Innovate Solutions Together: Turning Ideas into Results  

Key Takeaways

Every county faces the same basic challenge: how to turn ideas into results. This premise drives one of NACo’s five performance themes, Innovate Solutions Together. We are passionate about helping county leaders turn realities on the ground into practical research, trend insights and peer networks so members can better identify solutions that work locally. 

Two of NACo’s county innovation programs illustrate how this concept works in practice. 

Energy Academy 

Counties are on the front lines of America’s energy transition, fielding proposals for solar, wind, battery storage and data centers that are reshaping local land use for generations. NACo’s Energy Academy, hosted with the National Association of Development Organizations, gives county leaders the tools to manage that change within the scope of their own authorities and terms. 

The results are powerful. Morrow County, Ore. is applying what it learned on zoning and community benefit design for a comprehensive approach centered on co-locating energy generation, agrivoltaics and clear decommissioning requirements. 

Why? The county is dealing with development proposals covering tens of thousands of acres for solar, more than 1,000 acres for data centers and 50 miles of new transmission infrastructure. 

Lyon County, Nev. is crafting its first-ever data center ordinance to preserve the county’s rural character. The county is working to set standards for future projects that would prohibit water-consuming cooling systems, encourage lower impact to the energy grid, implement strict noise and lighting rules, and require comprehensive impact analyses. 

Marathon County, Wis., chaired by NACo Central Region Representative Kurt Gibbs, has utilized multiple community engagement channels to help inform energy ordinances and specific projects. The county approved an updated BESS ordinance to increase public safety and developed an energy ordinance that requires developers to share engineering plans with the county for review and comments during the state review process. 

These efforts are unfolding in real time, as private industry moves at a scale and speed that is near impossible for policymakers at every level of government to keep pace. This has fueled intense public debate, with real political consequences, in county courthouses across America. 

Rural Leaders for Economic Mobility 

Over an 18-month period, NACo’s Rural Leaders for Economic Mobility cohort helped county leaders design local strategies that connect residents to economic opportunity. The results reach into every corner of rural America. 

In Jim Wells County, Texas, a $50,000 NACo Research Foundation grant from the Gates Foundation, along with a $100,000 county match, helped secure a $500,000 USDA grant for a new small business and workforce development center that provides entrepreneurship training and shared office space for start-ups. 

Audrain County, Mo. delivered regional workforce stability and support services to more than 165 employers with 11,150 workers, helping one employer cut annual turnover from 100 employees to two. 

Curry County, N.M. launched Savvy Citizen, a new communications platform now reaching roughly 2,000 residents with real-time county updates and alerts. 

Hertford County, N.C. secured a $24 million Community Benefits Agreement tied to an $875 million specialty steel manufacturing project expected to create 625 full-time jobs, alongside a $51 million state-funded inland port with, county-owned barge service. 

Holmes County, Miss. — the most distressed county in the state with a 36 percent poverty rate — turned a $50,000 sub-grant into a $1 million state appropriation, advancing infrastructure at a 330-acre county-owned industrial site now positioned for employer tenant recruitment. 

San Juan County, Utah engaged eight Navajo Nation Chapter presidents and added a dedicated Tribal Track to its Business Basecamp program. 

Venango County, Pa. completed a workforce pilot in robotics, AI and drone technology. Every participant earned at least one STEM credential, with the curriculum built alongside Carnegie Mellon, Slippery Rock and Thaddeus Stevens universities. 

And Union County, Ore. surveyed 266 parents of young children to quantify its childcare crisis, then developed architectural plans for a new county-owned childcare facility. 

We’re curating the full set of Rural Leaders for Economic Mobility outcomes now, so other county leaders and partners can learn from and scale these valuable lessons. 

The throughline 

Every one of these counties started in the same place: a local vision, followed by a search for ideas. NACo builds the networks that connect county officials and other experts. Whether it’s a zoning ordinance in Oregon, a data center framework in Nevada, an energy working group in Wisconsin or a workforce center in Texas, these counties didn’t just learn — they executed. 

That’s what happens when county leaders innovate solutions together. It’s what membership in NACo delivers, county by county, dollar by dollar, decision by decision.