All rural leaders are tasked with retaining their young people. Or at least, in my opinion, they should be. Every year, local high schools graduate students that set out to pursue their life goals. For twelve years of a student’s life, locals funded their education only to watch them move away in droves in search of a greater opportunity. Rural communities can only hope that one day they will return. Usually, some students do return to pursue local opportunities or to be close to family. So, what factors connect people to communities?
A growing number of studies and efforts believe that “social capital” plays a large role in the retention of youth. Social Capital is the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively. As we grow up we make relationships with friends and other adults. Recent community development efforts focus on increasing the size of social capital networks on the macro level to deepen the bond a person has with its community.
I am a firm believer in the social capital strategy as I experienced it firsthand. I benefited from a strong social network in the small town that I grew up. I was active in several teams, clubs, and organizations in my small rural school. In my latter years of high school, I was able to participate in a program that allowed me to job shadow certain professions. Also, my family operated a farm implement and car dealership business, which afforded me interaction with lots of different people in the community and surrounding areas. All of these experiences enabled me to make connections and fostered relationships with community stakeholders.
This created a great experience for me growing up, which probably explains why I am living in my hometown and serving the residents as Mayor. I did move away to attend college and obtain a Master’s Degree, but I was always connected to my community because of the strength of my social capital network.
Today, I am fortunate to get to provide that same opportunity to others. In my real job, I serve as an Economic Development Director for an Electric Cooperative. Economic development is a major focus for our Co-Op because our board realized the issue of youth retention and sought a proactive approach as an effort to reverse it. In 2015, our Cooperative learned of a program started by another rural Illinois county. The program is called CEO (Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities) program and is designed for local youth to interact with their community and businesses while learning soft skills and entrepreneurship. The accredited course is offered to high school juniors and seniors and literally transforms those that participate. The CEO program is growing throughout the Midwest and is available to 17 schools across 5 counties through our Cooperative. We are optimistic that helping young people build their social capital will increase the number of those that return to our area.
If young people decide to return the area, then our community also has to have opportunities for residents to be able to thrive and survive. Employment prospects and upward mobility have always been more abundant in larger communities. However, with the development of broadband in rural areas, more opportunities may become available soon. Developing entrepreneurial and e-commerce skills in our youth will provide access to remote work opportunities.
The good folks of the National 4-H Council and The Bridgespan Group recently developed a great field report on Social Mobility in Rural America. As a 4-Her growing up, I was glad to see this report. It does a great job of painting the picture of the value set rural kids gain from growing up in the country.
Life on the farm continues to change thanks to technology. Much of the rural population decline that started in the 1940s was caused by the mechanization of the agriculture industry. As farms have grown and become more efficient it takes less and fewer hands to operate. This has steered others to find other employment opportunities. The broadband application will continue this, but it should also provide other opportunities for rural residents, but I digress. This topic will be a different blog, for a different day. The report shares that it noticed 6 common factors that could improve upward mobility for rural youth. How many of these are you implementing in your community?
