CYN Summit 2016 | Young Leaders Are Change Makers

Chuck Schroeder Author

12/09/2016 Added

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[00:00:06.442]Isn't this a nice thing?
[00:00:08.051]We got all of these young professionals together
[00:00:11.059]and we're going to try to jack them up with some energy
[00:00:14.960]and give them some opportunities for collaboration and
[00:00:18.032]engagement and problem solving and career development
[00:00:22.450]and success launching and all of that to help rural
[00:00:26.912]communities.
[00:00:28.238]Now, there are people looking in from the outside saying,
[00:00:31.211]"Well ain't that nice.
[00:00:34.551]"Gosh, I hope they do good and, you know,
[00:00:37.250]"help us get back to the 1950s."
[00:00:40.381]Let me tell you, do you think that it is a viable
[00:00:43.392]strategy to just let it go and let him continue
[00:00:47.391]to accumulate in our already overcrowded, over-crammed
[00:00:52.901]urban areas in places where you have to build a three
[00:00:56.701]story outhouse in order to have all the people there?
[00:01:00.432]That doesn't make sense.
[00:01:04.091]So I'm telling you that your work,
[00:01:08.691]your fundamental understanding on the ground of how to
[00:01:13.512]build a strong smaller community where people can
[00:01:18.950]actually live and engage, live productively is critical,
[00:01:24.720]I believe, to our continuation as a species on this planet.
[00:01:29.070]So when we talk about building vibrant rural communities.
[00:01:33.000]I will tell you that I believe it is certainly a critical
[00:01:36.646]factor in the success of states like Nebraska,
[00:01:39.568]states across the high plains,
[00:01:41.300]but also across the country and around the world.
[00:01:46.072]So what's vibrant really mean?
[00:01:48.152]Let's be clear.
[00:01:50.049]It begins with an active business sector.
[00:01:53.861]There's been too much conversation over decades
[00:01:56.579]about rural development being,
[00:01:58.352]"Well we're going to develop community structures
[00:02:01.031]"and we're going to develop a nice place to live
[00:02:03.931]"and we're going to--"
[00:02:04.952]All of those things are fine, the truth is we have to have
[00:02:08.091]genuine economic activity generated in our rural communities
[00:02:12.801]in order for them to be successful.
[00:02:14.701]Poor people don't build better schools, better roads,
[00:02:17.301]better hospitals, provide access to the humanities,
[00:02:20.752]there has to be genuine business activity.
[00:02:23.317]Has to be genuine education opportunities.
[00:02:26.152]Folks like you, as much as you love a smaller community
[00:02:31.011]and then make a choice to be there for every good reason,
[00:02:35.141]are not stupid.
[00:02:37.030]You're not willing to volunteer for poverty,
[00:02:38.696]volunteer to disadvantage your children educationally,
[00:02:42.280]you're not going to put them in a situation where they
[00:02:44.371]don't have access to quality healthcare.
[00:02:46.952]Those things are critically important to vibrant,
[00:02:49.979]rural communities.
[00:02:50.861]And by the way, there also need to be decent entertainment
[00:02:54.211]option and as important as any of them, opportunities,
[00:02:58.941]and we'll hear this all the time from young professional
[00:03:02.352]families that are choosing to live in smaller communities,
[00:03:06.485]they want to live in a place where their values,
[00:03:10.472]their engagement, their energy, their vision
[00:03:13.960]makes a difference.
[00:03:15.741]So that's what vibrant in our realm really means.
[00:03:20.160]Okay so want to build strong rural communities,
[00:03:24.110]what the heck is rural?
[00:03:26.409]How do you guys define rural?
[00:03:28.192]I rarely go a week without some big feeling smart guy
[00:03:32.101]saying, "Well so how do you define rural?
[00:03:34.431]"What's the line? What's the line?"
[00:03:38.263]Where's Tiffany Krauss?
[00:03:40.571]Tiffany, do you remember when we were walking up and
[00:03:42.571]down the streets in Hastings and we went into the
[00:03:44.688]insurance agency and I said,
[00:03:46.398]"I'm here from the Rural Futures Institute,"
[00:03:48.021]and the guy says, "Rural futures? Well this is Hastings."
[00:03:53.211]Seriously?
[00:03:57.280]Folks, let's, how about if we agree that's a silly
[00:04:02.301]argument for us, okay?
[00:04:05.320]Nebraska as a state has a population of 1.8 million
[00:04:09.271]people.
[00:04:10.318]There are over 150 cities on this planet with populations
[00:04:15.691]of more than three million.
[00:04:18.003]Look at this list.
[00:04:20.581]You could put 20 Nebraska's in the city of Tokyo.
[00:04:24.643]Jakarta, Seoul.
[00:04:28.331]I'm sorry, we are all rural in this part of the world
[00:04:32.499]and need to accept that we're in this together.
[00:04:36.803]We need to accept that we're in this together.
[00:04:38.861]Think about the states my adopted home state of
[00:04:41.592]Oklahoma, big state 3.9 million, Kansas 2.9,
[00:04:45.781]Nebraska 1.8.
[00:04:47.360]Our folks in South Dakota 860,000,
[00:04:50.551]North Dakota 670, Wyoming not even as big as Omaha.
[00:04:54.451]Come on!
[00:04:56.762]We are all rural here.
[00:04:59.082]When you look at a couple of states where I've spent
[00:05:01.763]some time traveling would be Nebraska,
[00:05:03.123]South Dakota over the last year or so,
[00:05:05.232]94% of our towns and villages in Nebraska are under
[00:05:10.048]5,000 people, which is a line that some people draw
[00:05:12.584]around rural.
[00:05:13.417]It's still and it's arbitrary.
[00:05:15.403]In Nebraska and South Dakota 80% of our communities
[00:05:19.453]have fewer than 1,000 people.
[00:05:21.413]But it is our culture and, by the way,
[00:05:23.504]it is not without opportunity.
[00:05:26.640]Now, when you talk about states like ours and this region,
[00:05:31.672]believe me, there are people with letters behind their
[00:05:35.080]names on both coasts and at big institutions who say,
[00:05:38.173]"Well, those poor people they just don't understand that
[00:05:42.104]"small towns really have no future."
[00:05:48.213]A community's location is key to its survival.
[00:05:50.422]If it's more than 30 miles from an interstate, thbbt,
[00:05:53.944]can't make it, don't you know?
[00:05:57.664]The only way for any of these small communities to make it
[00:05:59.411]is if they go and recruit a big manufacturer,
[00:06:05.733]a big hiring agent, if you will, to come to their
[00:06:08.736]community.
[00:06:09.864]Nevermind small businesses that are built there.
[00:06:11.912]Small towns can't compete in the global economy.
[00:06:14.573]The really good people, the smart people,
[00:06:16.870]they move away right away, don't you know that?
[00:06:19.691]Rural and urban economies are not inter-dependent.
[00:06:23.104]Try to sell that to Governor Ricketts right now.
[00:06:26.912]Try to sell that.
[00:06:28.533]I'm sorry, it's just not true.
[00:06:30.544]So, 1986, how many people were even alive in 1986
[00:06:38.838]in this room?
[00:06:39.792]A few, okay alright, good deal.
[00:06:41.860]Here's the deal, we are in the middle of Nebraska
[00:06:44.600]in this part of the country, we're in the midst of
[00:06:48.059]the ag crisis, okay?
[00:06:50.720]Most difficult economic conditions since the great
[00:06:53.131]depression.
[00:06:54.274]Communities were having significant difficulties,
[00:06:58.109]banks were failing, businesses were failing.
[00:07:01.059]And so, again, we had guys in big institutions
[00:07:03.799]doing big studies and coming out and saying,
[00:07:06.269]"Well now, you know, if you have a population under
[00:07:09.411]"1,000 people, you're more than 30 miles from an interstate,
[00:07:12.309]"you have a fundamentally ag based economy,
[00:07:14.680]"you can't make it.
[00:07:15.760]"We've looked at all the numbers, you can't make it."
[00:07:17.446]Well there was a group of us, small group of us here in
[00:07:20.059]Nebraska who said, "We think that's a lot of bologna."
[00:07:23.309]That isn't exactly what we said, but for today's
[00:07:25.240]audience we'll say it was a lot of bologna.
[00:07:29.298]We were looking at rural communities in our region
[00:07:33.800]that were surviving in those times and, arguably,
[00:07:36.688]thriving.
[00:07:37.528]We said maybe somebody ought to go look at why those
[00:07:40.899]communities are succeeding rather than studying
[00:07:44.240]all the communities that are failing.
[00:07:45.707]So we did this little study that resulted in the
[00:07:48.326]20 Clues to Rural Community Survival.
[00:07:51.279]And you'll see up on the screens some of the things
[00:07:53.808]that came out of those 20 clues.
[00:07:55.949]Evidence of community pride and emphasis on quality
[00:07:58.869]in business and community life.
[00:08:00.779]A realistic appraisal of our opportunities.
[00:08:04.896]One, again Tiffany, not unlike we heard in Hastings
[00:08:07.579]when Randy Chick said,
[00:08:09.680]"We figured out the cavalry ain't coming."
[00:08:12.629]We're going to have to do it ourselves.
[00:08:14.429]All of those things we found in that study,
[00:08:18.160]but you know what, you can take away the other
[00:08:21.299]19 clues and here was the fundamental observation,
[00:08:28.800]it is leadership in a community.
[00:08:33.127]Is people in a community taking responsibility for
[00:08:38.120]making things happen that determined whether or not
[00:08:42.469]that community was going to survive and make it through
[00:08:46.438]the most difficult era since the great depression.
[00:08:50.589]Well if you'd like a little more current data,
[00:08:53.069]Dr. Lindsey Hastings at the University of Nebraska
[00:08:54.840]who head the Nebraska Human Resources Institute,
[00:08:57.469]as part of her PhD research looked at transitions of
[00:09:03.288]leadership in some successful rural communities
[00:09:06.560]and came up with six characteristics that describe
[00:09:10.837]a successful rural community in today's environment.
[00:09:13.806]Number one, leadership that matters not just leadership
[00:09:15.989]that takes on the title, not the four oldest, fattest
[00:09:20.368]guys in town still making all of the decisions,
[00:09:23.360]it is leadership that has vision.
[00:09:25.558]Leadership that is inclusive.
[00:09:27.268]That's 'cause number two is communities where there is
[00:09:30.619]a deliberate effort to invite people into leadership roles.
[00:09:35.899]Inviting them into that engagement, that ownership of
[00:09:39.968]driving change in the community.
[00:09:42.926]Third, a willingness to invest in the community.
[00:09:45.808]Communities where all the local savings and retirement
[00:09:49.320]accounts and such are not going to Wall Street,
[00:09:52.368]but instead are investing back in local businesses.
[00:09:56.229]We saw such powerful examples of this in West Point
[00:10:00.659]with our rural regional forum here just a few
[00:10:02.699]weeks ago.
[00:10:03.720]There are communities out there,
[00:10:05.368]and Carl with the Nebraska Community Foundation,
[00:10:07.589]you folks have made a tremendous difference in giving
[00:10:09.789]people an opportunity to invest back in their
[00:10:13.048]community in a way that's wise.
[00:10:16.189]So communities that are making it,
[00:10:18.099]that are successful, take advantage of that.
[00:10:23.779]Fear is not a barrier to taking steps toward
[00:10:26.779]a desired future.
[00:10:28.379]Folks are willing to sit down and say,
[00:10:30.160]"This may or may not work, we're going to try something.
[00:10:33.099]"We're not going to just sit and let fate drop
[00:10:35.709]"it's heavy butt on us, we are going to take steps
[00:10:39.728]"in the direction we want to go.
[00:10:41.709]"It might work, it might not, but you know what?
[00:10:43.608]"I'll bet we'll survive."
[00:10:45.187]Strong social networks, communities where people
[00:10:48.139]get together.
[00:10:50.419]Where people get together.
[00:10:52.299]West Point, I've been so impressed with the group of
[00:10:55.787]business people that their bottom line breakfast they
[00:10:58.877]get together periodically to talk about what are the
[00:11:02.489]needs of our community.
[00:11:03.523]What we might do together, face-to-face,
[00:11:07.235]in order to build a strong community.
[00:11:09.776]And finally, a hopeful vision backed by grit.
[00:11:15.955]When we talked to communities, when we go to communities
[00:11:18.650]like West Point, North Plat, Neligh,
[00:11:21.736]we just had a good conversation about that,
[00:11:23.724]Ord, Chadron.
[00:11:28.045]Yeah, they've got stuff going on.
[00:11:29.726]They've got some very positive things.
[00:11:31.346]And by the way, I can give you a list of 30.
[00:11:33.624]But they've got some positive things going on.
[00:11:36.448]Do you think it's all people just getting together
[00:11:38.536]to sing kumbaya down at the community park?
[00:11:41.945]No.
[00:11:44.357]No.
[00:11:45.368]Again, Hastings that has had such a phenomenal resonance,
[00:11:50.248]particularly in their downtown.
[00:11:53.384]And I ask one of the founders of that success, I said,
[00:11:56.307]"So how'd that happen?"
[00:11:58.115]He said, "Five four votes."
[00:12:00.947]Five four votes over and over and over.
[00:12:05.808]"Yeah, we had a vision."
[00:12:07.647]But it required grit.
[00:12:09.216]So our objective, so you understand,
[00:12:11.965]and many of you of the last several years,
[00:12:15.296]last few years, we haven't been around that long,
[00:12:17.795]no several to it, know this is true.
[00:12:20.165]But our objective is to support local leaders,
[00:12:26.136]like you, who have a vision for a community that is strong
[00:12:31.325]and vital economically.
[00:12:33.723]Social, cultural, environmental.
[00:12:37.913]Communities that provide a legitimate best choice
[00:12:42.024]for young families that are looking for a place
[00:12:43.976]to launch careers, build businesses, build their families,
[00:12:47.416]be actively involved in an environment where they can
[00:12:50.114]make a difference.
[00:12:51.368]That is what we're all about and what you're a part of here.
[00:12:56.443]I was so encouraged and embolden by our pre-conference
[00:13:00.813]survey where we asked the question about your engagement
[00:13:03.944]in leadership and 95% of you expressed a hopeful outlook
[00:13:10.123]on your future.
[00:13:12.102]And so many of you, well over 50% involved in multiple
[00:13:17.875]leadership roles in your community.
[00:13:20.352]Well the truth is, obviously in the end we want your
[00:13:24.221]community to be a hopeful place.
[00:13:27.552]What we need to understand is that hope,
[00:13:30.072]based upon the good science of Dr. Shane Lopez,
[00:13:34.372]hope is a choice.
[00:13:35.792]It's not fairy dust deal.
[00:13:39.592]It is not a tap with the wand.
[00:13:43.643]It is a choice.
[00:13:45.493]We can choose actions that will lead us toward our goals.
[00:13:49.912]Rural community difference makers like you demonstrate,
[00:13:52.533]and we just see this over and over and over again,
[00:13:54.973]through our rural forums where we have a chance to
[00:13:57.941]come into a community and really take a deep dive
[00:14:00.912]in getting to know the people there as well as
[00:14:03.611]what they're doing.
[00:14:04.444]And we find so many of those examples of leaders who have
[00:14:07.843]made the choice to move in a hopeful direction
[00:14:11.800]for their community.
[00:14:13.931]What we also know from Dr. Lopez's research is that
[00:14:16.443]hope can be learned.
[00:14:18.580]It's not something you're born with,
[00:14:21.096]it's not something that rains down on you,
[00:14:23.832]there are steps that can be learned, and by the way,
[00:14:26.864]in the end, hope can be shared.
[00:14:31.413]Melissa Garcia, I love telling the story of Broken Bow.
[00:14:36.162]And I come back after 20 years and remember
[00:14:39.651]how far down Broken Bow had gone through that ag crisis
[00:14:44.792]and here's a great, great, great Nebraska community.
[00:14:49.053]And when I ask you, when I came back and I see this
[00:14:52.432]phenomenal renaissance and I said, "How'd this happen?"
[00:14:55.504]And you said, "Small group of people sitting around
[00:14:59.597]"a table and saying we're not okay with where we are,
[00:15:03.653]"we know we'd like to be better, we know where we'd
[00:15:05.915]"like to go, we don't know exactly how to get there.
[00:15:09.525]"We're going to take some steps in that direction."
[00:15:13.415]And that small group grew to a larger group,
[00:15:16.464]to a larger group, to a larger group to today one of
[00:15:19.728]the most dynamic rural communities in Nebraska,
[00:15:22.245]and I would argue a national model.
[00:15:27.823]I'm just going to ask you,
[00:15:31.624]as leaders in this room today to choose to be a
[00:15:35.645]change maker.
[00:15:38.325]Don't let those folks far away from you
[00:15:44.445]doing various calculus around rural stuff and trying
[00:15:48.696]to tell you how it can't happen and all the action's
[00:15:51.934]going to be in the cities, it's bologna.
[00:15:55.862]You can choose your future.
[00:15:59.256]So I just thank you once again for coming and being
[00:16:02.155]a part of this gathering of such important visionary
[00:16:06.195]energetic folks and would hope that you will choose
[00:16:09.205]to be a change maker.
[00:16:10.224]Thank you very much.

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CYN Summit 2016 | Young Leaders Are Change Makers

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