With a new Administration often comes unknowns. But in 2019, one of the best surprises in Kansas has been the formation of the Rural Revitalization Committee. In addition there has been interest from the Kansas House Ag Committee in specialty crops. While I have not been asked to speak to either committee, some of my closest working partners have. This includes my business partner, Luke Mahin, who head’s our client work with Republic County Economic Development who spoke yesterday to the House Ag Committee. You can listen to his testimony here. It also included Marci Penner, Kansas Sampler Foundation, whom we work with, who inspires us, and whom we absolutely adore. She spoke to the Rural Revitalization Committee on January 25, 2019. The audio of her presentation can be found here. Both of these people are amazing minds, believe in rural, and do amazing work in their fields. The Committee has chosen wisely with the counsel they are taking! These testimonies got me to thinking, what would I say to this Committee from what I have learned over the last ten years in rural Kansas economic development? Here is what I came up with:
- Happy that rural is being prioritized – I am so excited that rural is being prioritized through the Office of Rural Prosperity. It is not a lost cause and there is already mounting momentum behind a comeback. Part of this momentum is the networks and rural by choice movement that Marci Penner is building through the Kansas Sampler Foundation and I see great promise in the work of Community Foundations throughout many parts of rural Kansas. Some of the appointments from the new administration have been positive for rural. These are people that have lived the rural life and have conquered some of the challenges. One of those
David Toland – KS Department of Commerce Secretary people is the new Secretary of Kansas Department of Commerce, David Tolland, who previously guided Thrive Allen County in one of the most economically challenged parts of Kansas. Joining him is the Deputy Secretary of KDOC, Patty Clark, a former USDA Rural Development Kansas Director. We also see promise with a shift in focus over the last couple of years with the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism focusing less on urban attractions and more on cool things in rural as well. Through the Department of Commerce, the recent past focus has relied heavily on impact numbers in metro areas of the State, especially in Kansas City. I understand that throwing State money at cultivating jobs in that area, yields stronger statistics. But is trading jobs with Missouri for huge tax implications really doing that? At what expense when three-fourths of the geographic area of the State is being essentially ignored? When I started in Economic Development in 2003, we had a few Kansas Department of Commerce programs that we could use as a rural area. Fast forward to 2018 and many of those programs have been shifted to more urban efforts. This has been highlighted for me in the fact that I can count on one hand the businesses, in the two rural counties that we serve, who have been eligible for Kansas Department of Commerce programs in the last ten years. Now, that game changed a bit when Network Kansas came into play. It’s an effective program that empowers rural communities to help themselves and greatly needs to be expanded. If Kansas would work on growing the parts of the State that make-up ninety percent of the State land mass, what impact could that have?
Most of rural Kansas likes to be somewhat self sufficient, but has felt neglected by State for many years. In the past ten years, Commerce programming has been highly skewed toward urban.
- Potential Road Map – Based upon the discussion of the committee when
Marci Penner testified, I think that the Rural Revitalization Committee really wants to foster rural Kansas, but they are not quite sure how to do that on such limited finances. This is not uncommon for people that do not work in economic development circles every day. We saw this same issue in the communities that we serve who have completed Strategic Doing. Most lay citizens have a good handle on challenges in their community, but no real understanding about the intricacies of solving those issues. So, thus, I thought that I would suggest some actionable items:
- Watch the proposed minimum wage increase or limit it. There was a bill proposed last week that would up the minimum wage in Kansas to $11.00 an hour by the year 2020 and $15.00 an hour by 2021. While I am for people making a living wage, I think that we need to be mindful of the consequences of doing that, especially in our rural areas. $15.00 an hour minimum wage is approximately $31,200 per year for a forty hour work week. In one of the County’s that we serve, the per capita income average over the last four years is $27,121 in the second County this per capita income average is $24,361. While there are other rural counties that have a higher per capita income than the two counties we serve, citizens who make more than $15.00 an hour is not commonplace. Housing should be no more than twenty-five percent of your income, so our low price rental housing rate corresponds with our per capita income. In another example, one of our local businesses has done a good job of hiring employees at the $11.00 an hour rate and then moving them up the pay scale. If the minimum rate was $15.00 an hour, that business probably would not hire and grow at the same rate. Focus instead on fixing housing, daycare, and fostering entrepreneurship/retirement transitions, keeping key services in communities like schools and hospitals. Programs that work toward this goal include Network KS E-Communities, Kansas Department of Commerce CDBG programming, Small Business Development Center when it’s fully funded, and SCORE. Focusing on these items will push the lower wages up by association.
- Partner with other organizations to make money go further – The Kansas Health Foundation is already doing work toward bringing up those who are more financially distressed. The Dane G. Hansen Foundation has become fully vested in Northwest/North Central Kansas and is doing tremendous things for rural Kansas. Local Community Foundations have been working hard over the last ten years to capture the transfer of wealth in Kansas. The State of Kansas doesn’t have to handle all of the financing of a rural revitalization alone. What could be done with forming strategic partnerships and financial matching programs with organizations like those listed above?
Help endow Economic Development in each County to help with consistency -One of the reasons that rural Kansas has not progressed as fast as it could is because rural economic development is not consistent and it is underfunded. The average tenure of a rural economic development professional is three to five years. Often times when a new economic development director starts, there is no one there to train them and thus the organization starts all over every three to five years. This drastically impacts the consistency and success of these economic development organizations. The other item of worry is funding. These are often County or Citywide organizations in which the funding is under the microscope for budget cuts every year. Rural Kansas could really be influenced by economic development organizations being endowed, giving these entities consistent funding and a salary that can attract higher level applicants. This could be funded through a matching program with partner entities in the State. Maybe this is funded through a small amount above and beyond programming costs for the Department of Commerce. - Endow Main Street Program in each County – The Main Street Program is, in my opinion, one of the most effective community programs that I have ever seen. This program was cut by the State many years ago. It was an integral program in reclaiming, restructuring, and rejuvenating our rural downtowns. Again matching money could be used or maybe it could be a focus program under one of the State departments.
- Rural while great, not without challenges.
Major infrastructure upgrades are needed in water lines, sewer, and electrical systems. Programs that could support this are the Kansas Department of Commerce CDBG program, fostering Capital Improvement Planning, expanding Ks League of Municipalities education reach especially in towns that are volunteer-led, and bringing back the KanStep program. - Our rural downtowns are crumbling. Supporting programs are CDBG, Historic Tax Credit Programs, and the Main Street Program.
- Housing is tough – If you have ever tried to move to a rural area, in most places it is almost impossible because there is not a lot of quality homes to choose from and very few rental options. HUD Housing is not always the answer to rural housing problems. Could the State supplement rural housing building projects to help make up the gap/immediate loss of building new?
- Poverty is more prevalent/noticeable than before – When I was growing up in a rural area some years ago, we had students of all socio-economic status. Back then it seemed that the students from a good home life were weighing down the side of the “teeter-totter”, but now the teeter-totter has switched sides. Possible solutions: Support the already ongoing Kansas Health Foundation work, help foster/finance programs like Circles, and foster entrepreneurship/new business.
- Day Care is extremely difficult in rural areas – Consider flexible restrictions for rural daycare. No longer can the little old lady down the street watch a couple of kids, which seemed to help with our issues. Infant care is especially hard to find. Allow daycares with two adults to watch enough kids to pay for that second person. Right now, two additional kids just doesn’t do that. Other rural States through the Rural Economic Development Philanthropy Innovators Network (REDPIN) through the Aspen Institute have worked on this subject, maybe we don’t have to reinvent the wheel?
- Help foster programs that get professionals into key positions in rural including Lawyers, Doctors, Trades, Teachers, and small community banks. A solution could be to partner with organizations already fostering this like the Dane G. Hansen Foundation and Network Kansas.
- Sponsor people like Marci Penner with the Kansas Sampler Foundation and her network to boost up and empower rural areas. Through years of rural hardships, rural areas suffer from a serious lack of self-esteem. Part of the reason that the Kansas Sampler Foundation model works is that they are highly positive, they focus on what a town does have-not what it doesn’t, they connect like-minded people to each other, they help a community solve its own problems through a network of people who might have the answers, and it gives support in the uphill fight.
- Invest in new agricultural practices like homegrown food and help develop those regional markets. Incentivize, not depleting, the Oglala Aquifer at any faster rate.
- Continue to invest in roads, broadband expansion, and stop undercutting rural schools to try to force consolidation. Distance for bussing, addition of teachers for consolidation, etc. does not always make consolidation that profitable. Instead, it causes towns to lose their identity and this expedites rural decline.
We don’t need the State to solve all of our problems, we just need to regain our self-confidence, aided by productive State programs/partnerships that help to build back infrastructure, cultivate key leadership, and foster growth in rural. Work together across party lines and differences like successful rural communities do.
Jenny Russell
JenRus Freelance- Founder