The document summarizes the strategic planning process undertaken by Miner County, South Dakota to address challenges of depopulation, an aging population, and economic struggles. Key aspects included gathering grassroots input, analyzing data, creating a long-term strategic plan through collaboration, and implementing initiatives in areas like renewable energy, housing, capacity building, and developing economic engines. The process aimed to reimagine the future of the county through community-led visioning, partnership, and multi-dimensional solutions.

1. Summit: 09South Haven, Michigan Friday, November 6, 2009Randy Parry, President

2. PierreSioux FallsWhere is Miner County, SD?

3. Miner County, SD

5. Highest outmigration of youth in SDHighest percentage of elderly in SD61st out of 66 counties in median home valueOur Context

6. Miner County Historical Population Trend

8. Multi-Dimensional SolutionsCreation of a Long-Term Strategic PlanDo away with “Silo Mentality” LeadershipBroad-based Informed Decision MakingDevelop Regional CollaborationsInvest & Support LocalDevelop a New Economy--Economic Engines Create Life-Cycle Housing

9. Placed Based LearningWhat is this place we call Home?Researching DataAnalyzing the DataGrassroots Input Creating the Strategic PlanCommunicating the PlanLeaders Making Informed Decisions on AnalysisTelling the Stories

10. Inclusiveness InterviewsEveryone Is A ResourceTask Force and Committee MeetingsOver 300Research and AnalysisCounty and Surrounding CountiesStrategic Planning TeamNetworkingCoordinationCooperationCollaborationImplementation of Living PlanPeople Who Know It Best Call This Place HomeDiverse and Inclusive Collaborative Planning for the Future

11. Building CapacityCommunities that invest in themselves are successfulFinancial Capital -- $$$Human Capital -- education, health, attitudes Environmental Capital -- natural resourcesSocial Capital -- relationships of trust and exchangeCourtesy of Daryl Hobbs

13. Value All PeopleHelp Residents Improve There “Hometown Economy”Build Leadership, Strategic Thinking, and AlliancesBase Decisions on FactsBe Sure Local People LeadUse Grassroots Discussion to Create CommitmentContinually Foster Relationships and ResourcesSeek Broad-Based, Informal and Dedicated LeadershipCommit to the Long-TermShare the StoriesMiner County Lessons Learned

14. If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.

15. We were living on our equity,hoping for change!

16. VisionWhat do we want to:Look LikeBe Like3-5-10 years from nowTransformation vs. Revitalization

17. Grassroots EffortMulti-Dimensional ApproachCollaborative Partners Our Story

18. Kids spark community understandingLeadership from withinStrategic community planGrassroots

19. Students Developed SurveyResidentsRespondStudents Shared AnalysisStudents Analyzed DataCommunityBenefitedProcess

20. Cash Flow Project

21. The actual amount of increased gross sales was $15,600,000.

22. It was an overall increase of 41.1% from the previous year.Investing In & Supporting the Local Economy

23. Economic DevelopmentHousingPeople & Organizations(capacitybuilding)The Plan

24. Local Taxing EntitiesBusiness and IndustryEducational EntitiesFunding EntitiesGovernment EntitiesPartners

25. Vision without action is merely a dream.Action without vision just passes the time.Vision with action can change Rural America.

26. Community revitalization work began in 1996 at Howard High School

27. Northwest Area Foundation invested in the work in March of 1999

28. MCCR, a formal non-profit organization, was formed to lead the community revitalization movement

29. Focus on a multi-dimensional approachMiner CountyA Growing Community

30. 247 new jobs have been created in Miner County since 2002

31. 125 jobs have been retained in Miner County

32. Sales tax figures continue to increase in Howard—from 2007 (a record setting year) to 2008, sales tax grew by 24%

33. 17.61% Job Growth in Miner County compared to -0.27% average in rural SD between 2002-2008Miner CountyA Growing Community

34. Total leveraging of assets of over $64 million

35. Projected population increase by 2010 (SD GOED) for the first time in 90 yearsMiner CountyA Growing Community

36. Miner County Population

37. Miner County Taxable Growth

38. Miner County Tax Levies

39. Howard Sales Tax Revenue

40. Rural Learning Center founded in 2002-- focused resources on small, rural community capacity building

41. 62 communities and counting have requested the RLC’s assistance—from 14 states

42. In 2008, MCCR and the Rural Learning Center mergedBeyond Miner County

44. It is not whether or not we are dreaming too big but whether we can afford not to.That is how important Reimagining Rural is!It is the rekindling of hope and the developing and sustaining of a sense of place.Dream…

45. Building diverse economic enginesBuilding local capacity for successProgress

46. Are not understood or underestimated by rural communitiesStimulate and create economic growthImpact positively by employing people, accessing capital, exporting products and services Travel beyond the community into the region, nation, and worldImport Sourcing of people, jobs, investment vs. OutsourcingEconomic Engines

47. Renewable EnergyValue Added AgricultureHealthcareSeniorsEducationRural Learning CenterMiner County ‘s Engines

48. Miner County Economic EnginesRenewable Energy

49. Kosher Beef

50. Health Care (seniors, telemedicine)

51. School System

52. Rural Learning CenterGrowing our economy required a multi-dimensional approach—including a look at what kinds of businesses would compliment existing industry and regional skillsA Diversified Economy

53. Processor of kosher beef, including traditional, natural, and organic varieties

54. Facility opened in Howard in 2003

55. 60 employees

56. Planned expansion would increase number of cattle processed by more than 10 times and would create 340 new jobs in the Howard regionDakota Beefwww.dakotabeefcompany.com

57. Rural community Health Centers

58. Telemedicine capabilities connect patients in rural areas with doctors in more urban areas

59. Headquartered in Howard, SDHorizon Healthcare, Inc.www.horizonhealthcare.org/

60. Miner County Development Corporation (MCDC) dbaWhispering Winds Assisted Living

61. Jonathan Eig Story appeared in the March 25, 2005 edition of the Wall Street JournalWall Street Journal

62. How it used to be!

63. South Dakota ranks 4th in potential but 18th in actual production

64. The average home uses 11,000 kwh of power a year

65. SD has the potential to provide 117,200 megawatts or enough power for 93.8 million homesSouth Dakota Wind

66. “We old timers knew this years ago”Archie Moore 105 years old

67. Industry in DemandNeed for 9,000+ new wind technicians in the next two years—currently technical schools are producing 600 each year

68. Midwest is poised to see significant growth in renewable energy, specifically related to wind development

69. Currently, Howard has 100 people directly employed in the wind industryGrowing the Wind Industry

70. Wind Energy Potential#1. North Dakota#2. Texas#3. Kansas#4. South Dakota#5. Montana#6. Nebraska#7. Wyoming#8. Oklahoma#9. Minnesota#10. Iowa#14. MichiganUnited States Wind Resource Map

71. Areas of depopulation between 1970 and 2000 are disproportionally rural areas

72. These are also the areas that have the greatest wind energy development potentialUnited States Depopulation Map

73. United States Wind Capacity

74. United States Wind Capacity

75. Energy Maintenance Services was the first wind energy company located in South Dakota

76. Miner County native, Joe Kolbach, founded EMS

77. This partnership allowed Howard to become the first municipality in SD to own and operate wind turbines

78. First renewable energy collaborative training in SDBroadwind Energy/EMSwww.energyms.com

79. Wind blade repair and manufacturing

80. 26,000 sq. foot facility opened in Howard in 2007

81. Currently, 60 employees

82. Possible expansion would add 300 new employees and a $20 million building with an additional $20 million in robotics equipmentKnight & Carver Wind Groupwww.knightandcarver.com

83. Renewable energy training company, currently located in Tehachapi, CA

84. 5 year partnership agreement with the RLC to offer courses in Howard

85. Troops to Energy Partnership

86. National Distance Learning CollaborativeAirstreams Renewables, Inc.

87. Airstreams model is based on short, intensive courses

88. Wind technician course is a 20 day program

89. Currently, Airstreams is partnering with community colleges and universities on wind technician curriculum, alongside their private training program Airstreams Renewables, Inc.

90. The Path out of the Valley appears when you choose to see things differently.

92. Rural Conference Center, Training Classrooms, Restaurant, Hotel

93. Seeking LEED Platinum certification

94. Total facility cost= $7.5 million

95. Public/Private Partnership

96. Construction set to begin September 2009Rural Learning Centerwww.rurallearningcenter.org

97. Green Energy Demonstration, showcasing the following:Geothermal

98. Solar

99. Wind energy

100. Energy efficiency technology

101. Green materialsJob creation at the facility will total 15+ FTE’sLocal economic impact of $6 million per year Rural Learning Centerwww.rurallearningcenter.org

102. Smart Grid Technology

103. Pam Flaherty, President and CEO of Citi Foundation (NY), and Ken Stork, President of South Dakota CitiBank, present a check for $250,000 to the Maroney Rural Learning Center during the Groundbreaking Celebration on September 2, 2009.Citi Foundation

104. Senator John Thune visiting and discussing wind energy engines in Howard and the future for the state and nation.Senate Appropriations 2009

105. Change Inevitably HappensWe can ignore it

106. We can deny it

107. We can react to it positively or negatively

108. We can anticipate it

109. We can create it "The time is always right to do what is right. "

110. “It was hard for the people to believe they had the power to change things, but they were the only ones who could.”

111. We never understand the beauty of youth until it’s long faded from mind, and we rarely appreciate the beauty of age until we begin to see our own mortality in another’s eyes. We worry about the future, but the big problems end up being things that never occur to us until we’re blindsided by them on a sunny afternoon. We can’t plan for life. We can only live it--and appreciate those who play a part in our existence.For our children & grandchildren!

112. What is our gift to them?

113. Conversations => TrustActually, what we are saying is thatconversations can build social capital,which in turn helpscommunities get things done.

114. Source: Conversation Prism 1.0, Brian Solis/Flickr

115. www.ReImagineRural.com

116. Imagine…Reimagine Rural is a place where our children do not wish to flee but where they dream to returnIt is a place where people do not talk about what used to be on Main Street but where they dream about what will be there two decades from now for our children and grandchildren to return to be entrepreneurs.

117. Make It Happen!We need to make a decision that luggage is no longer an acceptable gift to high school graduates but the investment of getting them back home is the responsibility of all. Logic will get you from point A to point B; Imagination can take you wherever you want to go.

119. Thank You!Let us ReImagine Rural and become the Architects of Change

120. John F. Kennedy “One man can make a difference, but every man should try.”William Blake “What is now proved was once only imaged.”Vince Lombardi “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”Mark Twain “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did do.”Wayne Gretzky“You know I don’t skate to where the puck is, I skate to where the puck is going to be.”Words of Wisdom

121. The Central Challenge: Building an Economic EngineProvided Courtesy of Brian Kelly

122. Improving & Communicating Access to credit

123. Supporting & Facilitating Renewable Energy Industry DevelopmentSupporting & Enhancing Systems of Business Recruitment, Expansion & Retention Developing & Implementing Community Beautification ProgramsCreating & Providing Access to Systems of Affordable Quality Childcare Facilitating Development & Promotion of Local Tourism

124. Developing & Building Rural Learning CenterEconomic Development