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Some rural communities lack the local support and leadership
capacity needed to achieve economic development objectives.
This problem is particularly evident in high-poverty communities
and in small or isolated communities. Community development
strategies in these areas may focus on improving community
conditions and facilities, improving leadership capacity
and community involvement, and establishing better connections
with external support agencies.
Improvements in community conditions may address such
underlying community and social issues such as crime,
inadequate health and housing, excessive traffic and sprawl,
pollution, and neighborhood blight. Problems in any of
these areas can diminish quality of life and hinder economic
development strategies.
ERS has examined many of these issues, for example,
in connection with rapid growth and rural sprawl (see
Development at the Urban
Fringe and Beyond: Impacts on Agriculture and Rural Land;
recreation development impacts on social conditions such
as crime, health, and poverty (see Rural
Areas Benefit From Recreation and Tourism Development);
and housing conditions in rural (nonmetro) areas (see One
in Four Nonmetro Households are Housing Stressed).
Rural areas designing development strategies may benefit
from recognizing the role of community facilities in the
development process. For example, libraries, hospitals,
schools, senior centers, parks and recreation facilities,
police and fire departments, and similar facilities provide
places for the local community to meet and interact. They
also provide important public services that help maintain
a healthy and productive population and labor force.
These facilities, together with other aspects of the
community, such as the condition of the historic part
of a town, help to define the sense of place that residents
have of their community. A strong identification with
a community may motivate residents to support local schools,
infrastructure, and other components of local economic
development strategies.
Community involvement may be critical to the success
of a rural development strategy. Community involvement
may entail the participation of leaders of community and
neighborhood groups in designing and revising the local
development strategy. Such community involvement helps
identify specific developmental problems and solutions.
In some cases, community groups may play a role in the
solution to a problem, as with community efforts to clean
up areas that might otherwise limit local ability to attract
tourists and new businesses. Community involvement was
a key principle of the Federal Empowerment Zone program
(see Community
Empowerment: A New Approach for Rural Development).
Leadership development that empowers the poor and minorities,
and support for and inclusion of neighborhood civic- and
faith-based institutions helps ensure effective community
involvement.
Because local development efforts often must gain the
support of Federal, State, and regional authorities, and
neighboring governments in the region, efforts to build
better local connections with these entities are important
to any rural development strategy. Leadership development
can help to improve such connections. It may also help
to connect local leaders with regional leaders, who may
have valuable experience in addressing issues related
to economic development.
Local strategic planning can also help to build unique
place-based development strategies. In many rural areas,
multicounty regional development organizations undertake
strategic planning. A similar planning process may be
useful for individual cities or counties. USDA extension
service programs can help rural communities with this
planning process.
See related
links and recommended readings covering issues on community development.
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