Visioning

Here are some thoughts about a Community Improvement Visioning process. This is a different approach from what I normally see done. Make a chart of your key metrics, and describe the before and after situation (current vs. five years from now.)

This is super simple. As it should be.

You could add other elements, or replace the above with other elements.

  - stakeholders
  - community relationships
  - industry development
  - publicity
  - demographics
  - shopping, convenience, etc.

   1) Don't try to do too much. Visioning processes that fail
       were usually too ambitious. Or too weak.
   2) Get agreement on this vision early, and get unassailable
        commitment to those agreements, before you create strategies
        to reach the vision. 

Our Neighbors

Your town has two types of residents: (1) those who cannot leave, and (2) those who choose to be there because they like it.

(We usually think that conservatives are the ones who want change, but they might be the original residents who can't leave. They want to make the town better. Those who resist change are often those considered to be more liberal: they moved to the town because they liked it. Why change what we like into something we don't like? So many of them fight change. The point: don't pigeonhole people. The ultimate show-stoppers might be people you never suspected.) 

To create positive change, you need a strong, motivated coalition of people who will not give up when facing protracted opposition. You can't avoid the opposition. If the person who challenges progress the most were to suddenly die, another person would rise up to replace the deceased challenger. 

One hint: stick with a few goals you can accomplish--low-hanging fruit--and thrash early. 

Thrashing is the term Seth Godin uses to describe the “apparently productive brainstorming and tweaking we do for a project as it develops.” You have to so this during the conceptualization stage. Projects that allow tweaking at the end are never completed. You can tweak forever. You need to force agreement on that one issue: after we agree at the beginning, no one is allowed to derail the project by opposing it at the end. (That is much easier in a company than in a community. But without following that rule, you cannot succeed.)

Quality of Life

I haven't ben researching this, but the question just popped into my mind: what elements or conditions improve quality of life in a community?

The popularity of professional spectator sports has been declining for thirty years conversely with a rise in the popularity of the arts (consider who advertises during sports matches: mostly beer and Dorritos.) Spectator athletics are still very much alive, but they are now one of many entertainment options. Yet municipalities continue to fund the construction of arenas, using the term "economic growth" to justify it. That is not growth, but wealth transfer from the taxpayer to the players (economists have done plenty of research in this area.) It might improve the fun leisure options for a few people, but does it increase the overall quality of life for all residents? No one can answer "yes" with a straight face.

The issue is irrelevant for rural municipalities anyway. The original question remains unanswered: what can you do to improve the quality of life for taxpayers?

- upgrading transportation infrastructure
- improving elderly care facilities
- creating outdoor recreation facilities
- developing leisure options

Another note: what CAN you do and what SHOULD you do are two different questions. Rarely are either of those questions answered correctly, hence we have unfinished projects (no CAN do) and unused facilities (no SHOULD do). 

Government spending in rural areas

What you've been told is wrong.

Government spending in rural areas is not only lower, but lower per capita. That squares with what I've seeing in my county, where we pay exorbitant property taxes, but little of the money stays in our community.

Check out this story with the details.

That doesn't necessarily mean we need to demand more, it just means we are doing better by ourselves than we thought we were. 

Education

I've been following the education industry for several years. The issue affects both rural and urban dwellers, and yes, it is an industry.

I'm afraid that higher education is headed for a crisis. In the U.S., schools have gradually shifted focus away from academics to athletics. (NCAA Section IX didn't solve the problem: it shifted emphasis to women athletes, rather than away from sports.) Athletics can help build character etc., but that is not what inter-mural programs are designed to do. They are PR programs. Schools are forgetting their original purpose, which is academic training.

Another problem is that declining youth populations have decreased demand, leaving schools with empty seats. They have compensated by aggressively recruiting foreign students, but overseas schools are starting to catch up in academic quality. They still have a long way to go, but they are pouring resources into the classroom instead of the stadium, so watch for them in the future.

When the auto industry focused on side businesses such as finance and on union problems, foreign firms were able to catch up by focusing on manufacturing automobiles.

Your local public schools could be training tomorrow's innovators. Are they doing that, or are they chatting about next Friday's game with a rival, another tiny school?

Products vs. Services

I don't agree with the tradition in economic discussions of separating service and manufacturing into distinct categories within the economy.

A service is a product. And a product is increasingly becoming a service, as superior service is often the only way manufacturers and distributors differentiate themselves. I have said for years that the two are merging, so are really the same thing. (Computer manufacturers sell computer consulting, for example.)

But the two are different in one significant way: lifestyle.

Tangible products can be held in inventory, but services cannot. So you can work really hard during the morning and afternoon, then spend the evening resting and building personal relationships. Services, by contrast, require employees to be available whenever the customer needs to use the product.

This situation is not new, but two trends make it more significant.

 1) Larger portion of population involved in service industries. When most of the 

     economy was engaged in manufacturing, then relatively few people were 

     affected by service.

 2) Service levels are upgrading. The benchmarks are higher.
     When I traveled in Switzerland a few years ago, the shops all closed at 5:00 

     so that people could spend time with their families. In the U.S., I expect 24/7 

     fulfillment. If I am watching television at 3:00 am and want to eat some 

     Dorritos, I can visit a large grocery store and choose from 100 varieties of chips.
    Good news for me, bad news for the mother who must operate the cash register 

    and sleep during the day so I can satisfy my MSG craving.

PROGRESS comes at a cost to individuals.

Rural Jobs

Building a nuclear power plant might not be feasible for the home business owner or the family startup.

But the idea has huge potential for rural development. You can create safe, non-polluting energy and sell it to your city cousins.

Do recent events in Japan make you nervous about nuclear power? Just make sure you have a back up plan, and some leadership skills on hand, and you will be fine. The death per watt rate is a tiny, tiny fraction of oil and an almost microscopic number compared to coal. This is not total deaths, but per TWh produced. And that doesn't even include deaths from climate change or oil-related wars. (See the charts here.)

If the facts don't convince you, then what about in building wind mills or investing in solar energy farms?

Your location is a strength, not a weakness.