A New Vision for Economic Development and Community Success

“Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” - President John F. Kennedy

Just when you’ve got the world figured out, everything changes. Go figure. For 15 years, I have worked to understand the art of economic development. In the past, it was about creating jobs. Generating tax base. Business incentives. Cheap labor. Cheap land. Access to natural resources. Economic development was not that complex really… actually pretty simple stuff. Wow, has the world changed! These changes have altered not only how to be successful in economic development but also the underlying purpose behind our economic development efforts.   What Has Changed?   There are some very significant and in some cases dramatic changes occurring in our state and our world. If I were to pick two trends that have shaken the foundation of the traditional economic development world, they would be changes in the workforce and the technology revolution.   Workforce Change. Bottom line, there just aren’t enough people. Minnesota created more jobs in the 1990s than we did Minnesotans (births)! We can keep all our kids home, and put all our unemployed to work, and we still will not have solved the labor shortage issue. Those who think the labor shortage is over need to take a look at our demographics and listen to our companies. Nearly 70 percent of northwest Minnesota companies plan to grow sales in the next five years, and plan to do it with the same or fewer employees.   What has always been the goal of economic development? Create jobs. Is that truly all we need to be about now? Not for 70 percent of our companies!   Technology Revolution. Technological advances over the past decade have changed everything — including economic development. What has changed? Two key things: First, technology has changed businesses’ locational decisions. In the past, companies were focused on four-lane highways, access to natural resources, and in a large market area. In many cases, companies simply couldn’t locate in rural areas. Now, technology has opened doors for rural communities. Location decisions are now being focused on workforce, technology, and quality of life. This change is a tremendous opportunity for us. Second, technology has changed who our competition is. No longer are we competing with our neighbors (except during high school football games). Now our competitors are communities world-wide, and those who were our competition may now need to be our partner.
	These two trends, by themselves, have changed the very purpose and nature of economic development. Check out the shifts that have occurred in the past ten years:     Traditional Economic Development Being big (job creation, tax base)            Being cheapest (labor, natural resources, etc.) New Model Being prosperous. Being the best (quality of life, technology, knowledge)     See the difference? See how two long-term trends will completely alter how we go about the business of economic development? See why I have been a little crazier than usual in trumpeting these changes? The rules of the game truly have changed, and pity the community and the region that is still playing baseball while the rest of the world has switched to football!
	The New Model for Economic Development It’s important to note that I am not trying to say traditional economic development activities aren’t important. Quite the contrary. A community needs to become great at providing traditional economic development services.   While providing these services will get you in the game, they won’t win it for you! What sets us apart? What are our region’s competitive advantages? What will help us not just play but win?             The Center for Community Stewardship has been focusing its attention on what we are calling “positioning activities.” We need to become the best at: Growing and Attracting Talent. For most businesses, it’s about human resources not natural resources. We have to figure out, in this Region, how to raise the education and skill level of our workforce. In Tupelo, Mississippi, the poster child for successful community economic development, they started by declaring “education = jobs.” Right on! Technology. Technology has created huge opportunities for rural areas — that is if they have access to it. Communities without access to advanced telecommunication services have a very long row to hoe. Quality of Place. People can chose to live virtually anywhere they want. Why here? Why in your community, your region, or our state? Culture of Innovation. We have to build a culture where ideas and innovation are the basis for economic prosperity. Be the best at these – Talent, Technology, Culture of Innovation, and Quality of Place — and you will set yourself apart. But don’t stop there. The final element to effective community economic development is what we are calling “Futures Development.” From my experience, communities strong in Futures Development are very rare. It’s hard work, but it is the key to sustained community success.
	What is Futures Development? It’s ensuring that your community’s economic development efforts are based on a foundation of clear community destiny and strong, committed leadership. Community Destiny. Too many communities have no idea who they want to be when they grow up. They have what we like to call a “fuzzy identity.” Ask ten people what their community aspires to be, and you will likely get ten different answers. Successful communities in the future will need a laser-like focus on who they want to be, and how they will get there. Leadership. We don’t mean just any leaders, we need “stewards.” Stewards of place. Regional stewards. The Alliance for Regional Stewardship defines stewards as: “ Special leaders committed to the long-term well-being of their communities. They cross boundaries, take an integrated approach, and build coalitions for action. They have 360 degree vision, recognizing the interdependencies between the economy, the environment and social equity. Stewards operate at the center of tough issues, not on the edges. They are risk takers. They are passionate and energetic. They are people of vision.”     People of vision. Risk takers. Passionate and energetic. That’s what we need.   The Challenge . . . . So, being great at traditional economic development activities will get you in the game; excelling in knowledge and skills, technology and quality of place will set you apart; and having laser-like focus and committed stewards will put you over the top! Simple, huh? Well, I said the world was changing. I didn’t say things are getting easier!   Let me know what you think.  Add a comment to this blog.  If there is anything the Center for Community Stewardship can do to help move your community forward, please let me know.  Just drop me a note at dhengel@hrdc.org.

Stewardship is Breaking Out All Over! No, it’s not a disease – just a bunch of folks that have found ways to work together in the best interest of their community.I believe strongly in the need of communities to create their own mystique. By creating a mystique, I simply mean that community stewards WORKING TOGETHER have the power to help a community create a story for itself about its future, challenge the broader community embrace that future and grow into it. For many of our communities, that means changing the prevailing culture from “why?” to “why not?” Because many of us have lived in a time and place where community success and prosperity seemed outside our grasp, we have gotten comfortable making excuses instead of progress. But that, too, is changing, as stewards discover that, working together, communities can do so much more than they once thought possible.Following are some examples of “stewardship breaking out all over” – and in doing so, finding ways to help communities create a new mystique, a new story, about their future.

The Ongoing Story of Bemidji Leads!

When it comes to civic leadership and engagement, Bemidji has had a great few years.

Just a few years back, Bemidji was a community without a rudder. Seeing that, a group of twenty leaders of the Bemidji community started challenging the community. They challenged all who call Bemidji home to come together as community to claim our community’s destiny before someone else does. These stewards suggested just because we were blessed in the past with wonderful community assets doesn’t ensure we will be successful in the future; that only through very careful thought and sustained commitment will we become the community we desire to be.

In the end, the true challenge issued by Bemidji Leads! was quite simple: to think and act passionately as stewards of the Bemidji community.

And Bemidji responded….in droves. A group began called Bemidji Green Up! came together committed to making Bemidji a beautiful community. They have a goal of planting 10,000 trees a year in Bemidji….for ten years! A diverse group of educators and community members formed the Bemidji Education Council, committed to working together to build greater opportunity for all our students, and making Bemidji a show-case learning community. Elected officials even got it the act! The City of Bemidji, Northern

Township and

Bemidji

Township decided to put aside long-standing differences and take risk of acting in the best interests of the broader community. They developed a growth management and annexation agreement that few could have ever imagined would be possible. Leaders came together, after failing eight times over the past twelve years, to push for an events center to support our regional center status, and the center is on track to be in construction yet this year.Business, education and health care came together to create Bemidji Bio, which is doing the hard work of finding Bemidji’s niche in the innovation economy. A newly energized Downtown Development Authority is taking on the daunting challenge of reinventing downtown Bemidji, and making downtown Bemidji “everyone’s downtown”. Committed stewards of the areas natural resources have created Bemidji Outdoors!, which is working toward increasing the outdoor recreational opportunities in our area. There is a group of organizations that have come together to extend the Lake.

Bemidji trail…all the way around the lake. What is more, there is the Drug and Gang Task Force, Bemidji Race Relations Council, arts community, Boys and Girls Club, and all the hundreds of groups, organizations and individuals committed to making Bemidji a great place to call home.When you look at all the civic effort going on in Bemidji, it’s almost as if people were looking for someone to give them permission to act passionately on behalf of their community. If they do nothing else, Bemidji Leads! will be a success simply by being the ones who motivated stewards of the Bemidji community to act.

 Progress Park Rapids Steps Up!A Park Rapids community member once said to me, “We cannibalize our leadership here…and no one wants to be the next on the menu”. While a little dramatic, one thing is clear: fear of stepping out was preventing Park Rapids from moving forward.

That was then, this is now. A group of stewards decided it would be easier to lead if they all stood together…and Progress Park Rapids was born. The results have been dramatic. Perhaps the most telling story is in school funding….

The Park Rapids community’s relationship with its school is complex. It understands the importance of the institution to the community, and it has invested in an update of the high school and the building of a new middle school. On the other hand, it has failed to pass operating levies FOUR times in a row, giving them a dubious distinction only a few districts in the state had.

Within this context, a group of school supporters – some with children in the school, some not, some living in the district, some not – got together to try to pass a levy referendum this fall. What started as a small group grew into an organization with dozens of people working hard to support the levy. The chamber of commerce stepped up and made the issue their own. So did the hospital. The local newspaper. The local economic development organization. The community’s major employers. You get the idea?

A funny thing happened along the way. During the last election, people were reluctant to overtly support the referendum; this time around, people were reluctant to overtly not support it. Over $5,000 was raised for the campaign, people that used to be against the referendum now put signs in their yards, the paper was deluged with letters to the editor supporting the referendum, and hundreds of people allowed their names to be used in support of the project.

And thankfully, at the last election, Park Rapids got a happy ending, passing its referendum with nearly 60% support….all this in a general election. This would never, ever have happened if stewards didn’t step up and take the risk of leadership.

Who’s Next?

Stewardship is breaking out everywhere. Stewards have come together in White Earth/Mahnomen, Blackduck, and Stevens County. Alexandria is on deck. And I fully expect the same dramatic results in each of these communities.

Everyone asks me, “Dave, what is the secret?” Well, I am confident we at the Center for Community Stewardship understand the ingredients to success. The recipe…that’s up to community stewards. We’d love to help more communities discover their recipe.

So, are there themes that can be turned into lessons for all of us? We think so; here’s our list:

• Progress is gradual. Creating a new story for a community doesn’t happen overnight. After all, the old one took decades to mature. While everyone looks for a quick fix (see diet ads), the best, and most long-lasting approach, is to change the story, and the culture, with steady unwavering commitment and progress.
• Discipline is mandatory. See above.
• The process never ends. Community-building is not the same model as barn-raising. When you build a barn, you get together, put it up, celebrate, and go home. Community-building means working hard, having a success, celebrating… and then getting back to community-building.
• Success breeds Success. For some this seems counterintuitive. After all, aren’t there only so many resources? Yes, but resources aren’t the limiting agent, leadership is. And, leadership expended that results in success breeds more leadership, not less.
• Stewardship is contagious. This may be the most hopeful sign. Individuals acting as stewards inspire through example. We’re learning that, on a personal level, there is an intrinsic value to Stewardship. Sure, it helps communities make progress. But it also makes better individuals, and people sense that.

In the coming months, we are going to share our list of ingredients and a few thoughts on leadership in this blog. Please let us know what you think.

If I can help your community leadership in any way, drop me a note at dhengel@hrdc.org. That is what we’re here for.

Stewardship is spreading….