There's community development and there's economic development. And you won't have one without the other.

"Community development is a building block for economic development," explains Lindsay Papenhausen of the Nebraska Economic Development office in Lincoln. "You have to have community leadership in place to drive any economic development effort."

It's a matter of survival, says Papenhausen, who helps rural communities better themselves through the Nebraska Community Improvement Program. This spring, she'll be part of a new initiative to identify and train local leaders.

"We surveyed rural communities and found a lack of leadership to advance ideas and proposals," Papenhausen said. Community and economic development were lagging as a result.

Her office is using a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a leadership program to address the issue. "We look for that to be a big initiative in our office in the next six months," said Papenhausen.

She'll launch the program this March in Petersburg in Boone County.

"Anybody can provide leadership," Papenhausen said. "Sometimes you just have to show them how they can be involved."

Economic development experts stress the importance of getting youth involved in volunteer endeavors. "The more youth are connected to a community, the more likely they are to stay or to return," said Papenhausen.

Research by the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship in Lincoln supports the strategy. "Our studies have found that an overwhelming majority of young people may consider staying close to home after graduation, or may return to their hometown to start a career or a family sometime in the future,'' said Craig Schroeder, a research analyst with the center.

"The key is for a community to invite its youth to consider the option and to get them involved in community projects while they're still in high school," he said.

Another critical component of community development is to promote entrepreneurial ideas and create business opportunities. "For example, with aging populations in small towns there are opportunities to transition businesses to younger people," Schroeder said.

"These things create a rich set of possibilities," he continued. "We don't want to hold anybody back from getting an education and seeing what's out there. But we want them to know it's OK to come back."

Nebraska's economic mentors hold up Holt County as a great example of youth engagement in community and economic development.

The county's gains in recruitment and retention of young adults is tied to a HomeTown Competitiveness initiative developed by the non-profit Nebraska Community Foundation, the Heartland Center for Leadership Development and the RUPRI Center.

The initiative has a "come back, give back" component.

"There is more of a conscious effort between parents, teachers and school leaders to talk with kids about coming back to their community," said Nicole Sedlacek, economic development director for Holt County. "We're trying to make a connection with youth and inviting them to make their living here."

Sedlacek gives the message credibility. A twentysomething wife and mother, she grew up in the O'Neill area, went to college and returned in 2000 to take a job with an O'Neill radio station.

She was active in O'Neill's HomeTown Competitiveness program when she learned of a plan to establish an economic development office serving the county's eight communities.

"I'm the first and only employee," Sedlacek said. Her goal has been to organize the communities -- from O'Neill with 3,700 residents to unincorporated Amelia with less than 50 residents -- to work together for the benefit of the county.

"All of the communities have the mindset that if a new business starts in Atkinson, O'Neill will see benefits," Sedlacek said. "We recognize each other's strengths and play to them to recruit businesses" and promote youth involvement in projects.

Kristin Gotschall, 18, is secretary of the Holt County Youth Advisory Council in O'Neill. She and committee members plan on surveying peers throughout the county to find out what they want from their hometowns.

Kristin will attend Wayne State College in the fall. She plans to major in elementary education and return to the O'Neill area to teach. She already understands the importance of an early commitment to community involvement, and has seen commitment in action: Her dad is president of the O'Neill School Board, and her mom volunteers with the Youth Advisory Council.

She likes the size of her hometown -- not too big and not too small. "I like seeing lots of people working for the good of the community. I didn't have any idea that that type of activity existed," said Gotschall.

The youth council has organized Movie Nights at the football field during the summer, and a dodge ball tournament in March at O'Neill high school.

Such events drive home the point that there are fun people and things to do in what, on the surface, seem to be a quiet, unexciting community.

Kristin is working to attract young residents from each of Holt County's communities to get involved as representatives on the Youth Advisory Council.

In Tekamah on the eastern edge of the state, the Burt County Development Board plans to kick off a leadership development program this year to enlighten promising future leaders about county history, education, government and economic development.

The goal of Leading Locally is to "help people see how you can use leadership to advance economic development," said Carroll Welte, an educator with the University of Nebraska Extension office in Tekamah.

Small towns have entered an era, she said, where there isn't a cookie-cutter approach to attracting new people and new businesses.

"What works for one community isn't necessarily the best approach for another," she said. The method depends on the dynamics of the person or people doing the leading.

"Nobody has really good answers for how to respond to the current economy," Welte said. "Innovation can spell survival for a community. You want and need people who are entrepreneurs and are willing to take risks. As they use their leadership skills, they can move community development and economic development forward.''

Sometimes, she said, people don't realize they have the capacity to lead. Leading Locally helps expose leadership talent. "Every community has visionary people. It's our task to find them and build their confidence to lead.''

Contact the writer

444-1094, chris.christen@owh.com

Surveys show desire to stay

The Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Center for Rural Entrepreneurship in Lincoln has surveyed more than 2,200 young people in Nebraska over the past five years about their perceptions of small town living. Project coordinator Craig Schroeder puts the response rate at 80 to 90 percent, thanks to cooperation from school districts utilizing an online survey system. "There are several things that are really exciting about the survey results,'' said Schroeder.

62 percent viewed their town as a good place to live. "The smaller communities are winning the highest satisfaction rating," Schroeder said. "Kids are involved in and feel valued by their community. They feel safe and connected to family, friends and the community at large."

41 percent had an interest in owning a business someday.

4 percent already had money-making ventures. "They are creating their own economic opportunities," Schroeder said. "They're finding ways to make money in their small towns."

52 percent could picture themselves living in their home town in the future. "If you talk to community leaders, the actual number of young people returning is lower than that," Schroeder said. "We're losing them to a perception of better job opportunities elsewhere. We have to help them see the possibilities" in their own back yard.

Copyright 2009 The Omaha World-Herald Company