Background

Why are some rural communities coping with fundamental
Restructuring when others seem to have surrendered to crisis?

With that question in mind, the Heartland Center for Leadership Development undertook in-depth case studies of five rural Nebraska communities with populations ranging 450 to 6,000. The communities were selected from among 20 small towns that were identified as surviving the economic trends stemming from the agricultural crisis of the 1980s.

Since the original studies were undertaken, 15 other thriving small towns in 14 states have been the subject of similar research. The case studies were developed to:

• Provide an alternative, positive perspective on rural communities that might contrast with the "dying community" image that has become commonly accepted.
  
• Provide information to policy makers for potential use in guiding programs of local and state governments.
  
• Provide an information base for leadership development activities aimed at leaders in rural communities.

Method of Study
After gathering background information on each community from available state, federal and private information resource banks, community leaders were identified and contacted. In each community, both positional leaders and reputational leaders were interviewed (in person or by phone) and each was asked a series of questions under four topics: Quality of Life, The Economy, Leadership and Planning for the Future. Information gathered in those interviews was combined with impressions gained from community visits and other informational materials, analyzed for characteristics in common across all communities, and used as background to write community profiles.

Conclusions
A synthesis of insights into community success led to development of a series of possible "clues to rural community survival," and these clues were analyzed and reanalyzed following each community study. Finally, the clues were formalized into the list of 20 Clues to Rural Community Survival included in these materials.

Twenty Clues to Rural Community Survival
An Annotated List

1. Evidence of Community Pride
Successful communities are often showplaces of community care and attention, with neatly trimmed yards, public gardens, and well-kept public parks. But pride also shows up in other ways, especially in community festivals and events that give residents the chance to celebrate their community, its history and heritage.

2. Emphasis on Quality in Business andCommunity Life
People in successful communities believe that something worth doing is worth doing right. Facilities are built to last, and so are homes and other improvements. Newer brick additions to schools are common, for example, and businesses are built or expanded with attention to design and construction detail.

3. Willingness to Invest in the Future
Some of the brick and mortar investments are most apparent, but these communities also invest in their future in other ways. Residents invest time and energy in community improvement projects, and they concern themselves with how what they are doing today will impact on the lives of their children and grandchildren in the future.

4. Participatory Approach to CommunityDecision-Making
Authoritarian models don't seem to exist in these communities, and power is deliberately shared. People still know who you need on your side to get something done, but even the most powerful of opinion leaders seem to work through the systems--formal as well as informal--to build consensus for what they want to do.

5. Cooperative Community Spirit Successful
rural communities devote more attention to cooperative activities than to fighting over what should be done and by whom. The stress is on working together toward a common goal and the focus is on positive results.

6. Realistic Appraisal of Future Opportunities
Many of the communities have already learned an important strategic lesson, namely building on your assets and minimizing your weaknesses. Few small communities believe that they are likely to land a giant industry. Many of them say they wouldn't want one if it came along, fearing too much dependence on one employer would be dangerous. The successful communities know that a more realistic approach considers the community and the region as the context for future opportunities.

7. Awareness of Competitive Positioning
The thriving communities know who the competition is and so do the businesses. Everyone tries to stress local loyalty as a way to help, but many businesses also keep tabs on their competitors in other towns-they don't want any of the hometown folks to have an excuse to go elsewhere. This is an area in which the recognition of community assets-people, associations and institutions-is vitally important. The comparison of one town to another is a significant means to spur improvements.

8. Knowledge of the Physical Environment
Importance of location is underscored continuously in local decision-making, as business and civic leaders picture their community in relation to others. Beyond location, however, communities must also be familiar with what they have locally. For example, the issue of preservation and protection of natural resources must be balanced with development options. Communities that manage this balance have a long-term approach to both environmental preservation and economic development.

9. Active Economic Development Program
An organized and active approach to economic development is common in successful communities. This type of approach depends on public and private sector resources working hand in hand. Private economic development corporations are common, either as a subcommittee or an outgrowth of a Chamber of Commerce or commercial club. However, it's clear that the most successful towns emphasize retaining and expanding existing businesses as well as trying to develop new businesses. This is a "gardening not hunting" model of economic development.

10. Deliberate Transition of Power to a Younger Generation of Leaders
Young leadership is more the rule than the exception n thriving rural communities. In many cases, these young people grew up in town and decided to stay or returned later to raise a family. In just as many situations, they are people who have decided to make a life in the community even though they grew up elsewhere. However, it's typical in a successful community to have a formal or informal means for established leaders to bring new recruits into public service.

11. Acceptance of Women in Leadership Roles
Women hold positions of leadership in these rural communities, and those roles extend beyond the traditional strongholds of teacher, nurse or librarian. In successful communities, so men take on roles as mayors, law enforcement officers, non-profit managers, business owners, etc. In many communities, this inclusion is expanded to minorities, newcomers and all types of non-traditional leaders.

12. Strong Belief in and Support of Education
Good schools are a point of pride as well as a stable employment force, and rural community leaders are very much aware of their school's importance. However, this characteristic goes beyond the K-12 system to include an approach to life-long learning that puts education at the center of many community activities. Whether adult education is targeted at skills and job performance or hobbies and recreation, the successful community makes the most of education at all levels.

13. Problem-SolvingApproach to Providing Health Care
Local health care is a common concern in rural communities, but strategies for delivery vary, depending on community needs. While one community may decide that keeping a doctor in residence should be the priority, another may choose to train as many people as possible as EMTs or to use telecommunications to augment a clinic. The point here is the variety of solutions to a common problem.

14. Strong Multi- Generational Family Orientation
These are family-oriented communities, with activities often built around family needs and ties. But the definition of family is broad, and it includes younger as well as older generations and people new to the community. A typical example of this attitude is the provision of child care for community town hall meetings, thus allowing young families to attend.

15. Strong Presence of Traditional Institutions that Are Integral
Churches are often the strongest force in this characteristic, but other types of community institutions such as newspapers and radio stations, hospitals and schools fill this role also. Service clubs retain a strong influence in social activities as well as in community improvement efforts.

16. Sound and Well-MaintainedInfrastructure
Thriving rural communities understand the Importance of physical infrastructures such as streets, sidewalks, water systems, sewage treatment plants-and efforts are made to maintain and improve them. In these communities, a clean-up day includes public parks and playgrounds, business owners keep sidewalks repaired, and volunteer labor and donated materials go a long way to maintaining public buildings.

17. Careful Use of Fiscal Resources Frugality
is a way of life in successful small communities, and expenditures are made carefully. People aren't afraid to spend money, when they believe they should, and then, typically, things are built to last. But neither are they spendthrifts. Expenditures are often seen as investments in the future of the community.

18. Sophisticated Use of Information Resources
Rural community leaders are knowledgeable about their communities beyond the knowledge base available in the community. In one town, for example, retail sales histories from a state university were studied for trend information. In another, census data was used to study population change. In many communities, computer links to the world wide web have made all types of information available.

19. Willingness to Seek Help from the Outside
There's little reluctance to seek help from outside resources. These communities understand the system of accessing resources, ranging from grants for infrastructure improvement to expertise about human service programs. Competing for such resources successfully is a source of pride for local leaders.

20. Conviction that, in the Long Run, You Have to Do It Yourself
Although outside help is sought when appropriate, it is nevertheless true that thriving small towns believe that their destiny is in their own hands. They are not waiting for some outsider to service them, nor do they believe that they can sit and wait for things to get better. Making a hometown a good place to live for a long time to come is a proactive assignment, and these local leaders know that no one will take care of a town as well as the people who live there.

Community Strengths and Weaknesses

The following is a list of 20 characteristics found among thriving communities, based on research conducted by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development. Most thriving communities will tend to possess a variety of these characteristics, but perhaps not all 20 characteristics.

Review these characteristics. Based on your community, rate each characteristic as a strength (+), a weakness (-), or as neutral (/). Click here for a printable version of this chart.

For more information, contact:

Heartland Center for Leadership Development
941 "O" Street, Suite 920
Lincoln, Nebraska 68508
Telephone: 800-927-1115
E-mail: Heartcld@aol.com

Community and Rural Development Institute