I’ve written and read many “Year in Review” columns in my career. It’s the end of the year, so it’s time for another one. This column started out in just a couple of papers at the first of the year, and now it is in several more, so you might not have seen every column this year.
Purposely, this column touches a lot of different areas in community development, so the topics have been wide ranging. Rural Prosperity Nebraska categorizes community development into six focus areas: Regional Food Systems, Placemaking, Leadership, People Attraction, Community Engagement, and Community Economic Development. So in my columns I try to hit on each of those areas. The only one I haven’t hit on this year is Regional Food Systems.
Placemaking columns touched on housing and community cleanup. Housing is a continuing issue in rural Nebraska. Many houses have fallen into disrepair and the size of households in Nebraska is dropping from over three per house several decades ago to just over two now. That means we need more houses to hold the same number of people. Although it is now cold outside it is a good time for communities to clean up, especially if there are areas of your community with a lot of brush. I was on a walk the other day and noticed that since the leaves have fallen, you can see deeper into brushy areas, so trash is easier to see and easier to get to.
Leadership was covered a couple of times in this space. One column was devoted to building local leaders. Other columns didn’t necessarily talk about leadership, but they gave leadership ideas or actions. The column about broadband and broadband action teams provided information for local leaders to access funds for increasing broadband capabilities . . . this funding is still ongoing, and it isn’t too late to start working on it.
People attraction was featured in my first column this year and was talked about in several columns. The First Impressions Online (formerly called Web First Impressions) program is 90% done and can be rolled out to communities any time. The 10% left should be finished by the time this column goes to press. This program should help communities to see what tourists and newcomers see when they search that community on the internet. That helps make an impression before people visit your community, but programs like Red Carpet Service and Marketing Hometown America help to make the best impression on people when they visit your community.
Community engagement was heavily covered in these columns, especially the last few months. Community engagement is some of the most important work that RPN and Extension can do, but it is difficult to find the time. We need to be building relationships with our communities and learning what their issues are and help them to solve those issues. It is difficult to help solve problems if we aren’t out there listening to what those problems are.
Community Economic Development has made its way into several columns as well. Our annual Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference (CEC) helps communities learn from and interact together. Going back to my last column of 2021, I wrote about the importance of business transition to a community.
If your community could benefit from any of the Rural Prosperity Nebraska ideas that I’ve discussed in this column, please reach out to me. I’d love to speak to your community about these topics. You can reach me at jason.tuller@unl.edu or at the Thayer County office at 402-768-7212.
Jason Tuller is an Extension Educator for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He works in the Rural Prosperity Nebraska program and covers ten-county area including Kearney, Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Saline, Franklin, Webster, Nuckolls, Thayer, and Jefferson Counties.