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Marcia Erickson and Lori Finnesand, Co-CEOs, GROW South Dakota
Challenge: These days, the prevailing images of small rural communities often show closing schools, abandoned homes, an aging population and a dying Main Street. While many of these communities had active volunteer economic development and housing boards, they've exhausted their volunteer pool and the community vision is growing dim. Perhaps if they had some support, resources and new leadership they might be able to turn things around, but they are often overwhelmed and don't know where to turn.
For 50 years, the housing, community and economic development programs and services of GROW South Dakota have served the needs of local individuals, families, business owners, and entire communities. Seeing small rural communities' growing need for assistance with housing and economic development, the organization turned to the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) program and received their first funding award in 2006.
Since then, GROW South Dakota has offered technical and financial assistance to 14 rural organizations to support the hiring of staff, provide training and establish local offices. It now acts as an intermediary for RCDI funding and, through seven three-year grants, has shared $1.7 million in funding to spark capacity building in the recipient communities. On their part, each community commits to a one-to-one financial match through fundraising, city and/or county funds or partnership support and creates a budget line for future economic development priorities.
All of the communities have made tremendous strides in revitalizing their local efforts, creating growth for their regions and have been models for the value of the investment. For instance, with GROW South Dakota's support, the Glacial Lakes Area Development in Marshall County and Faulkton Area Economic Development in Faulk County now are established enough to have executive directors and Webster Area Development Corporation has spurred hundreds of new local jobs through manufacturing recruitment.
Hearing of these economic successes, people have begun to move to these communities. While they are delighted to have these new arrivals, the communities often do not have adequate quality housing for them. In response to this, GROW South Dakota created Grow Housing, a technical assistance track to help rural communities move forward in housing development. Grow Housing works in five communities, four of which were in the original RCDI group.
After conducting a formal housing study, Grow Housing and local leaders work together to ensure that the community's voice is heard. They hold public meetings to review the results of the study and begin a strategic planning process to establish priorities and ideas for housing solutions. These meetings give the leaders and builders solid information for making decisions.
Out of each community meeting, small teams of committed individuals meet with a Grow Housing coach to find and implement housing solutions specific to local needs. They often show resourcefulness in identifying both internal and external assets to accomplish tasks, such as a community painting day that drew on local volunteer labor and outside sources for funding and supplies.
The Grow Housing coach helps the local teams to stay on task and brings them together regularly to share ideas, successes and challenges. An innovative example of this collaboration is the First Impressions Tour, in which all five community coordinators joined with the Grow Housing coach for a tour of each community. The tour provided an opportunity to share successes and challenges.
In 2015 GROW South Dakota and leaders from Webster and Britton, two of the original RCDI communities, attended the NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute to improve planning for specific projects. As a result, the Webster Vision Team hosted a day-long indoor Housing Block Party in March 2016 to provide information on a variety of topics related to purchasing, building, remodeling or landscaping a property. The casual and fun atmosphere welcomed an estimated 150 residents with resource booths and short classes on home-related topics. The Britton CORE Team worked with local civic and charitable organizations, government officials, and school and youth groups to coordinate a neighborhood/community clean-up day.
In the same spirit of sharing and collaboration, GROW South Dakota is in the process of working with other South Dakota nonprofits who support similar housing programs to expand the Grow Housing concepts more broadly in the state.
GROW South Dakota has learned from working directly with communities that each has its own unique character, priorities, organizational structure and challenges. One primary obstacle is limited human resources. If staff exists, they are often stretched thin, and the same group of volunteers is always at the table. While they may have the skills, they may need time and direction to find the confidence to implement solutions. In addition to coaching, Grow Housing brings the credibility of GROW South Dakota to help draw additional necessary players and sometimes new volunteers to the table. Second, there can be a hands-off approach to housing, with no entity taking responsibility for acting on housing issues. Grow Housing encourages communities to recognize that everyone has a role, from local government to employers to nonprofits to contractors to residents. Finally, sustaining engagement is a challenge. While some communities have maintained their initial energy, others suffer from different levels of involvement. GROW South Dakota's approach of funding the hiring of local staff and providing coaching is making a difference.
The task of solving housing and economic development issues can be daunting. However with GROW South Dakota's help, communities are finding solutions, addressing development and housing issues, and engaging in broad-based activities.
Challenge: These days, the prevailing images of small rural communities often show closing schools, abandoned homes, an aging population and a dying Main Street. While many of these communities had active volunteer economic development and housing boards, they've exhausted their volunteer pool and the community vision is growing dim. Perhaps if they had some support, resources and new leadership they might be able to turn things around, but they are often overwhelmed and don't know where to turn.
For 50 years, the housing, community and economic development programs and services of GROW South Dakota have served the needs of local individuals, families, business owners, and entire communities. Seeing small rural communities' growing need for assistance with housing and economic development, the organization turned to the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) program and received their first funding award in 2006.
Since then, GROW South Dakota has offered technical and financial assistance to 14 rural organizations to support the hiring of staff, provide training and establish local offices. It now acts as an intermediary for RCDI funding and, through seven three-year grants, has shared $1.7 million in funding to spark capacity building in the recipient communities. On their part, each community commits to a one-to-one financial match through fundraising, city and/or county funds or partnership support and creates a budget line for future economic development priorities.
All of the communities have made tremendous strides in revitalizing their local efforts, creating growth for their regions and have been models for the value of the investment. For instance, with GROW South Dakota's support, the Glacial Lakes Area Development in Marshall County and Faulkton Area Economic Development in Faulk County now are established enough to have executive directors and Webster Area Development Corporation has spurred hundreds of new local jobs through manufacturing recruitment.
Hearing of these economic successes, people have begun to move to these communities. While they are delighted to have these new arrivals, the communities often do not have adequate quality housing for them. In response to this, GROW South Dakota created Grow Housing, a technical assistance track to help rural communities move forward in housing development. Grow Housing works in five communities, four of which were in the original RCDI group.
After conducting a formal housing study, Grow Housing and local leaders work together to ensure that the community's voice is heard. They hold public meetings to review the results of the study and begin a strategic planning process to establish priorities and ideas for housing solutions. These meetings give the leaders and builders solid information for making decisions.
Out of each community meeting, small teams of committed individuals meet with a Grow Housing coach to find and implement housing solutions specific to local needs. They often show resourcefulness in identifying both internal and external assets to accomplish tasks, such as a community painting day that drew on local volunteer labor and outside sources for funding and supplies.
The Grow Housing coach helps the local teams to stay on task and brings them together regularly to share ideas, successes and challenges. An innovative example of this collaboration is the First Impressions Tour, in which all five community coordinators joined with the Grow Housing coach for a tour of each community. The tour provided an opportunity to share successes and challenges.
In 2015 GROW South Dakota and leaders from Webster and Britton, two of the original RCDI communities, attended the NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute to improve planning for specific projects. As a result, the Webster Vision Team hosted a day-long indoor Housing Block Party in March 2016 to provide information on a variety of topics related to purchasing, building, remodeling or landscaping a property. The casual and fun atmosphere welcomed an estimated 150 residents with resource booths and short classes on home-related topics. The Britton CORE Team worked with local civic and charitable organizations, government officials, and school and youth groups to coordinate a neighborhood/community clean-up day.In the same spirit of sharing and collaboration, GROW South Dakota is in the process of working with other South Dakota nonprofits who support similar housing programs to expand the Grow Housing concepts more broadly in the state.
GROW South Dakota has learned from working directly with communities that each has its own unique character, priorities, organizational structure and challenges. One primary obstacle is limited human resources. If staff exists, they are often stretched thin, and the same group of volunteers is always at the table. While they may have the skills, they may need time and direction to find the confidence to implement solutions. In addition to coaching, Grow Housing brings the credibility of GROW South Dakota to help draw additional necessary players and sometimes new volunteers to the table. Second, there can be a hands-off approach to housing, with no entity taking responsibility for acting on housing issues. Grow Housing encourages communities to recognize that everyone has a role, from local government to employers to nonprofits to contractors to residents. Finally, sustaining engagement is a challenge. While some communities have maintained their initial energy, others suffer from different levels of involvement. GROW South Dakota's approach of funding the hiring of local staff and providing coaching is making a difference.
The task of solving housing and economic development issues can be daunting. However with GROW South Dakota's help, communities are finding solutions, addressing development and housing issues, and engaging in broad-based activities.
