Rural Fellows—Gering & Scottsbluff

Lauren Campbell and Esther Ingabiribyishaka Author

10/06/2022 Added

10 Plays

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Student and Community Fellows talk about the community-improvement projects they worked on in Gering and Scottsbluff, Nebraska during Summer 2022.

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[00:00:00.240]This summer we had the opportunity
[00:00:01.950]to work with Esther and Lauren
[00:00:04.410]on a project for our downtown,
[00:00:06.420]trying to make connections with businesses
[00:00:09.240]and put together some databases
[00:00:11.700]and information on our businesses
[00:00:13.140]and also to kind of get a better feel
[00:00:15.120]for what the future of Gering should be,
[00:00:18.330]what the people's vision is for it
[00:00:20.490]and so it was great working with these two young ladies,
[00:00:23.040]getting their ideas, getting their input,
[00:00:25.380]and also seeing them grow and learn
[00:00:28.290]and figure out how to do things like hold an open house
[00:00:31.770]and how to interact with the public.
[00:00:35.700]In every community, I think it is essential
[00:00:37.818]that they take the time to consider
[00:00:41.040]what the direction that we should be going.
[00:00:43.260]It's incredibly important to plan for the future,
[00:00:46.890]not just let the future happen to you,
[00:00:48.630]not be responsive, but be proactive
[00:00:51.090]trying to make the future what we want it to be,
[00:00:54.480]not what happens to us
[00:00:56.040]and so it takes time to do that
[00:00:58.050]and sometimes city staff doesn't have
[00:01:00.210]as much time as we would like to go through
[00:01:02.130]and do all the business visits and take all the surveys,
[00:01:04.920]so this was great having these two interns
[00:01:07.470]to help with some of that work
[00:01:08.820]so that we could do some of the things
[00:01:10.230]that we've been wanting and needing to do,
[00:01:12.600]but just haven't had the day time to do the leg work.
[00:01:17.610]Esther and I spent our first five weeks
[00:01:19.500]working in Scottsbluff for City Hall.
[00:01:21.630]For our project there, we distributed surveys to businesses
[00:01:24.590]in the proposed creative district
[00:01:26.310]in hopes of getting feedback about the designated area.
[00:01:29.910]We created a database with this information
[00:01:32.190]and made a full business inventory.
[00:01:34.680]Then we spent the next five weeks in Gering
[00:01:36.570]working in the civic center.
[00:01:38.400]In Gering, we held open houses and distributed a survey
[00:01:41.580]to gather information about revitalizing the downtown area.
[00:01:45.240]Then we drafted webpages, created maps of the area
[00:01:48.270]and put together a business inventory.
[00:01:50.790]I found that this opportunity with Rural Prosperity Nebraska
[00:01:53.970]allowed me to experience and learn things
[00:01:56.010]that I couldn't in school.
[00:01:57.840]Speaking with active community members
[00:01:59.850]and leaders was especially helpful.
[00:02:02.490]Through this experience,
[00:02:03.570]I got to improve my communication and leadership skills
[00:02:06.630]as well as live in a rural community for ten weeks.
[00:02:09.660]No matter what my future holds,
[00:02:11.310]this experience has left me better equipped
[00:02:13.440]to succeed and thrive.
[00:02:15.900]The work we did in both Scottsbluff and Gering
[00:02:18.780]was a part of our project to improve their downtowns
[00:02:22.710]and what we did here is going to help them
[00:02:26.070]inch one step closer to their project completions.
[00:02:29.370]We might not be able to see the creative district
[00:02:32.850]in Scottsbluff completed
[00:02:34.320]or downtown completely revitalized in Gering
[00:02:37.470]but the work we did and information we collected,
[00:02:39.660]databases are going to be used in the next step
[00:02:43.560]to completing their projects or improving their downtowns.
[00:02:47.700]This experience has allowed me to develop my
[00:02:50.790]leadership skillsets, whether to be an inclusive leader
[00:02:54.690]how to work in a group, my inclusive leadership skills
[00:02:58.950]and these are all the skills that I'm gonna need
[00:03:00.630]taking with me to any career
[00:03:02.880]that I end up pursuing in the future
[00:03:04.920]and that I need to live and work with people
[00:03:07.590]on a daily basis and I couldn't be more grateful.
[00:03:10.890]So the impact on the art community, the Gering community
[00:03:13.950]and the immediate area of what Esther
[00:03:15.750]and Lauren have done is basically going to set the roadmap
[00:03:19.230]for us moving forward
[00:03:20.430]on what the next steps are for our downtown development
[00:03:23.520]for developing both our business corridor
[00:03:26.640]and the contacts that we're gonna make
[00:03:28.140]in the future that will improve
[00:03:29.700]and grow everything that we have to offer
[00:03:31.770]in downtown Gering.
[00:03:33.810]So I think the impact for me personally was,
[00:03:36.120]was twofold.
[00:03:36.953]First and foremost recognizing
[00:03:38.910]how important it is to bring new talents
[00:03:41.160]and the new ideas
[00:03:42.330]and the strengths that our interns brought to our community
[00:03:45.750]and secondly, I think it, as me as a community leader
[00:03:48.630]ensures that how important it is to have our youth voice
[00:03:52.290]in our community that will guide what we're gonna be doing
[00:03:54.900]in the future.
[00:03:56.550]I just wanted to elaborate
[00:03:57.900]on some of the work that Lauren and Esther did.
[00:04:00.330]It made a huge impact on our community.
[00:04:01.980]Going out and talking to our small businesses
[00:04:05.040]about the proposed creative district was vital
[00:04:07.980]in laying that groundwork
[00:04:10.800]in our journey to becoming a creative district
[00:04:14.160]and on another note,
[00:04:15.570]we did not have a database at all before they came here,
[00:04:20.790]so that database is going to impact small business outreach
[00:04:24.450]and economic development for years to come
[00:04:26.940]and they gave us that
[00:04:27.780]and it's such a great resource.
[00:04:29.490]The impact that this has had
[00:04:30.960]on me as an inclusive community leader is,
[00:04:35.160]has just been tremendous.
[00:04:36.420]Just to see our community welcome these girls
[00:04:38.910]with open arms and them do the same.
[00:04:41.760]We really fell in love with them during their time here
[00:04:44.970]and I hope that they felt accepted and appreciated
[00:04:48.240]and that's what I felt, nothing but that from them,
[00:04:51.390]so

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Rural Fellows—Gering & Scottsbluff

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