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Posts Tagged ‘university of nebraska’
Rural “Brain Gain”! It’s true
January 6th, 2010
A few weeks ago, Jennifer Gumbel, a Gen Y lawyer from Le Roy, MN commented on a Minnesota Public Radio forum that she thought her rural communities was experiencing “brain gain” rather than “brain drain.” In other words, young people are staying and moving into her community at a higher rate than those moving out. (see more on this here)
Well, it looks like her intuition was right. The University of Minnesota’s Extension Center for Community Vitality has produced a report titled “Rural Migration: The Brain Gain of Newcomers,” which support’s Gumbel’s claims.
Using a “simple cohort technique” to analyze population growth and decline, the study found that many rural Minnesota communities are experiencing an in-migration of adults in age cohorts of 35-49. Definitely a positive trend. And when these new residents move in, they often bring children, causing an increase over time in the class sizes in rural schools. This trend points out the importance for rural communities to develop “people attraction strategies” targeting young adults in their child rearing years.
The report doesn’t analyze why residents were attracted to these rural Minnesota counties, but it does offer analysis conducted by the University of Nebraska. This research of why people age 30-44 have moved to the Panhandle region suggests they do so because they want:
- a simpler way of life
- safer, more secure communities
- lower housing costs
I’m definitely over simplifying the analysis of the “Rural Migration: The Brain Gain of Newcomers” report, so I hope readers will dig in deeper. (BTW, I found it to be a very readable report.) I hope that someone will eventually study the specifics of why people are moving to these rural Minnesota communities and why they are not moving to others. I suspect employment plays a key role, but I doubt that it the only factor. The report has also left me hoping to discover current trends in rural South Dakota. Could we have a “brain gain” and not know it?
Tags: brain gain, Minnesota, people attraction strategy, population growth, University of Minnesota, university of nebraska
Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural | Comments (2)
The “Buffalo Commons” Revisited
June 24th, 2009
The Buffalo Commons, a 1987 article by Frank and Deborah Popper, is a proposal to abandon the Great Plains and return the area to native short-grass prairie. As you might have guessed, the Poppers’ idea has been less than welcomed by residents of the Great Plains. Their idea has recently been challenged by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) study that suggests young people and families are returning to the plains.
UNL undertook their study ( “Today’s Buffalo Commons - Not what you might expect” ) to explain the unexpected population increase in the Nebraskan panhandle. They found that the area had an encouraging influx of new, young inhabitants.
How can we bring this encouragement to other areas? The study not only points out facts, but brings hope to rural areas. There can be in-migration. People will come. However, it is going to take some active recruiting and providing ongoing support for new families once they arrive.
Whatever a community’s views and actions toward newcomers may be, towns need to realize that they need people. Accepting and welcoming new, young people will bring life and vitality to a community. A new generation will thrive in rural areas; they are looking for places to raise families (which is good news for rural schools too).
Small towns can get the entire community involved in the recruitment process. Tell young friends and family all the great things that are going on in your small town. Yes, young people need jobs, but they are looking for a “community” to call home - not just a workplace.
If we were to do a similar study, what would we find about your community? It’s time to tell the Poppers and ourselves that people are coming here to live. Rural life on the plains is flourishing; we just need to think about attracting people in new ways.
Other resources
- “Today’s Buffalo Commons — Not what you might expect” website at Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI), University of Nebraska
- “Engaging your Community to Attract and Retain New Residents” a presentation by the CARI team at the NACDEP Conference
- “Plains Sense: Frank and Deborah Popper’s ‘Buffalo Commons’ is creeping toward reality” at High County News
Tags: Buffalo Commons, Nebraska, people attraction strategy, university of nebraska
Posted in Community Development, In the News, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (2)