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Economic Renewal is step-by-step process

Contributed by: DR. SEAN REIF D.C. on 5/23/2008

I would like to talk briefly about some ingenious things that other communities have done, and what we can do to develop a more prosperous and sustainable local economy here in our community.

There are many theories about what is happening to the economy - at least as many theories as there are economists. But we can't afford to base our actions of theory. Instead, we must be prepared for an ever changing world economy. We must become more resilient, so that we can withstand economic changes that are outside of our control. And, equally important, we must base our actions on what we know is working in the real world.

For instance, we could do something as straightforward as what they did in Tropic, Utah. The timber mill had shut down and ranching was part-time for most. But high school students in a business class noticed that tourists were buying a lot of water. They started producing and selling Bryce Canyon Mist, locally sourced spring water bottled with an attractive label depicting the nearby national park. Bryce Canyon Mist hasn't single-handedly saved the town, but it has taught residents an important lesson: you can improve the local economy by replacing imports with local products. That's one way to PLUG THE LEAKS, which is the 1 st Principle of Economic Renewal.

Even when a commodity can't be produced locally, it can often be used more efficiently to achieve the same result - which is probably the most reliable development strategy of all. For instance, most towns spend more that 20 % of their gross income on energy - and 80 % of those dollars immediately leave the local area. Plugging the leak through efficiency is much easier and cheaper than trying to produce more energy.

Thanks to locally initiated weatherization and energy-efficient efforts, residents of Osage, Iowa enjoy electric rates 50 % below the state average. That may not sound like much until you add up the overall effects. All told, the town of 3800 people has plowed more than $7.8 Million back into its local economy since 1974.

Leak-plugging opportunities abound. When folks in the Williamsburg, Kentucky, Firestone plant read the Economic Renewal materials, they decided to stop buying their uniforms out of state and order them locally instead, helping out a nearby business.

It's simple stuff, it just requires that our community get together and think carefully about where we're headed and what we might do differently.

The 2 nd Principle of Economic Renewal is SUPPORT EXISTING BUSINESSES. It sounds obvious, but many towns throw open their front doors for NEW industry - providing tax breaks and giving away land and buildings - while existing businesses are quietly falling out the back door.

There are plenty of ways to help existing businesses. For example, "community-supported agriculture" supports one of our most vital businesses - farms - by providing them with up-front capital and securing markets for their products. Farmers sell "shares" of their crops in the fall and winter, when farm income is typically lowest. For their investment, customers are assured a supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. Everyone benefits: the farmers get Winter cash, consumers get summer discounts, and the community strengthens its local food supply and agricultural economy.

Local retailers are often intimidated when "BIG-BOX" retailers come to town. But Economic Renewal inspired local retailers in Alamosa, Colorado to fix up their downtown despite the big-box stores on the outskirts. Now, restaurants, a coffee shop, a record store, a natural foods coop, a clothing store, art galleries, and artist studios thrive where boarded up storefronts used to collect trash.

And back in Osage, they found that leak-plugging also supported local businesses and jobs. A major employer, Fox River Mills, was able to cut its production costs by 29 % thanks to lower electric rates and more efficient electrical motors, making possible a plant expansion that nearly TRIPLED jobs.

The 3 rd Principle of Economic Renewal is ENCOURAGE NEW LOCAL BUSINESSES - look for business opportunities by fully using underused local assets, skills, and resources. Farmers in Alamosa used to grow only such traditional crops as potatoes, but now they are fully using local know-how and soil by growing and selling organic quinoa, canola, garlic, and various veggies. They've even used local hot springs to make year-round fish farming a reality.

A group of farmers in Saskatchewan, inspired by Economic Renewal built a facility to process their organic grain products instead of shipping them unprocessed. They showed that "adding value" is a powerful strategy for creating more jobs without harvesting or extracting more of limited natural resources and without increasing environmental impact.

But local start-ups are often so small or risky that banks won't touch them. So "micro-enterprise" loan funds are beginning to fill the gap. One, pioneered by a Foundation in Arkansas, loans money to very small businesses often started by low-income people who want to work for themselves.

The 4 th Principle of Economic Renewal is to RECRUIT COMPATIBLE NEW BUSINESSES to the community. When a town has bootstrapped itself using the first 3 principles, it's more attractive to outside companies. And it is in a stronger position to ensure that the new business fits with community conditions and values, therefore ensuring that the community will receive a net gain.

Business recruitment may be fine in our situation, but we just can't rely on it. First, we need to build on our strengths and do better with what we already have. Old, worn-out industrial recruitment schemes require decisions made outside the community by people with no regard for it. That's very different from plugging leaks and supporting existing business. They depend on decisions made inside the community by people with a personal stake in it.

The stories I have mentioned are examples of what is now called "sustained development" - development that makes sense in the long run as well as the short term, that creates jobs in the present without jeopardizing future livelihoods; development that uses resources - such as soil, water, and trees - no faster than they can be renewed.

These stories demonstrate 2 important ideas. First, we can make our economy stronger ourselves. We need not always look for someone to come in and save us. Second, we need not give up our community's qualities and values in order become stronger economically.

We can develop success stories right here. The Economic Renewal process is a democratic way to make community decisions about economic development. It is based on the Principle that community decisions are most effective when developed collaboratively - that is, when people from all walks of life are involved from the very beginning.

Economic Renewal is an 8- step process that begins when we MOBILIZE THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY to be involved. When all different kinds of people collaborate, you get more and better ideas. Also, the resulting proposals are far less likely to run into opposition because potential opponents were involved from the beginning. They had a hand in it. Their concerns are addressed.

The 2 nd step is to ENVISION the community's "preferred future" - identify what everyone want the town to be, say, 20 years from now. Our preferred future is, in effect, the reason why we are doing economic development. I'm betting that we'll find a surprising level of agreement on the big picture, which will make it easier for us all to work together, despite things that may have happened in the past.

The 3 rd step is to IDENTIFY WHAT THE COMMUNITY HAS TO WORK WITH - its assets, needs, and problems. We'll divide into small groups that will examine various aspects of the local economy such as INFRASTRUCTURE, quality of life, access to CAPITAL, and HUMAN RESOURCES.

4 TH, We begin FINDING OPPORTUNITIES, many of which may never been considered. We do this by looking for ways in which we might use our assets to solve problems or fulfill needs.

5 TH, we apply what we've learned to GENERATE PROJECT IDEAS to strengthen the community and the economy. Economic Renewal offers additional ideas for local opportunities.

Then, in the 6 th step, we EVALUATE PROJECT IDEAS based on many criteria, including their compatibility with our preferred future. The 7 th step we SELECT PROJECTS - the ones that are BEST and MOST PRACTICAL for our particular circumstances. Hopefully, at least 2 will be completed quickly for a short-term success that everyone can see and get excited about.

WE CREATE ACTION PLANS for chosen projects.

While those projects are getting under way, something else will have happened. We feel more in CONTROL of our future, less dependent on experts, less inclined to find someone to blame. We know that we can strengthen our own economy. We are far more CREATIVE. Like the residents of Colorado Plateau Valley. Spread over hundreds of square miles, they had no effective way to communicate as a community. Their only newspaper come from a city 40 miles away that virtually ignored them. So their first Economic Renewal priority was to create a local newspaper. It was their way to build their own capacity to strengthen they community and economy.

They understood that Economic Renewal isn't a quick fix. It's not a long pass to win a football game. Rather, it's like a "ground game", won a few yards at a time. That's a game this community knows how to play. Yes, it will take TIME and WORK. But when the stakes are this HIGH, it is well worth it.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

DR. SEAN REIF D.C.

THORNTON , CO

DR. SEAN REIF D.C. has posted 1030 stories and 1195 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. DR. SEAN REIF D.C. 's average story rating is 3.04.
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