Sustainability & Entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand

November 20th, 2009 by Mike Knutson

A few weeks ago, Randy Parry travelled out to Van Buren County, Michigan to speak at the community’s annual conference. He shared the following thoughts about his time in Michigan.

Interview with Randy

Van Buren County is located in Southwest Michigan. What was your impression of the region? How does it compare to rural South Dakota?

At a county level, Van Buren County is much more populated (78,000 residents) than most of rural South Dakota (2,000 - 5,000 residents), but there are many similarities. Both are rural with agriculture playing an important role in the economy. Both have experienced economic hardship and need to reinvent their futures. One difference worth noting involves the importance of tourism to South Haven, the largest community in the county. Tourism is a much smaller part of the economic mix in the other communities in Van Buren County, just as it is a much smaller part of the economy in most rural South Dakota communities.

The region as a whole has experienced incredible economic decline due to the decline in the automobile industry. That decline has happened in a short amount of time, compared to the long economic decline of rural South Dakota.

I was impressed that community leaders in Van Buren have recognized the importance of entrepreneurship as means of transforming their economy. They are more organized in these efforts than what we typically see in rural South Dakota.

You spoke at Summit: 09 — How Regional Cooperation Sustains Entrepreneurial Development. What did your message focus on?

My message focused on how a community can create a multidimensional community development plan from a grassroots effort. I tried to highlight how our efforts in Miner County started with residents meeting in each other’s homes and how that approach lead to a plan that included housing, job development, entrepreneurship, capacity building, and much more.

I also hope that participants took away the importance of youth involvement in community development process. Not only are we building our communities for them, but young people also help communities see their futures differently.

There were several other speakers at the conference. What did you pick up from them?

I was very impressed with George A. Erickcek from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. He made the statement that “Now that clunkers are no longer gold, the showrooms are quiet” to make the point that communities must base their community development plans on sustainable strategies - and not band aid approaches like the “cash for clunkers program.” I think that Van Buren County is well on their way in this regard with their focus on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Is there anything that you wish you had shared or emphasized more during your presentation?

I wish I had emphasized more the importance of visioning to community development work. I don’t think community leaders had thought enough about how important it is to engage everyone in a grassroots effort while developing a plan for the future. Doing so goes a long way towards unifying the community behind the work.

Photo credit: Tony the Misfit - Flickr

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