010

“Did you hear the story on the radio about Hazelton, ND?” 

Those were the first words Lindsey shared with me yesterday morning as we hopped into a car before heading out on our day trek across South Dakota yesterday.  I hadn’t, so Lindsey explained. 

A family had moved from Miami, FL to Hazeton, ND (pop. 240) four years ago to take advantage of an incentive package for new residents.  Two housing lots and $20,000 were given to this family of four to move to the ND community.  The family started a business (which has since closed) and moved into a new house, excited by the opportunity to move from a crime laden, urban neighborhood.

Now four years later, they are ready to move back.  Not because of the much maligned North Dakota winter; but because they felt the community had given them the cold shoulder.  Michael Tristani, the father in the family, is quoted in the article saying, “It hasn’t been easy. No one really wants new people here.”  (source:  James MacPherson, “Small-town life fails to live up,” Associated Press via Yahoo News, Feb. 15, 2010)

Hearing Lindsey describe this story almost caused me to turn around and skip the meeting we were driving to.  Needless to say, she didn’t let me, and I was finally able to read the story this morning and learned that it’s being discussed all over the blogosphere. (see links at the bottom) .

Rather than focus on the details of situation, I’d like to offer some thoughts about what I think rural communities can learn from the story.  As I write, however, I want to be clear that I am not passing judgment on either the Hazelton community or the Tristani family.  None of us, as outsiders, will ever know the complete story. 

What can we learn from Hazelton?

1) Don’t assume that newcomers will know how to live in your small town. That concept crossed my radar a couple years ago in a book titled Get Urban. (I wrote extensively about it here.) The book’s author, an urban enthusiast, developed his thesis around the concept that many people who move to urban, downtown environments don’t recognize the nuances of life in the city. Their mental models are so tightly fashioned around living in suburbia that they think they have to drive out to suburbs to buy their groceries at Walmart, rather than stopping off at the local grocery while walking home from work. My guess is that we’ve all seen numerous more serious examples of this play out in our rural communities. But what have we done to help these newcomers?

2) Develop a “hosting concept” as a part of your community’s marketing plan. I touched on this over a year ago when I wrote a post titled “What if Starbuck’s marketed like a rural community?” A fun, insightful video embedded in the post pokes fun at how churches welcome new members. The point being, Starbucks wouldn’t be in business if its marketing strategy didn’t include efforts to “welcome” new customers; so why should churches expect anything different? I’d contend the same principle applies to rural communities; why spend money advertising your community if you don’t have a strategy to make people want to stay? At the Rural Learning Center, we’ve been developing a more robust “hosting concept,” which I’ll describe sometime in the near future.

3) Accept the mantra “The customer is always right.” I think communities who develop programs like this must be prepared to treat it like a business. The town is the product, the community is the owner, and the new resident is the customer. If the customer is upset, figure out why and do something to fix it - because the customer is always right. At the same time, most business owners will tell you that sometimes the customer may not be worth the headaches they create, and you have to find a way to let them go.

4) It’s about the relationship. For a long time, I was conflicted over the concept of offering incentives to people moving to rural communities. On one hand it feels like the strategy of offering incentives to businesses to move small, rural communities; maybe they come, but will they stay? On the other hand I appreciate the moxie of a small town who is willing to try to do something about their future. What I’ve come to believe is that the decision about offering incentives to recruit businesses and recruit people is a community-by-community decision. There’s no universal right or wrong. The chance of the initiative succeeding, however, is probably dependent on the ability of residents to build a relationship with the newcomers. Incentives may open the door, but the bonds of friendship are lasting.

5) What about the people who don’t receive incentives? This case is drawing a lot of attention, but my question is, “has your community been paying serious attention to the people who already live in your community?” My point is, try to make sure that everyone is satisfied. If you gain two new residents, but lose four current residents, you are destined to fail. Pay attention to the people who are living in your community now, and when someone leaves, have a conversation with them about why. And try to dig in deep–often the first response will not be the real reason.

There are a lot of stereotypes being thrown around in this story that worry me.  That might be worth discussing later.

Stereotypes aside, however, the story provides a good lesson for all rural communities.  If we want to grow our population, we have to get serious about how we interact with newcomers.  Hazelton is probably no better or worse than other rural communities, and there’s definitely more to the story than was reported.  They just made the headlines today.  Hopefully, your community is doing something to make sure it doesn’t make the news tomorrow — at least not in this way.

 

Other article related to this story

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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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ReImagining a more creative rural educational system

February 9th, 2010

Yesterday I highlighted a video interview of Richard Florida on Big Think, emphasizing the movement of creative workers to careers in industries not usually associated with creative types. 

But the bulk of his message, which I left untouched yesterday, is that we need to reimagine our educational system.  You may listen (or re-listen) to the interview in the video below. 

 

 (video source:  “Reinventing the way Workers Learn,” Big Think

Florida’s emphasis on the lack of social skill training in education reminded me of the advice Jim Beddow offered college students when he was the President at Dakota Wesleyan University back in the 1980s and early 1990s.  He encouraged students to develop skills that enabled them to: 

Jim still offers this advice to young people, and has since added a forth key; learn to network (both in personal and online).  To support his advice, Jim often cites successful individuals who embody these skills.  Two things strike me about his list of examples.  First, a great many create success outside of their chosen field of academic study.  And second, these individuals are incredibly entrepreneurial and creative. 

As regular readers recognize, I’m a former high school teacher, and am often a critic of the educational system in our rural communities.  My primary grudge is that our current educational model was developed for the industrial economy, which means we trained them to be successful in urban communities with stronger industrial economies. 

In the video interview, Florida tells us that “nibbling around the edges” of the educational system won’t develop the types of change that our country needs to grow our economy.  I would agree. 

But what does that mean for our rural communities?  Do we have to wait until business and political leaders are ready to transform education?  I hope not.

Instead, I would call on rural educators to look within their classrooms, and figure out ways that they can teach these skills to their current students.  Not only will students benefit as individuals, but I think our rural communities will benefit as well.

 

Note:  Readers may be interested in  these additional video interviews of Richard Florida on Big Think

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