Rural America Needs Change Agents

January 17th, 2011 by Mike Knutson

Entrepreneurship and self-employment are key to a rural revival.  That’s the message our friend Don Macke at the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship shared last week in an article he wrote for the New Geography blog.

In addition to building a case for why entrepreneurship is important, Macke identifies three areas of rural community development that are impacted by the growth of entrepreneurship.  One in particular, the connection between entrepreneurs and risk takers, caught my attention.  In a section titled “Social and Economic Renewal”, Don notes:

“Based on our field research throughout North America we would argue that the dominate group leaving rural areas are not necessarily the best and brightest, but those with a greater capacity for taking risk. This distinction is strategically important in that losing risk takers erodes a community’s fundamental capacity for innovating and embracing necessary change. Attracting entrepreneurs introduces “change agents” back into declining rural communities. This introduction enhances social and economic renewal.” (source:  “Self-Employment Key to Expanding Rural America’s Revival,” Don Macke, New Geography, Jan. 13, 2011)

Don offers a good reminder: rural communities need “change agents” who help initiate innovation.  And the people most likely to fill that role are the people who are leaving rural communities.  So, what needs to be done to attract (or retain) people who possess “a greater capacity for taking risks?”  I’ll offer the following quick list.

First, communities need to develop the environment and infrastructure to support entrepreneurs. Currently, the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship helps coach communities seeking to support entrepreneurs.  They also offer a wide array of resources for practitioners on their website to get them started.

Second, communities need to build a stronger brand with a focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. During my time working in rural communities, I’m astounded by the innovative nature of some rural communities.  Sadly, they don’t attempt to communicate that attribute to the world around them.  It’s little wonder they don’t attract more entrepreneurs.

Third, communities need to be more entrepreneurial themselves. Obviously this goes hand-in-hand with my first and second recommendations.  But at the same time, the community itself must display the values of an entrepreneur and be willing to take risks.  Doing so will make the community more inviting to entrepreneurs.

The list could go on and on.  And it leads to the question, “What is your community doing to attract entrepreneurs?”

3Horse Ranch Vineyards - Eagle, Idaho

He begins by noting how some rural communities are able to rapidly adapt and rebound from economic changes, while others find it difficult to mobilize and organize their resources enough to thrive during change. One  key? Community economic leadership.

The challenge is to rebuild or shift an economy from traditional business or industry to a more competitive way of thinking (when the traditional way is no longer working or isn’t working well enough) while “sustaining the unique identity of the community”. The success of such an effort is strongly rooted in the community’s attitude towards development, and the attitudes towards development depend, in large part, on the leadership.

Challenges related to being a part of a global economy which has the ability to provide consumers with products for much less than we are able to produce locally and being at the mercy of policy decisions made at the national level by the federal land managers and by a large municipality such as LADWP  present rural communites on the eastern slope of the Sierra with a need for innovative solutions to economic development.

One of Green’s conclusions is that both residents and leaders must demonstrate a pro business attitude before  significant local economic changes can take place. This pro business attitude can be fostered by understanding how the local economy works and the impact that economic shifts have on the communities. He writes that “there is an obvious gap between the perceptions of a small rural community being a nice place to live and families making a comfortable income”.

The remainder of the paper goes on to look at local leadership development, visioning, and developing a development strategy that centers around community empowerment. In the summary, Green says “For over a century rural economies have developed strategies that support a raw product economy and an economy that is dependent on decisions in an external environment over which the community has little control. However, the paradgim shift is beginning to take place”.

The critical message to take home is that in order for rural communities to successfully embrace a strategic economic development plan, “the leadership core and local government need to know what type of develpment will be acceptable to the community, what kind of development will not be acceptable, and who will be the people in the community that will mobilize the local resources necessary to produce positive results”.

The entire paper may be downloaded here: http://ag.arizona.edu/arec/va/prepruralcomm.html

The Eastern Sierra Economic Assessment Project held the first steering committee meeting on Monday, November 29, 2010. Twenty community leaders began the work of understanding the current economic condition of Inyo and Mono Counties, identifying the economic trends and forecasts that are likely to emerge in the next 3-5 years, understanding the concept of business cluster-based economic strategies, and identifying the existing strategies in the eastern Sierra. It was a lot to accomplish in three hours but the group was amazing in its focus and attention. And although the turnout was fabulous, the information needs to get out to many more business people, educators, planners, local government officials, tribal members, and  community members. We need your help. Talk to your friends, neighbors and business associates about business clusters. Encourage them to log into this blog and comment, or email me with ideas or questions, or read up on rural economic development and write a local newspaper.

To jump start your business cluster economic development education, I’d like to share with you an example of a rural business cluster in the form of an image:

Graphic Example of Business Cluster

(This illustration is intended for cluster education use only and may contain draft data).

The example above shows the Mono County construction cluster as of 2007. There were 112 firms employing 599 people.   This graph represents three main driver industries for a construction cluster as well as some of the associated industries that have a relationship with each other either in the supply side or the service / delivery side of that particular cluster. The concepts behind using business or industry clusters as a tool for economic development planning are identifying the clusters and examining their current role in the local economy, targeting opportunities for expansion and / or enhancement, and developing strategies for achieving that expansion / enhancement.

This is our goal of the Eastern Sierra Economic Assessment project. We will identify and drill into 5-6 existing local business clusters and with the help of industry leaders identify the opportunities around each cluster for additional business start-ups, increased robustness of existing businesses, gaps on the supply or service side, workforce training needs and other potential opportunities. We will then, with the help of the steering committee and local leaders, develop specific strategies designed to drive those opportunities forward.

We look forward to the work and the conversations to be held. We hope that you will contribute your knowledge of local history, economics, community and insight to this research and to the efforts that will evolve from the products of this project.

Vickie Taton   Eastern Sierra Field Representative

The Final EIR and Revised Economic Analysis will soon be released.  The Town has set a public review timeline for the Truckee Railyard, which includes 3 workshops prior to a tentative  May 27th Planning Commission Public Hearing and the tentative June 18th Town Council Public Hearing for Master Plan Adoption and EIR Certification.

An April 23rd Workshop is scheduled on the Economic Analysis. An April 30th Workshop is scheduled on changes to the Master Plan concerning mass, scale and traffic. Another meeting is scheduled May 13 to focus on Council/Commission discussion on recommendations for the final Master Plan version.

Truckee is at a Crossroads

All aboard! Let’s get a discussion going here.  What changes should be made to the Master Plan? Share your thoughts by clicking “Post a Comment”.  Note:  your email address will not be published.

Here’s where Donner Pass Road swoops to the left heading east out of downtown. Navigate the map to imagine a straight alignment of the road which continues parallel to the railroad tracks and to Church Street. Imagine pedestrians, bicycles and cars traveling back and forth between the historic Downtown and the new Railyard development. What would a pedestrian friendly streetscape look like here?

Did Main Street become a cliche as it was pitted against Wall Street during the presidential debates?  The majority of us don’t live on either street, but if you had your choice to live on a Main Street, what would you want it to be?  What is it about  Main Street that is so attractive?  Does Downtown Truckee have that appeal?  Could development of the railyard site help achieve that Main Street feel? Click on the arrows in the  Urban Advantage picture above and visualize what the Truckee image might be!

As the Truckee General Plan says, “The interface between historic Truckee and the new Mill Site Development should be seamless.”  In developing the Railyard Master Plan, alternatives were considered.  The “T” intersection creates the most seamless connection, allowing for pedestrian and business connectivity.  Leaving the Swoosh “creates a separate and distinct main street from the existing Downtown.” (See pages 22-23 of the Master Plan.)

But the differences are hard to visualize.  There are various two dimensional maps to help, but a three dimensional model and a simulated “fly-through” would be great.  And how about an on the ground mock-up demonstration?