Defining Community Development

It should go without saying that you’ll clearly define what community development means for your community before embarking on a strategic plan. But you would be surprised at how many communities start down this path without a clear outline in place.

When I worked at the Delta Regional Authority, we were directed by Congress to update the strategic plan for the 252 counties and parishes we served in parts of eight states. It was a broad, ambitious effort.

In order to give ourselves focus, we defined the areas we felt were key to any true strategic plan. Here are a few of them (all are things you should consider in your community):

1. Health Care:

♦ Work with employers, government agencies and additional partners to develop innovative programs designed to reduce the number of people suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

♦ Have community health events, faith-based programs and other activities designed to educate residents about the importance of workforce health.

♦ Have a clear plan to bring quality physicians to your community.

♦ Work with major regional employers to establish worksite clinics and wellness programs.

2. Information Technology:

♦ Support efforts to provide all hospitals, clinics and other primary-care providers with the best possible broadband Internet access so they can advance the use of telemedicine.

♦ Work to ensure that all residents have access to broadband Internet while also ensuring they have the training and knowledge needed to operate in the Internet environment.

♦ Support the use of distance education capabilities in schools and the training of personnel to manage these operations.

♦ Enhance workforce development by providing more adults with access to computer literacy training.

♦ Work with local governments and nonprofit organizations to develop and maintain websites that provide up-to-date information and services.

3. Workforce Development:

♦ Work with community colleges and public school districts to better align vocational education and professional certification programs with industry cluster development efforts.

♦ Support efforts to link community colleges with regional economic development efforts.

♦ Support employer-based training and education programs that equip people to work in technical and professional occupations.

4. Transportation:

♦ Advance infrastructure efforts that respect local cultural and economic interests while preserving the area’s natural resources.

♦ Support the development of intermodal transportation networks that allow for the movement of goods via containers using water, air and land transportation modes.

5. Leadership training:

♦ Continue training new leaders through an annual leadership program in your community.

♦ Encourage graduates of your leadership program to participate in alumni networks and events.

♦ Support local initiatives launched by leadership program graduates.

Are these among the areas addressed in your strategic plan? If not, do you really believe you have a holistic approach to community development?

— Rex Nelson

What Not To Do In Community Development

It’s important for those involved in community development to realize that in the knowledge-based economy of the new century, highly educated workers are no longer attracted to certain types of communities.

These workers are looking for “quality of place.”

The outdated emphasis on “quality of life” no longer addresses many of the things that are needed for communities to grow. “Quality of life” emphasizes the values of the existing population.

“Quality of place,” meanwhile, focuses on the attributes that attract new talent.

Fresh approaches to creating “quality of place” will promote investment, economic diversification, leadership and entrepreneurship.

There are several things you should not do. They are:

1. Do not view industrial recruitment as the sole solution to unemployment problems.
   
   Industrial recruitment is, of course, the traditional economic development solution to high unemployment. But it ignores the fact that employment gains in this country no longer come primarily from the manufacturing sector. No community can assume that manufacturing companies will continue to drive the economy deep into this century.
2. Do not assume that simply training workers will ensure that those workers will remain in your community.           

   Too many workforce training organizations ignore the fact that as soon as motivated residents acquire skills and education, many of them leave for flourishing tech centers elsewhere in the country. That points to the need for a strong “quality of place.”

3. Do not recommend actions that will compromise the efforts of organizations already operating in your community.Your community development organization certainly won’t be the only one making an investment. From health to transportation, from technology to education, from housing to economic development, government and nonprofit organizations will continue to invest. The future success of your organization will lie along two paths — creative approaches to solving the problems you’re facing and cooperative planning with these other entities.

The strategic plan for your community should provide focus while at the same time respecting the importance of continuity and support for existing initiatives. An improved “quality of place” won’t be attained by working alone. However, a detailed blueprint can be the catalyst for encouraging better cooperation among government agencies, private investors and others.

— Rex Nelson

Alice In Wonderland And Community Development

Do your community development activities sometimes make you feel like you’re Alice in Wonderland?

There’s a simple, effective way to break out of what can feel like a downward spiral.

Before I give you the questions your must ask yourself, though, let’s consider that Alice in Wonderland analogy.

Alice comes to a fork in the road. In a tree in the center of the fork sits the Cheshire cat.

As Alice stands there trying to figure out which fork in the road to take, she asks the cat; “Which road do I take?”

The cat answers, “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” says Alice.

“Then,” says the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”

As you examine your community development plan, you should view it as a road map and then ask yourself these basic questions before committing additional resources:

Where are we now?

♦ You must have a clear picture of where your community stands today before you can develop a strategy for the future.

♦ This approach includes looking at both the beauty marks and the warts. You must define your strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.

What’s our ultimate destination? Where do we want to wind up?

♦ If you can’t clearly define what you want to look like as a community three, five or even 10 years from now, how can you develop a plan that will lead you to your destination?

♦ This step involves setting goals and objectives for your program. This is also a perfect place to develop a mission statement for your community.

♦ The statement should be simple and realistic. I recommend that it be no more than three or four sentences in length. I also recommend writing two mission statements — one that states who you are today and another that identifies who you will become as a community.

Examples:

“Our community is … ”

“Our community will be … ”

What route will we take? How will we get there?

♦ Answering these questions will result in a strategic plan. You’ll identify the specific steps, timelines, resources and people involved in each stage of the journey.

♦ You should always ask whether each activity heads you down the most direct route to your preferred destination.

Ask yourself these questions. And then take action.

— Dan Cowling

 

Growth Isn’t Everything In Community Development

For economic developers in the 20th century, bigger translated into better.

They were always looking for more.

More businesses. More jobs. More people. More roads.

But bigger is not always better.

The smart community developers of the 21st century will be quick to tell you that sometimes better is better.

The National Rural Funders Collaborative  distributed an article several years ago by Bill Bishop that was titled “Finding Rural America’s Prosperous Communities.” I still quote from it in speeches.

Bishop wrote this about rural America:

“Prosperous rural places have more places for people to meet (restaurants, bowling lanes, country clubs), and more people attend churches that are engaged in their communities.

Prosperous rural places aren’t fast growing.

As a matter of fact, they grow more slowly than do communities on average.”

That goes against everything you’ve been taught, doesn’t it? You’ve always tried to grow. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But have you thought about the fact that future growth might start with making what you already have better?

Yes, sometimes better is better — a better system of public education, better jobs, better housing stocks.

I often refer to a framework for rural development that was designed several years ago by the Indiana lieutenant governor’s office and the Purdue Center for Regional Development.

That framework outlined what’s referred to as the seven pillars of rural economic development in the new century. They are:

1. Nurturing regional groups that include the public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors. Competition is no longer between one county and its adjoining counties. Regionalism is a necessary part of modern economic development.
2. Advancing civic leadership and engagement through leadership development programs and similar efforts.
3. Investing in community assets related to natural resources, history, the arts and cultural activities.
4. Promoting rural innovation.
5. Fostering youth engagement so they can help build rural areas in which they will wish to raise their families as adults.
6. Increasing wealth creation and retention by capturing emerging economic opportunities for rural areas.
7. Ensuring diversity, inclusiveness and access for all to basic human and social services.

When I served as one of the president’s two appointees to the Delta Regional Authority, we developed a strategic plan for the 252 counties and parishes we served in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. That plan incorporated many of these strategies.

In the new world of community development, it was evident to us that it was no longer about attracting that big industrial plant from up north.

The keys were to instead: 

1. Attract and retain entrepreneurial talent.
2. Attract and expand philanthropic capital.
3. Train our workforce in creative ways.
4. Deploy broadband to rural areas.

No, it’s not longer just about growth for growth’s sake.

In this century, it’s all about quality of place.

Does the strategic development plan for your community include all of the things listed above?

— Rex Nelson

Making Information Technology Part Of Community Development

You must place an emphasis on information technology when crafting a strategic plan for your community.

It’s no longer optional.

When I served at the Delta Regional Authority, we began emphasizing information technology even though many of the people with whom we worked were concerned only with traditional infrastructure issues.

We unveiled an information technology plan for the region we served and then presented that plan to the president and Congress. It was called iDelta.

The iDelta plan is designed to serve as a blueprint for improving education, enhancing entrepreneurship and improving health care through the use of information technology.

Do you have an information technology plan for your community?

Information technology is as critical as good highways when it comes to economic and community development. There are, in fact, few pieces of the development puzzle that are more necessary.

James Carlini, an Illinois-based expert on information technology issues, writes:

“There needs to be some serious investigation on why we have slipped so far into the digital desert where all levels of economic strata have been affected and not just those in the digital divide.That would be an excellent debate. It would have real substance, which is what the majority of voters really want.”

“Everyday Internet users know their connections are slow and are finding out they are losing to their competitors. Losing across the board to the competition? That’s not American. This isn’t a geek or an engineering issue. This is a critical American issue that affects people in every industry at every level at both business and play. Have we lost the competitive spirit to be first, to be the best or to have the fastest in the world?”

“There should be national shame for slipping so much. At the time of the telecom divestiture in 1984, we had the most advanced telecommunications network in the world. We can’t claim that title anymore. … Perhaps the network infrastructure should take the prominence for this generation like the space program did for a different generation.”

Those are wise words in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.

In the iDelta plan, we recommended:

♦ Telecommunications projects to connect the region with critical assets in health, education, workforce training, e-commerce and entrepreneurship.

♦ Public affairs campaign on the value of technology.

♦ Increased use of GIS systems.

Are you doing these kinds of things in your community?

Do the residents of the community have access to broadband, video conferencing, e-mail mentors and other assistance needed to ensure success in the competitive world economy?

Are you looking for partners and funding opportunities?

If you’re worried only about roads, water lines, sewer lines and the other traditional aspects of economic development, you’re going to quickly fall behind your competitors. In a rapidly changing world, that’s one thing I can almost guarantee.

— Rex Nelson

A Healthy Workforce Is The Key To Community Development

Growing communities are built with healthy workforces.

If a worker isn’t healthy, that worker can’t hold a job, support a family or contribute to the economic growth of the community.

When I worked for the Delta Regional Authority, which serves 252 counties and parishes in parts of eight states, we developed a diabetes awareness program with the assistance of my current employer, The Communications Group.

We determined that we should start emphasizing such things as better eating habits.

Diabetes classes and visits to nutritionists by patients with diabetes are associated with lower hospitalization rates and reductions in medical costs.

Many people don’t associate such efforts with traditional economic development.

Trust me, few things were more important in our region than improving the health of the workforce.

“Self-management is the cornerstone of modern diabetes care, and providing patients with the information, skills and support they need to manage the disease is a critical issue for health-care providers and systems,” according to a report in Diabetes Care.

“Self-management education can be provided in a variety of settings to patients with diabetes.”

A study of 18,404 patients found that having had any type of educational visit was associated with $11,571 less in hospital charges per person after accounting for the potential of demographic factors, other illnesses and hospitalizations prior to the diabetes diagnosis.

The study speaks for itself. And it provides a map for what should be a key part of your community development plan.

In addition to offering free health screenings across the region, our Healthy Delta initiative:

♦ Operated a call center with a toll-free number so callers could get free diabetes risk tests and receive help in accessing resources in their area

♦ Ran a media outreach campaign to educate people about the diabetes epidemic

♦ Worked with more than 1,700 churches across the region to encourage pastors to talk to their members about the risks of diabetes

Meanwhile, in our strategic development plan for the region, the organization pledged to:

♦ Work with employers, other government agencies and additional partners to reduce the number of people suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease

♦ Continue diabetes prevention, education and outreach efforts

♦ Form additional public-private partnerships to improve the health and productivity of the workforce

♦ Continue to bring physicians to the region through a visa waiver program that allows foreign physicians who are trained in this country to work in medically underserved areas for three years

Do you have similar initiatives in place in your community to improve the health of the workforce?

If not, why not?

It’s just as important to your community’s advancement as building roads and creating business parks.

If your community is to be all it can be, better workforce health must be a major component of your vision for the future.

— Rex Nelson

The Regional Approach To Community Development

Have you ever considered teaming up with neighboring communities when it comes to your strategic development plan?

Perhaps you should.

Sometimes there’s strength in numbers.

In February 2007, part of the city of Dumas in southeast Arkansas was destroyed by a tornado. During the grueling months of recovery that followed that natural disaster, community leaders there focused on ways to revitalize an area that had been losing population for years.

Like many parts of the Delta, southeast Arkansas has a high poverty rate and an often unhealthy workforce. Education and income levels remain well below the national averages.

The Dumas Chamber of Commerce felt it was essential that the city undergo a strategic planning process to determine the best methods for fighting these problems.

Just down the road in McGehee, community leaders decided to undertake a similar strategic planning process. McGehee native Frank Hickingbotham, the founder of the TCBY yogurt chain, had made a $100,000 pledge for that planning initiative.

Soon, other communities in the county became involved. One such community was the historic county seat of Arkansas City, once a thriving port on the Mississippi River whose population had dropped to just 589 people by the 2000 census.

Arkansas City was virtually destroyed by the great flood of 1927. The Mississippi River, which had been just yards from the city’s main business district, shifted more than a mile to the east.

When all was said and done, residents of every community in the county had come together to form the Economic Development Coalition of Desha County. A request for proposals was issued for strategic planning assistance, and a joint response came from the University of Central Arkansas’ Strategic Growth Institute and Connect Arkansas.

The Strategic Growth Institute had been born after community leaders from another struggling Delta county in Arkansas, Monroe County, asked UCA’s Community Development Institute to assess the county’s strengths and weaknesses.

County leaders then came to the university and asked it to develop a community and economic development plan. The Community Development Institute wasn’t set up to act as a consultant so the Strategic Growth Institute was formed.

Connect Arkansas, meanwhile, is a nonprofit organization designed to link more people, especially those in rural areas, to high-speed Internet services.

I use this story to illustrate how residents of once-competing communities can come together for regional strategic planning. The old economic and community development models are no longer sufficient for this century.

Most demographers believe there will be more jobs than there are qualified people to fill those jobs during the next three decades. Job creation won’t be the issue. The issue will be which communities get the best jobs.

You can’t have successful economic development if you don’t have community development. Development is no longer just about industrial parks, industrial recruitment and the quest for just any new job. Today’s development is a function of local leadership that builds on a community’s attributes, fields a competitive workforce and attracts private investment.

If strategic development plans are done correctly and the recommendations are followed, the result can be gains in employment and personal income. Don’t be afraid to try the regional approach. It often beats going it alone.

— Rex Nelson

Feeling Right In Community Development

 

In order to be successful in community development, your community needs to feel right.

What do I mean by feeling right?

Facts and figures are important when you appeal to people and companies you hope will move to your community. But sooner or later, it comes down to how they feel about the community and those who live there.

They’re not going to move robots to a new place. They’re going to relocate people and their families.

How many times have you heard these things said after a decision was made?

“It just felt right.”

“It felt like the right thing to do.”

“They felt like the kind of people I want to work with.”

You’ve probably heard such felt like justifications for years.

On the other hand, you’ve also heard these things:

“It just didn’t feel right.”

“It felt uncomfortable.”

“I just didn’t feel like doing it.”

All of this points to a simple but often overlooked fact: Most people make emotional rather than purely logical decisions.

In fact, people often look for logical reasons after the fact to support their emotional decisions.

Here’s an example:

“I need an eight-passenger, four-wheel-drive, 13-mile-per-gallon land yacht even though I will never drive off road, carry eight passengers or do much more than drive back and forth to work.”

Why?

“Because it makes me feel good.”

This principle works in almost any marketing situation. It will work for you as you successfully promote your community.

You must be able to differentiate emotional decision making from logical decision making and then find ways to use the feelings to your advantage.

• Take a look at your community and its development efforts.
• Examine your strategic development plan.
• Study the way you’re selling your community to prospects.

Look at the words and images you’re using and ask yourself one simple question:

“Does it feel good?”

If you want to know more about how this works, go to the Brainworks Left Brain Right Brain Test.

— Dan Cowling

Planning Strategically For Community Development

 

It’s important that communities do proper strategic planning. Just make sure the document that’s produced is far more than a “study.”

The last thing your community needs is another study that will sit on shelves, buried under similar reports. What you need to produce is, in essence, a workbook that people will use as a hands-on guide in their daily development efforts. It should include specific goals and clearly outlined strategies for meeting those goals.

The overarching concepts behind your strategic development plan should include:

• Fielding a competitive workforce so your community can grow and prosper.

• Ensuring you have performance-outcome measures in place that will allow you to track your progress.

As I’ve stated often, the old economic development model for smaller communities — opening an industrial park on the edge of town and hoping manufacturing companies will show up — is no longer sufficient. Community leaders must now take a more holistic approach to economic development.

Most demographers believe there will be more jobs than there are qualified people to fill those jobs during the next three decades. The question will be which communities take the steps necessary to attract the best jobs and the most qualified workers.

Economic development these days is about far more than industrial recruitment. Community leaders have to build on their existing attributes, make sure they’re fielding a competitive workforce and then work like crazy to attract private investment.

For your community to move forward in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, it must:

Improve the health of the workforce with the clear understanding that healthy people produce healthy economies.

Deepen the culture of learning through improved public schools, workforce training programs and adult literacy programs.

Embrace diversity and new ways of thinking.

Nurture an entrepreneurial culture that will allow you to attract talented people who are passionate about what they do.

Deploy broadband Internet access and other forms of enhanced information technology throughout the community.

Put your blinders on and focus on the need for a talented workforce. By “talented,” I mean motivated, educated and skilled.

With a healthy workforce as an essential precondition, we can begin moving forward with the understanding that the coming workforce crisis won’t be solved by government alone. We need the active participation of the business and the nonprofit sectors.

The last thing your community wants to do is simply repackage existing workforce development ideas and training programs.

— Rex Nelson

What Does Passion Have To Do With Community Development?

 

Here’s a simple process that will help you build a successful community development program.

It’s all about passion.

I’m not talking about romance. I’m talking about the kind of passion that defines who you are. It also defines the community where you live.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you proud to live there and hopefully makes your kids proud enough to pursue their careers in the community you love.

Do you ever sit down with other leaders in your community and talk about this?

It’s a great place to start as you embark on or revisit your community development plans.

Passion makes the world go round. Where there’s passion, there’s fire. Where there’s fire, there’s the kind of Old Testament perseverance you need to transform your community into something special.

Here’s a simple process that can help you find and define the passion in your community. Try it. It works.

Step one: Answer this question:

“As a community, what do we believe in passionately?”

Step two: Answer this question:

“As a community, what are we good at?”

Step three: Answer this question:

“How will what we believe in passionately and what we’re good at help us reach our goals as a community?”

Step four: Answer these questions:

“What are the gaps we see in what we believe in, what we’re good at and how we’ll reach our goals? What can we do to close those gaps?”

If you’ll answer these questions, you’ll have the basis for developing a more comprehensive plan. It not only becomes a reflection of who you are and what you believe, it also will ensure you have the passion needed to carry the plan out.

Build what you believe in, and the quality of life in your community will improve.

There are a lot of resources about core values, but this one gives a concise, easy-to-use summary: What Are Core Values?

— Dan Cowling