Why We Can Be Optimistic About Small Towns

Daryl Hobbs, rural sociologist from the University of Missouri, recently spoke at a Symposium on Small Towns at the University of Minnesota at Morris.

He gave the participants ideas on how to build rural communities. Hobbs suggests that the computer connects small communities to the global economy. Thanks to the democratization of technology, we can now have the following services in our own homes: bank, newspaper, bookstore, brokerage firm, factory an investment firm and a school.

The best place to live. If we can have all those services in our home, Hobbs raises the question, "Where is the best place for our home to be?"

Many aspects of urban and suburban life don’t give the satisfactions of belonging, feelings of significance, shared moral views, meaning and security. People yearn for a more rooted existence. Rural communities will provide an option for family and community life that is missing in these more fast paced an impersonal environments.

Community as a value. People remember with fondness what it was like growing up in a community where everyone knew them, where people where friendly and helpful, where people cared about each other and experienced each other’s humanity.

Young educated families have this pull back to a smaller, simpler environment similar to that of their own childhoods. What they also want is a chance to live in a community where they can make livable incomes, make a difference, have quality education for their children, and have access to good health care. They want to feel attached and connected to their community.

The future depends on collaboration. According to Hobbs, "Livable communities just don’t happen. They are created by the people who live in them."

Community development and economic development go hand in hand. The great defining principle of the global economy is new connections and collaboration generated by new technology. The great defining principal of a local economy is collaboration between an informed local leadership.

These are people who know and trust each other. At a cohesive group, they:

- proactively use their social networks to access resources both in and out of the community to meet local needs.

- integrate various sectors and interests and combine resources in creative novel ways.

- define goals, share a common vision and are guided by a comprehensive strategy.

- identify and make use of underutilized assets such as local human and natural resources.

- are willing to invest in community infrastructure and local entrepreneurial efforts.

- support programs that develop higher levels of training, education and skills among local residents. The modern economy and higher income jobs need a well educated work force.

- work to improve access to necessary health and social services.

- reach out to former residents who have never lost the connection to community and include them in the network of human resources who can contribute.

- are inclusive and draw as many people as possible into the process of community development.

Social capital. Community members shift the focus away from problems and outside experts. They give time and attention to cooperate and collaborate with each other. They focus on what the community has control over and apply their collective talents and connections to solutions.

These leaders know each other. They cut through red tape and make things happen logically and efficiently. They have a sense of community and are community-minded. They sacrifice their own claims to turf and sometimes support projects that may even go against self-interest.

There is a term for this type of effort. It is called social capital. Social capital is mutual trust and exchange. It is the willingness to cooperate, the ability to cooperate and the intention to cooperate. It is a tangible resource.

Communities vary greatly in the extent they have it and use it - just as some families have more of it than other families. The communities that have social capital will maintain themselves or thrive in this changing economy. They access the community wealth, talent and pride that already exists and reinvests in the community.

Dr. Hobb’s hopeful message is collaborate, make your communities livable and they will come.

Concrete examples. The symposium actively demonstrated this principal of collaboration by featuring various projects by rural communities and agencies in rural Minnesota. Among the various community development projects presented were a downtown redevelopment project, a multi-community farmer’s market, linkages between local artists and regional markets, land stewardship, and development of a tourism corridor.

For more information on community development, contact the Center for Small Towns, University of Minnesota, Morris; 600 East 4^th St., Morris, MN 56267, (320) 589-6451 or at their website at www.centerforsmalltowns.