Rural communities today face difficult choices as their economies evolve from dependence on agriculture and natural-resource-based industries to dependence on less traditional sources of income and employment such as light manufacturing and service-oriented businesses.
In addition to these economic changes, local government in rural areas often finds itself sandwiched between the growing demands for government services and continuous reductions in state and federal funding. Through a series of development decisions, these communities must create new ways to provide essential public services and secure a strong economic base.
Development decisions must be based on the human and physical resources available to the community, the current and expected economic situation outside the community, and citizens' needs within the community. The strategic planning process can help communities make difficult decisions by providing an orderly, yet flexible, way to chart the future.
Keys to successful planning include broad community participation and the plans for improvement that emerge as a result of the process. The first step is to form a planning committee consisting of 8 to 15 members who rally participation from the entire community. Local government should also actively sponsor the planning process, as such support is critical for ensuring that plans translate into actions. At the same time, strategic planning for economic development must include people from development and community improvement groups, the chamber of commerce, banks, utility companies, agricultural industries, health care groups, civic organizations, churches, and schools. Participants in the planning process should mirror the community's population with representatives of both genders and all ages, races, and geographic regions.
Moreover, individuals not usually involved in planning and initiating economic development activities must also participate in the process and possibly assume leadership roles. Such diversity enables people to voice a wide range of opinions, which is essential in effectively identifying the community's most critical needs.
Promoting rural community economic development requires a realistic understanding of community resources, the opportunities for using those resources, and any trends in state and national economies that are likely to affect the community and its resources. An environmental scan can provide such an understanding by identifying the community's internal strengths and weaknesses and by identifying external opportunities and threats to the community's economic viability.
Communities must focus on a limited set of issues. Through organized, structured discussions, the committee can establish which issues are most pressing and most feasible to address. Often committee members will also consult other community leaders or survey community members to learn their opinions about the issues they are facing.
Once a set of issues has been selected, the committee assigns the issues to study teams composed of 15 to 30 interested citizens. Each study team conducts its own analysis of the assigned issue and reports its findings, along with a set of goals and recommended strategies for achieving those goals, to the planning committee.
A goal is an outcome that the community would like to attain. It is often expressed as a challenge. For example, one goal of a public education study team might be to enhance community awareness, involvement, and support of educational institutions in the community. The team may recommend a number of strategies it can use to achieve the goal.
Once goals and recommended strategies have been discussed, key implementors and support groups should be identified for each strategy, and an action plan that can be used to carry out the strategy should be developed. The action plan should list the specific steps to be taken, assign responsibility to specific individuals or groups who will carry out those steps, and assure that tasks are completed according to a detailed timetable that is evaluated along the way. Key implementors are individuals or groups who assume strategic responsibility, whereas support groups help carry out the action.
While specific action plans may be recommended by the study team, they are often developed by the planning committee and legitimized by the sponsors after the recommended goals and strategies from all the study teams have been reported to the planning committee.
A well-designed action plan aids the implementation process by ensuring complete understanding of the various tasks and the time required to perform them. Consequently, implementation should follow the action plan closely. Of course, unforeseen events may require changes along the way. For this reason, it is important that the committee monitor the implementation process.
Continual monitoring will supply the local government sponsors of the strategic planning process with the information necessary to assess the progress toward meeting the goals and recommended strategies adopted by the community. Continuous, scheduled feedback provides an early warning system that will alert the committee when actions are not proceeding according to plan. In addition, the committee may need to perform periodic environmental scans to ensure that emerging opportunities are not overlooked and unforeseen developments outside the community do not interfere with the action plans. Finally, monitoring should also track expenditures and allocation of resources.
Strategic planning is fundamentally a community activity. However, communities interested in the process can draw on the resources of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. County Extension agents can expedite the planning process by organizing meetings, providing meeting sites, and introducing experts in the field who can offer advice.
In addition, state Extension specialists can furnish much of the background information needed for the environmental scan. Specialists can also assist in training the various planning committees, helping develop work plans and meeting agendas, and suggesting useful report formats. Finally, they can provide a perspective on other rural communities and the issues and problems that have been addressed there.
For information on strategic planning in your area, contact your county Cooperative Extension Service Center.
Prepared by
Mitch Renkow, Extension Economics Specialist
Simon K. Garber, Specialist-in-Charge, Extension Sociology