In the News - May 2008
Investing in the future of your community or region
Development in the 21st century is not something someone else does for
you. Communities must be willing to take some responsibility for their future.
Communities need to invest time and
resources in their future. – Joe Black, Senior Vice President,
Southern Financial Partners.
Joe Black's statement reflects his experience with the very successful Delta
Bridge Project in Phillips County, Arkansas, which has attracted investment from
public, private and non-profit sources in and out of the community. Let's
explore this notion of making strategic investments in the future of your
community.
Scenario 1: You are the mayor of a community that has just lost a
major employer. Citizens in your community are clamoring for you to DO
SOMETHING. What can you do? What should you do?
Scenario 2: You have just been elected president of the local
community foundation or the local economic development corporation. You know the
environment is changing, and are seeking to make investments that would have the
most long-term impact on your community.
Research and numerous community experiences have shown that one of the keys
to success for communities and regions is the willingness of their citizens,
leaders, organizations, and businesses to invest in the individual community and
its future. This investment must include time, talents, resources, and financial
support.
There are always a multitude of good causes to contribute to, from youth
organizations to a beautification campaign from the local garden club. I would
like to focus on a unique kind of investment – a strategic investment in your
community's or region's future.
Twelve Key Elements of Strategic Investments
Strategic Investments:
1) Are first and foremost about your dreams for the future – what
you want your community or region to be like in 10 years. Strategies and
investments of time, energy, and resources are the means to get there.
2) Enable you to be proactive shapers of your future. If you wait
for change to come to you, you probably won't like it.
3) Have buy-in and commitment from citizens, organizations, and
leaders. They need to be involved in order to provide support.
4) Foster breakthrough solutions that take you to the next level. Times change - pouring resources into ineffective strategies may not
make them any more effective.
5) Usually require win-win collaboration. Pool talents, ideas,
and resources across organizational and geographic boundaries to
accomplish great things. Our competition is not across town or down the
road – it is China, India, and Mexico.
6) Tap the economic drivers and opportunities in this new era. Growing your own jobs through
gardening vs. always
hunting for outsiders to move to your community is an
example.
7) Lay the foundation for your community or region to thrive in the
future by establishing economic, physical, technological, and
organizational infrastructures that will move your community forward.
8) Are not merely cookie-cutter projects that you copy from the town
down the road. What is most strategic for them may not be strategic
for you, because you have different assets, capabilities, and
opportunities.
9) Build on and leverage your strategic assets to give you a
competitive advantage in the world. (We have identified 10
categories of strategic assets.)
10) Harness the power of information technologies, the Internet, and
broadband connectivity in all facets of your community or
region. Become connected and use those connections to transform what you
do in business, government, and organizations.
11) Usually require financial commitment as well as involvement of
leaders, citizens, and organizations from across the community.
12) Contribute to a high quality of place. This includes basic
quality of life plus extraordinary personal experiences.
In a time when many people can live anywhere in the connected world, quality
of place becomes the differentiating factor.
Examples of strategic investments in the future include Russellville's
multi-modal transportation facility, the Technology Center for the Delta at
Wynne, the Pulaski County Big Dam Bridge, and the Breakthrough Solutions
Program. Joe Black is right - community and economic development cannot be done by
someone else; if you don't take action, it won't get done.
For more information about community development, contact your county
extension agent or visit
www.uaex.edu and select "Business and Communities."
The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.
May 2, 2008
By: Dr. Mark Peterson
Extension Professor-Community Development
(501) 671-2253
mpeterson@uaex.edu
Media Contact: Lamar James
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207
ljames@uaex.edu
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