May 2—GRAND FORKS — Collaboration was a key point of a panel discussion during the final day of the Economic Development Association of North Dakota’s spring conference.
The panel focused on building communities, especially rural ones, and outlined the struggles of those areas to grow. Dawn Mandt, executive director of the Red River Regional Council, mentioned the
housing study
being performed by the Red River Community Housing Development Organization and a comment from Executive Director Lisa Rotvold.
“The entire housing system is broken around rural housing,” she said.
The EDND spring conference, held in Grand Forks for the first time in 10 years, brought together local and state leaders, businesses and other community organizations for
discussions about economic development
. The panels held during the third and final day of the conference took place in the Olive Ann Hotel’s Cloud 9 Suite. One of those panels, “Reviving Main Street-Small City, Big Ideas,” was moderated by Mandt and featured Rebecca Undem, founder of Growing Small Towns, an organization in Oakes focused on community development; JoLynn Disckson, president of the Gilby City Council; and Laura Weber, the business growth coordinator for North Dakota Small Business Development Centers (ND SBDC).
The panelists each had their own focus and methods for supporting community development and encouraging projects. For Undem, this was the creation of Growing Small Towns and giving out “love letters” — pieces of advice — to those in attendance on how to do well with their own projects.
Dickson spoke about the role of volunteers in bringing a warming house, ice rink, a mural and new playground equipment to Gilby, as well as revitalizing the community center and two features that bring people to town — murder mystery parties held at the center and geocaches people can find in the area. Weber touched on the work ND SBDC does to support small, local businesses across the state and the resources available to those interested in getting started, from research and financial tools to a site that helps create an online space to sell products.
Two issues were housing and infrastructure. Mandt said Cavalier is expecting eight new units to be built in the summer. While these projects sound small, she said, they can be big and help bind rural communities together.
“Eight units in Cavalier equates to 800 units in Fargo,” she said.
Weber brought up infrastructure, and how it is wearing down in rural areas. Good sidewalks and water lines are as important as having a nice park, she said.
A common thread between the panelists’ perspectives was the importance of working together. Mandt described the combined efforts of those in small communities as similar to a village, relying on each other and acting as one, as well as the importance of international workers and attracting people to the region. Dickson again spoke about volunteers and the willingness of local people giving back to their communities.
Weber said it’s going to take an “all hands on deck,” concerted effort to continue to grow small towns and make projects possible. Undem pushed for those in the audience to create a shift in the mentality toward new projects from trepidation to hope, and for them to support other people’s ideas. She also voiced the idea of bringing in more talented people and paying for the hard work being done to improve communities.
“Without good people, nothing gets better,” she said.
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