Successful rural development capitalizes on community groundwork

Key Takeaways

All the fuel in the world won’t move a car if the engine doesn’t work right. 

The same goes for rural community development — any money invested in a region is only as good as the planning that a county has done to prepare to make the most of it.

“Rural Development isn’t just about funds. It’s about how it’s executed on the ground,” said Kyle Kopko, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania and former executive director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.  “It’s about the infrastructure and it’s also about the capacity, too. I think that we tend to emphasize dollar resources, but there’s more to it than just that.”

He sees a great example in the northeastern corner of his state, in Wayne County. A 13-year-old organization, Wayne Tomorrow, has convened nearly every civic group in the area to ensure that everyone knows where movement is happening, with hopes of coordinating efforts in the county of 51,000 residents. If there’s a way to the Wayne County Community Foundation, The Stourbridge Tech Hub, Lackawaxen River Trails and the Greater Honesdale Partnership, along with private sector organizations like banks, can offer thoughtful feedback on development opportunities, it’s likely to happen because of the organization’s monthly meetings, which draw nearly three dozen attendees.

 Sponsored by the county and led by Commission Chairman Brian Smith, Wayne Tomorrow was an opportunity for the county’s leaders to emerge from a bubble.

“The three of us [commissioners], often think we have the best answer, but by the time we read up on an issue, talk with each other about an issue and really try to compromise, to come to a good conclusion on an issue, we found out that the original answer that we may have thought was clearly [option] A, B or C,” he said. “It turns out to be D, E or F, and it’s something that really does work for the best interest of everybody in the public.”

Kopko said the term “rural development” can alienate some people, which is why Wayne County’s collaborative approach works in representing the perspectives shared by so many participating groups. 

“There’s concern from some stakeholders that rural development means the urbanization of rural areas, or it means changing its character,” he said. “No, that’s not what this is about.  This is about sustainability, and making sure a community is resilient.”

At the same time, Kopko noted that assumptions also run in the opposite direction when it comes to rural communities.

“I think a lot of folks automatically say rural equals agriculture, but there’s every type of industry and sector in rural,” he said, particularly in Pennsylvania communities that centered on mining. 

When rural counties are challenged to think big, though, Smith points to the outcome that went the other way thanks to consultation with Wayne Tomorrow partners. When the county commissioners brainstormed a “recovery campus,” combining services for re-entry, substance use disorder, adult education and more, the feedback ultimately drove a different approach.

“We ended up taking that whole recovery-to-work thing and splitting it up, and we’re actually able to accomplish the things we wanted to accomplish by piecemealing it out somewhat simpler,” Smith said.  “It’s easier for people in the public to consume one topic at a time, rather than to complicate a whole campus with a bunch of different topics. We learned some very valuable lessons about trying to do too many things at once.”

Wayne Tomorrow centers its operations around hearing all perspectives, which Smith admits can bog down the process and scare off some people. But he likes the results.

“If you force yourself to listen to people, that’s how we… you… get more informed,” he said. “It’s not so simple to sit around and hear things that maybe you don’t agree with or that originally you don’t think are valid opinions, but even if you don’t react right away and you go home and think about it, you really can come around to something that’s more palatable for everybody.” 

Contrary to Kopko’s example, agriculture has played a part in Wayne County’s history and development, and it’s a topic Smith broached to build consensus among the organizations.

“I felt that one of the first things we should try to work on is agriculture, because every one of us needs to eat,” he said. “We’ve all heard ‘no farmers, no food,’ but I don’t care what your political party is. We should all be able to agree that we need to eat, and there are some fundamental things that we need to have in place to have farmers be able to stay economically feasible, and not only for the farmers who are here to stay in business, but those next-generation farmers who are going through our schools.”

Wayne Tomorrow was able to successfully lobby the local school system to restore an agriculture program, which Smith had been told for almost two decades would not be possible. 

He also eyes another educational initiative.

“Civic education,” he said. “So even when you graduate high school, most people have learned about the federal government. Most people have learned about state government, but, you know, there’s no civics course about county governments. So, there’s real difficulty when you expect the public to know what you’re doing here at the county level.”