Posts Tagged ‘Miner County Cash Flow Study’

What do your local businesses think?

December 18th, 2009

You probably know from previous posts, that I believe it’s important to support both “buy local” efforts and local entrepreneurship. The Miner County Cash Flow Study has been the most successful effort to support local buying in Miner County, SD to date.  The study involved high school students surveying county residents about their spending habits and then sharing the results with the public in an effort to help community members understand their impact on the local economy.  While reading this article in the Ames Tribune, I began to wonder if the tables couldn’t have been turned, with students surveying local entrepreneurs concerning how the community could support their businesses.

Titled “Chamber, AEDC, Young Professionals gear up for retail business survey,” the article describes a joint effort by the Ames Chamber of Commerce, Ames Economic Development Commission, and the Young Professionals of Ames to survey local entrepreneurs and business owners.

I like two aspects of the survey.  First, it appears that the community organizations really care about what small businesses think about their community.  Second, they are engaging the Young Professional Group in the effort. 

Whether it’s surveying local residents concerning spending habits or surveying local entrepreneurs for their thoughts on community issues, I’d advocate that small, rural communities should engage their high school students rather than hiring outside firms to do everything for them. In the long run, it will be more meaningful to everyone involved.

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Big Problems can’t be solved by Big Solutions

December 14th, 2009

We’ve known for quite some time Dan and Chip Heath intended to include the story of the “Miner County Cash Flow Study“ project in their next book, Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard.  Chip interviewed Randy Parry about the project at Grassroots and Groundwork Conference in St. Paul, MN a couple years ago. 

Having the project, which kick started our development efforts in Miner County, SD, mentioned in Switch is pretty exciting for me.  I’m a huge fan of their first book, Made to Stick, and I regularly seek out their monthly column in FastCompany as the first article I read in the magazine. 

Yesterday, I stumbled across this blog post and learned a bit about how they intend to use the story of the cash flow study in Switch.  The author interviewed Dan and Chip, and wrote the following:

Another fascinating component of the conversation was the Heath’s belief that “big problems are only rarely solved by big solutions.” They argued that big changes must be shrunk into the smallest components possible and attacked bite by bite. Very thought-provoking for someone passionate about the importance of the follower! The illustration used here was that of some kids in a South Dakota small town economics class who managed to save their town simply by encouraging everyone in town to spend just 10% more of their money locally. And it worked!”  (Source:  “Chip/Dan Heath - Switch,” Hogshadows. 8-8-09)

Big problems can’t be solved by big solutions. That makes me think of Rosa Parks.  One lady, who refused to give up her seat on a bus, helped launch the Civil Rights movement.  Of course, her singular action - standing up to the injustice of segregation on Montgomery, AL buses — didn’t eliminate discrimination overnight, but her effort played a pivotal role in solving a problem many, at the time,  deemed insurmountable. 

It may be a bit presumptive to compare the herculean efforts of Rosa Parks and the civil rights activists who toppled segregation in the South to the efforts of Howard H.S. students who raised awareness about the importance of spending their money locally; but I think the Heaths are onto something important when they say the solutions to big problems must be attacked in smaller, more manageable bites. 

Of course, in the community development world, it means you also need sustained leadership.  The students who participated in the Miner County Cash Flow Study project addressed one issue - local spending - but it took a decade of sustained community development efforts to achieve success in Miner County. Rural decline is, after all, a pretty complex issue.

And do we ever really achieve success? Like fighting discrimination, transforming the economies of our small, rural communities will take constant vigilance.  It’s safe to say that something WILL go wrong in Miner County at some point in the future.  A business will struggle or a building will be destroyed by fire.  One never knows the challenges the future will bring.

But tackling big issues with small bites and developing sustained leadership makes a lot of sense as a foundation for creating change in our rural communities.  I look forward to what else the Heaths have to say on the subject in Switch. 

Note:  I’d encourage anyone interested in learning more about the study  to sign up for a free resource guide in the box found in the upper right column.

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Posted in Community Development, In the News, Leadership, Rural | Comments (3)

Rachel responds from South Haven

November 24th, 2009

We’ve placed a little focus on Michigan lately.  Last week, Randy offered some thoughts about his work at the Summit:09 conference  in South Haven, Michigan.  This week Rachel Vochaska, Executive Director of the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce shares some of her thoughts the event as well as the community’s plans to spur entrepreneurship. 

 

Interview with Rachel Vochaska

We’ve been hearing a lot about Michigan in the news over the last year, but most of the news focuses on Detroit and the collapse of the automobile industry.  What is happening in South Haven and other rural communities in Michigan? 

While the South Haven area has a well diversified manufacturing base, it has been impacted by the collapse of the auto industry and the community has suffered a significant loss of jobs.  Over a period of close to 24 months, Nobel International closed two local plants with 250 employees each.  To our favor though, the diverse nature of manufacturing in the area coupled with a number of companies who are engineering innovative solutions provides us relative stability even in this downturned economy. 

At the Chamber we are receiving numerous small business development inquiries and we are providing triage services to best meet the needs of local entrepreneurs.  We have created an inventory of services and resources for those interested in starting a small business and based on the nature of the inquiry we are plugging folks into counseling services through SCORE and the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC).  Enrollment has reached capacity at our local community college and Michigan Works! is providing a heightened level of assistance to those who have been dislocated or who are unemployed.

We are assisting our second stage entrepreneurs in a number of ways.  We have provided leadership retreats through the Edward Lowe Foundation with the goal of encouraging peer learning and mentoring while developing leadership skills.  We continue to engage about 12 companies in this leadership development process to the benefit of the region.  We have connected in with the SBTDC who have deployed services through their Growth Group to help businesses with restructuring and identifying product diversification opportunities.  We are working with our regional Procurement Technical Assistance Center to encourage businesses to consider diversifying their customer orientation by engaging in government contracting.  Our residential companies are sticking in there, staying loyal to the area, and doing what they need to do to ride the storm out.

Being a lake-side resort oriented community well located to Chicago and other metro areas, the downturn in the economy has actually benefited many of our local businesses especially those in the hospitality industry (lodging and restaurants).  South Haven is a cost-effective, fun loving destination for both regional and out-of-state visitors.  We are working diligently in developing shoulder and off-season events and activities that will continue to draw people even during the slower months.  We are gearing up our agri-tourism sector and beginning to package not just the great natural amenities associated with Lake Michigan - the lake, white-sand beaches, our river, and the lighthouse, to name a few - but also the adventure of returning to the farm or even visiting a farm for the first time. 

With manufacturing, agriculture and tourism as the our primary supporters and our economic base, an optimism continues to prevail and entrepreneurs recognize that our abundant natural resources coupled with our ideal mid-west location positions the South Haven area as a great place to live, work, and play!      

As the Director of the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce, your job entails supporting economic growth and opportunities in the greater South Haven area.  What are some of the initiatives you are working on that will help you achieve this mission? 

The membership of the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce is truly representative of small business, with 68% employing four or less employees and 85% of Chamber members having 10 or less employees.  Services provided by the Chamber have been geared appropriately with small business development opportunities through programming and networking events being provided through the Chamber’s annual program of work. 

In addition these traditional services provided by the Chamber, in 2007 our Board re-defined our direction into economic development.  We embarked upon a project to identify the resources and tools available to people interested in starting a small business.  What we found out was that we didn’t lack the services or products that entrepreneurs needed to get started and to even grow their business, we lacked an effective system to inform entrepreneurs about what was available and then to deploy the resources they needed.  We found that small business development service providers and entrepreneurial support organizations were acting in isolation, and as a result of these silos the customer (the entrepreneur) wasn’t being well served.  So we set out with a mission “to provide a supportive and systematic approach to small business development that will spur economic revitalization and encourage sustainability in Van Buren County”, marking the birth of BRACE: Business Resources & Counseling for Entrepreneurs!

 

Last week, you held Summit: 09 — How Regional Cooperation Sustains Entrepreneurial Development.  What is Summit:09 and why did you ask Randy to come out and speak at it? 

Summit: 09 was a high caliber learning opportunity for community leaders, business people and citizens who have a desire to engage in making a difference (transforming Michigan!).  With a focus on regional cooperation and entrepreneurship, our goal was to bring folks into the room to hear about what the Rural Learning Center (RLC) is doing and to continue to motivate the shift in working across borders in cultivating our talent - simply said, coming together to grow our own.  At the Chamber, we understand the importance of economic gardening versus the traditional economic model of hunting (recruitment and attraction).  As a result, the Board of Directors has set a vision for our organization that focuses on entrepreneurship.  We have lead the charge to develop a county-wide initiative that provides assistance to entrepreneurs in taking their dream to fruition.  We are working collaboratively in establishing a supportive and systematic approach to small business development.  When we heard about the work of RLC we were intrigued, and we knew that we had much to learn from the Miner County experience.  Randy brought a humility to the topic and to summit, and our shared vision associated with the potential of rural economic development made him a perfect fit with our program and the direction we are heading.

We believe that it is greater than that though.  Given both the similarities and differences between our communities, we are excited about embarking upon a journey to further develop our relationship with the RLC.  We plan to advance our work by sharing intellectual property and resources via distance learning capabilities.  Who knows, maybe Miner County and Van Buren County will become a great example of interstate cooperation given this new relationship between RLC and the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce!             

What are some of the most important things you learned from the speakers at the conference? 

Coming together with a vision and a plan seemed to be a central tenet of Randy’s presentation.  It was a good affirmation for us as we look at our own economic development efforts.  Early on in our BRACE initiative we spent a lot of time sitting around the table identifying the direction and determining who needed to be involved.  Eighteen months ago we conducted a very effective Appreciative Inquiry process that laid the foundation for our vision and our program of work (strategic action items), and next month we will re-visit the strategic planning process and determine our direction for the next 18 months.

As a result of Randy’s presentation, we have 2 communities mobilizing efforts to work through the schools by using students to conduct a community survey.  I loved Randy’s Cashflow Analysis and remain hopeful that we can carry his survey process to the next level and show true benefit to our communities relative to buying locally.

With the good also come the tough times.  Randy did a great job of not just showcasing the successes, he was also willing to reveal the struggles that Miner County and the RLC have experienced.  The audience connected at a deeper level in recognizing and appreciating that we grow stronger and gain insight through this adversity.

 

Note:  Rachel offers an interesting idea:  “We are excited about embarking upon a journey to further develop our relationship with the RLC….  Who knows, maybe Miner County and Van Buren County will become a great example of interstate cooperation.”

It is always fun to speculate on where new relationships will take us.  Connecting with the folks in Van Buren County offers great possibilities.  Where that goes is yet to be defined.  At a bare minumum, however, we all have an opportunity to learn from the entrepreneurial efforts being developed in Van Buren County. Through BRACE, it would appear that the folks in Van Buren County are ahead of most of us in this part of the country in their efforts to bring business assistance providers together and create a systematic approach to small business development.   Hopefully, we get a chance to continue that conversation.

Photo Credits:Kelly Weber at Through Kelly’s Eyes www.throughkellyseyes.com

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Sustainability & Entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand

November 20th, 2009

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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ReImagine Rural Education

November 6th, 2009

Lately we’ve been calling on rural communities to “reimagine” their futures by focusing on transformational strategies rather than those of revitalization.  In a recent post on the Daily Yonder, Timothy Collins reminded me that this can’t take place without “reimaging” the future of education in our rural communities.

Collins, the assistant director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University, wrote his post titled “Speak your peace: Longer School Year, and Better,” in response to President Obama’s call for lengthening the number of days in the school year.  While recognizing that lengthening the school year should improve education, Collins sees a bigger opportunity: 

If we’re going to lengthen the school year, let’s talk about real changes that will not only improve student achievement, but also build rural communities capable of participating effectively in the new green economy.

Schools and communities getting better together?  Yes!

 

The Roots of the Miner County story are in education

In Miner County, SD we view the Miner County Cash Flow Study, conducted in 1996 by high school students, as the start of our transformational activities.  In this project, the students sought to reverse a decline in local purchasing by (1) studying local spending habits through a community survey, (2) sharing what they learned with community residents, and (3) challenging everyone to spend 10% more of their income locally in the upcoming year. 

It was the type of learning that doesn’t come from a textbook and definitely can’t be measured on a standardized test.  But equally important, it met two of the community needs:  it helped strengthen local businesses and increased tax revenues for the City of Howard.  In following year, residents increased local spending by approximately 40%. 

These and other place-based learning activities conducted in the school over the next few years strengthened the connection between the school and community. The work also played a key role in the Northwest Area Foundation selecting Miner County as their first partner in the Community Ventures program.

 

How can this be done?

Collins answers his call for change by producing a litany of outstanding ideas for connecting schools and communities.  It’s good stuff!  Not only do his ideas provide value to rural communities, but they also help build a bridge to the green economy and youth entrepreneurship. 

But how does one initiate the types of changes Collins advocates?  The following are a few thoughts I’d like to share. 

First, realize that no single person is going to accomplish change on this level by him or herself.  A superintendent or mayor can help lead the change.  But I think it requires deep conversation with the entire community. 

Second, find ways to prime the pump for conversation by making sure people are exposed to new ideas.  A good place to start would be with Collin’s ideas. Ask people to read and react to them.

Third, make sure young people are a part of the process.  Young people’s voices can produce powerful insights when adults treat them as partners. 

Whatever process is used, however, I think it’s important to remember that the essential question to focus on is “How do rural schools and communities get better together?” 

That’s Reimagining Rural Education. 

 

 Note:  The RLC is currently in the process of developing some free resources that help explain the Miner County Cash Flow Study.  Anyone interested in receiving the first one, titled the Miner County Cash Flow Study Resource Guide should sign up for it at the top of the sidebar.  Individuals who sign up will be notified as other resources are developed.

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A Remarkable Event, for Rural Places Everywhere

August 28th, 2009

The Rural Learning Center is celebrating the beginning of a new phase in their history next week.  On Wednesday, September 2nd the Rural Learning Center will break ground on the Maroney Rural Learning Center.  The center will house renewable energy and rural community training space, a restaurant, kitchen and hotel in a certified LEED Platinum building, all on Howard’s Main Street. 

The Maroney Rural Learning Center is part of the ongoing, strategic work of the Rural Learning Center, which has been working in Howard and surrounding Miner County for the past 15 years on economic development, housing development, and growing capacity of local leaders and organizations.  The expanded facility will allow the Rural Learning Center to host community based groups who come to learn about community development and an innovative renewable energy job training program, specifically.  Additional uses for the facility include space for local gatherings and rural conferences/ trainings.

The groundbreaking program will feature partners of the Rural Learning Center, including Pam Flaherty, President and CEO of Citi Foundation, Ken Stork, President and CEO of Citibank South Dakota, Kevin Walker, President and CEO of the Northwest Area Foundation, and Bob Sutton, President of the South Dakota Community Foundation.  Pam Flaherty (Citi Foundation) will present a $250,000 grant to the Rural Learning Center specifically in support of their efforts to building the Maroney Rural Learning Center and the renewable energy job training program. 

Event details follow.  We hope to see you on Wednesday!

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