Using Telecommunications In Community Development

One of the fundamentals of building a successful community development program is correctly assessing your infrastructure.

In almost all communities, regardless of their size, telecommunications is a major player.

Here’s a link to an excellent overview of the role telecommunications can play in building a sustainable community.

— Dan Cowling

The Holistic Approach To Community Development

Your community development efforts in the knowledge-based economy of the new century must focus on more than highways, rail spurs, water lines, sewer systems and the like.

This isn’t your father’s 20th century!

“Health care, education, the arts, recreation and economic opportunity are among the myriad factors that influence a community’s quality of life,” says Robert Pittman, a community development specialist with Janus Economics of Atlanta.

“Community improvement does not happen by accident. It happens when local citizens plan and work together cooperatively and inclusively.

Through research and experience, we are gaining a better understanding of what facilitates community and economic development.

They’re often used but sometimes misunderstood terms.”

Pittman says economic development is commonly regarded as “creating jobs in a community through recruiting firms and the facilitation of business start-ups.

A more holistic definition of economic development would include raising the standard of living and quality of life for all residents through higher-skilled jobs and diversifying the local economy in a sustainable manner.

Community development, on the other hand, is a broader field that encompasses economic development.

The outcomes of community development include:

•  improved infrastructure,

•  better health care,

•  lower crime rates,

•  improved education and other advancements.

“The process of community development occurs when residents address problems by planning and acting in a unified fashion to improve the community,” Pittman says.

“The ability of a community to successfully undertake the process of community development is often called social capacity.

Successful communities constantly work to improve their social capacity — a process often referred to as capacity building.”

If you’re not successful in community development, it will be much more difficult to achieve success in economic development.

Pittman explains:

“Economic development involves carefully planning and executing programs to recruit new firms, working with existing local firms in retention and expansion and facilitating business start-ups.

In addition, community development creates better communities that will attract and grow businesses.

Without a good product to sell, it is hard to be successful in economic development.”

When I worked as one of the two presidential appointees at the Delta Regional Authority, we came up with a comprehensive strategic development plan for the 252 counties and parishes we served in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

The plan represented a departure from traditional economic development models. We wanted to be creative in our approach to revitalizing the Delta, so we came up with a community development document.

Has your community come up with a vision for the future that will allow its people and businesses to flourish?

Do you have prioritized goals, strategies and actions that will provide focus to your efforts?

If not, you’re falling behind.

— Rex Nelson

Broadband Deployment Is Essential For Community Development

One of the key steps that must be taken to build a knowledge-based economy is widespread broadband deployment.

John Perry Barlow, a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and the co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, once put it this way:

“With the development of the Internet, we are in the middle of the most transforming technological event since the capture of fire. I used to think that it was just the biggest thing since Gutenberg. But now I think you have to go back further.”

When I served as one of the president’s two appointees at the Delta Regional Authority, I discovered that many of the 252 counties and parishes we served lacked adequate access to a robust information technology infrastructure.

This made the geographic isolation of certain areas even worse. It served as a barrier to economic, educational, medical and various other benefits that urban areas took for granted.

We determined that one of our top three policy priorities for the region would have to be information technology.

We developed a plan in conjunction with the Southern Growth Policies Board known as “iDelta: Information Technology in the Delta.”

The goals of the plan were to

•  Improve education

•  Enhance entrepreneurship

•  Improve health through the use of information technology.

The plan provided research and data on the capacity and utilization of information technology in the region.

Based on this emphasis, one of the groups in our Delta Leadership Institute decided to help rural communities better understand the benefits of broadband.

Heather Urena from Louisiana, a member of the leadership class, put it this way:

“The Delta is a region where all too often stereotype has been a reflection of reality rather than exaggeration. People of the Delta now desire, even require, technology as a means of improving their lives.”

Are you demanding technological advancements in your community?

Rural communities often struggle with even the most basic infrastructure questions. So information technology is even less likely to be a part of the daily conversation.

If you haven’t made broadband deployment a part of your community’s strategic development plan, you’re making a mistake.

In the words of Bill Gates, “The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.”

A community without proper connectivity is, in essence, a place with no town square.

According to Jane Smith Patterson, a nationally recognized expert on state communications policy, even a 10 percent increase in broadband use in a community can result in an average $7,000 economic difference per household.

That type of increase in a household income would be a huge boost to your community’s quest for economic advancement. It would help make two of the most important parts of the American dream — homeownership and a college education — a possibility for more people.

Look at the lives of your children and grandchildren. They are lives filled with electronic gaming, digital learning and virtual relationships.

It’s not just the future. It’s the present.

Is your community where it needs to be in this respect?

— Rex Nelson

Community Development And The Information Superhighway

 

The focus of community development has changed.

The fact is that few jobs in the service economy of the 21st century can be performed without some knowledge of computers.

A community that takes on a broadband Internet initiative sends a signal to businesses that it wants to change for the better, is willing to plan for the future and is ready to use technology to make itself more competitive.

If your state has a statewide broadband initiative, make sure your community is a part of that effort.

These statewide efforts attempt to:

1. Determine the existing broadband infrastructure. It’s easier to facilitate access once you know what the needs are. Mapping shows where access isn’t available.
2. Educate community leaders on the importance of broadband access and convince them to develop strategic plans for the better use of information technology in their communities.
3. Partner with existing community programs to create the initiatives needed to promote increased Internet use and ownership of computer devices.

Ultimately, these efforts will enhance the capacity of communities to be competitive in the global economy.

Community leaders simply must understand that information technology is as important as schools, roads and other amenities of civilization. The future of an area can be vastly improved by harnessing the potential of the Internet.

The addition of paved roads and electricity was a critical factor in closing the per capita income gap between rural areas and urban areas in the years just before and after World War II.

Don’t get me wrong. Roads remain important. But we need more than just roads.

Deployment of broadband in this century is as critical to the future of a community as getting paved roads and electricity into those areas was in the previous century.

The best way to improve a community is to provide its children with a quality of life that will allow them to return there after college, start a family and grow a business. Having access to high-speed Internet gives them the opportunity to grow their businesses in the knowledge-based economy of the new century.

Broadband access can be an important tool when recruiting new businesses. It also can be used to improve care in hospitals and improve education.

A wave of information technology investment is as necessary for the future of our country — especially its rural areas — as were the great highway construction projects of the past.

We can no longer focus on the just the asphalt and concrete highways.

The information superhighway cannot be ignored if your community is to advance.

— Rex Nelson

Keys To Not Leaving Community Development Grants On The Table

 

Multimodal transportation has long played an important role in economic and community development.

While much of what’s on this blog focuses on the workforce — education, training, workforce health, etc. — the importance of the transportation infrastructure cannot be overstated.

The navigable waters of our rivers and a growing network of wagon, rail and later trucking routes were the lifeblood of this nation’s westward expansion.

For your community to advance in today’s just-on-time business environment, an efficient intermodal transportation network is essential.

Particularly critical for those communities that hope to be logistics and distribution hubs will be modern facilities and equipment that can accommodate containerized cargo.

The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission’s “Transportation for Tomorrow” report outlines guiding principles — safety, efficiency, congestion reduction, economic development, energy concerns and environmental concerns.

Major infrastructure investments are going to be necessary during the next decade as the United States competes in the increasingly complex global economy.

I helped the Delta Regional Authority complete work on a multimodal transportation plan for the region. The task of compiling this plan fit perfectly into the DRA’s designated role as a planner, coordinator of resources and advocate for the 252 counties and parishes it serves in parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

In the area served by the DRA, we determined that more than $200 billion in investments will be needed during the next 25 years to ensure the efficient movement of people and goods.

If that kind of investment is needed just in the Delta region, you can imagine how big the totals are for the country. Where does your community fit in?

First, you must have leaders who will work closely with federal and state transportation officials as you attempt to secure long-term funding for the planning and construction of major corridors. 

This is neither a short nor a simple process. In any transportation project, there are numerous technical, financial, legal and political barriers that must be overcome.

Second, you need to make sure your community has an updated strategic plan and that multimodal transportation is a part of that plan. 

In putting together the multimodal transportation plan for the DRA, we first identified the assets and needs for highways, bridges, intelligent transportation systems, freight rail, passenger rail, waterways, ports, locks and airports. Then, we made a number of recommendations designed to improve the region’s multimodal transportation system.

Your strategic plan should do the same thing on a more local basis. 

• Identify the assets in each of these areas.
• Identify the needs.
• Then, come up with a list of recommendations for what needs to be done.

State funds, federal funds and private transportation investments are more likely to go to those communities that have a solid strategic plan in place. Far less likely to attract investments will be those communities that simply have their hands out with no strategic plan for using the money.

During my 13 years in government, I lost track of the number of times community leaders would show up just to say: “Give us a grant.”

There was no written plan. There was no vision.

If your community has not put together a strategic development plan in the past two to three years, you’re already far behind in the community development game. Things change rapidly. Even a five-year-old plan is outdated in today’s competitive environment.

Time is wasting. Your infrastructure is deteriorating. And you’re leaving state and federal grants on the table due to your lack of planning.

— Rex Nelson