A Christmas List for Small, Rural Towns

This blog post is from Mike Kntson's ReImagine Rural blog. Mike asked me as well as others involved in rural and community development. Enjoy the wish list and please feel free to post your ideas as well.

December 22nd, 2010 by Mike Knutson

Last weekend, Jodi (my wife) and I ventured up to Fort Sisseton for a “Frontier Christmas” with some good friends. The historic fort sits out on the wide open plains of Northeastern South Dakota. Each holiday season, they host this nostalgic event, complete with sleigh rides, holiday caroling, and demonstration by period reenactors. It was a lot of fun, and in my opinion, the antithesis of Christmas shopping in Sioux Falls.

While look back at Christmas traditions from years gone by, I couldn’t help but think of my Christmas wish list for small, rural communities.


My Christmas List

Tops on my list is a purchase, rehab, resell housing program based on the model used by the Northeast Housing Initiative (NHI) of Allen, NE. I’ve written about this program previously. In addition to improving the overall quality of the housing stock in rural communities, it helps make home purchases in rural communities more affordable to young families.

Many of the rural towns that I drive through are blessed to have lower housing costs. Unfortunately, many of the cheaper homes also require considerable renovations. The level of work needed sometimes makes financing the purchase and rehab difficult - especially for young families. A purchase, rehab, resell program like that of NHI brings together the renovation and the financing in a process that eliminates many of those barriers. For that reason, it is at the top of my Christmas List for small, rural towns.

As I wrote a few additional ideas down, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to see what other people would put on their lists?” For that reason, I fired off a quick e-mail to several friends asking, “What would you put on a Christmas list for your hometown?” Below are a few of their responses.


More Christmas Wishes

Kurt Mantonya, Senior Associate at the Heartland Center for Leadership – The one item that is on the top of my wish list for rural communities is working on ways to retain youth and welcome newcomers to these communities. I remember when I was a kid, I heard the old saying “get your education and get out of here, there is nothing for you in this town.” To this day, I long to find a way to move back home because that is where I want to raise my kids. I didn’t have the x-box, swim lessons, karate, 24 hour shopping and other amenities that urban communities have but I survived and have many fond memories of my childhood and would not change a thing if I could.

When I do get the chance to go back home, I “scold” those same people that told me to get out and just come back here to visit. This sends such a wrong message to our youth, the same youth who, like me, would love to move back home after getting some world experience. In order to retain and grow population we must reverse this message and encourage those youth to return and find ways to attract newcomers.

Joel Price, Superintendent of the Faulkton (SD) School District – Number one on my wish list for Faulkton is the ability to build more affordable single and multiple family dwellings in Faulk County to fill a need that is evident and necessary for further growth. (Note: Joel’s an overachiever. He actually sent me a top 10 list for Faulkton. I think he’s been thinking about it for a while!)

Lori Hintz, Executive Director of BASEC — This year, BASEC, wants an updated website for our organization that is user friendly, informative and something that really increases and improves our communication to others.

Sheri Booms Holmes, Communications Director of the West Central Initiative Foundation – Fergus Falls’ Christmas list includes 100 jobs or more each year for the next five years, and a million-dollar angel venture fund, to help create and sustain a healthy economy. Speaking of health, city leaders hope to find an expanded river walk winding its way around the base of the Christmas tree, as part of an initiative to provide more awareness and opportunities for physical activity in the area. Fergus Falls actually has 16 items on its wish list and you can read them all at the Forward Fergus Falls Blog.


It’s a good start…

I think my friends have some pretty good ideas, but I’d like to see that list expand a bit. What’s on your Christmas list for your small town?

Visions from the Heartland--December 2010

The latest edition of Visions from the Heartland has just been published. In this issue we have reflected on 2010 and all of the changes and achievements we have been a part of. Learn about our upcoming webinar series as well as our training on conducting effective webinars. Finally, you can download Strengthening the Rural-Suburban-Urban Connection for free! All of this and more can be found at http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs066/1102873944558/archive/1104055498633.html

Have a joyous holiday season