Southwest Iowa Coalition Economic Development

Rural Development Resource Center's Staff is in motion and providing on-site, local services to 22 counties in SW Iowa.

Your Rural Development Resource Center continues to develop and put operations in place to provide technical assistance to increase entrepreneurial activity within the region. More than 90 individuals operating, expanding or seeking to start a business have had contact with the Center. More than $700,000 in loans have been facilitated because of the Center services. We have already seen 2 business starts providing 6 new jobs, two ethanol ground-breakings and have 2 ag cooperatives in development.

Staffing continues with the newly hired business development specialist assigned to the Southwest Iowa Business Accelerator, Angie Rae Duncan. The RDRC received the $75,000 check from the Iowa Department of Economic Development in November to begin this component of the RDRC program.

Angie is already traveling and providing consults. She comes to the program with a wealth of economic development skill which included value-added ag. She makes the third specialist available to serve the region now through the RDRC.

Counties so far that have benefited from individuals receiving services include: Adair, Carroll, Cass, Fremont , Montgomery , Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold and Taylor . The RDRC has also worked with two out-of-state clients investigating a business start in the region from Colorado and Oregon .

Individuals can access the RDRC services directly or can be referred if technical assistance within the area of need is not available or accessible. Contact can be made by e-mail at rdrc@enterprisingiowans.com or phone at 712/623-5521. A Request for Services Form needs to be completed and returned to the office. A business development specialist will then be assigned, depending upon the client's area of need and client location, for up to 2 hours of free consultation. The client will be provided with a technical assistance plan and associated costs for services rendered. Clients should be prepared to invest $250 at a minimum for assistance with business plan development.. Spot services for assistance with information, analysis and regulatory paperwork can also be provided on demand by the RDRC staff.

The offices are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In order to ensure that you can visit with a specialist, please call ahead. Generally the specialists are traveling to the clients for consultations.

The Rural Development Resource Center 's primary partner boards of directors met jointly to evaluate the legal structure currently in place as the program develops. It was the consensus of agreement that, at

this point, it will remain a program of Grow Iowa Foundation because of its mission, accounting standards and ability to hire employees. Options as it matures might be a 28-E agreement is currently under legal exploration.

Once again, funding to provide this valuable economic development tool was available because of the existing, experienced, grassroots, regional organizations that could serve as the infrastructure for the RDRC program.

Turn-out of members and local residents impressive to the Iowans for a Better Future

Iowans for a Better Future (IBF) was originally formed to promote implementation of the Iowa 2010 Strategic Planning Commission - a comprehensive plan to achieve strong and viable growth.

In order to capture grassroots ideas, suggestions and concepts for meeting the state's growth and development issues, the IBF designed a day-long program that it could facilitate at 30 sites throughout the state — the Grow Iowa Tour (not to be confused with our own Grow Iowa Foundation). IBF then contacted the Coalition through referral to see how it could manage the program to capture information from smaller communities recognizing its limitation of 30 sites statewide.

IBF Board Chair, Brad Parks, the SWICO board and coordinator designed a rural tour throughout the Coalition member region. The sites were strategically selected to introduce the IBF board members to the individuality of the region's communities, geography and available development resources.

It was short notice but Coalition members rallied to get out the general public and other members along the tour. Along the stops in Harlan, Malvern, Sidney , Bedford and Greenfield , attendees were present to discuss and share regional development challenges and some examples of local solutions. The tour ended at the Coalition office site in Red Oak for group facilitation. 100 members and residents attended a site convenient to them along the tour — not bad for the middle of a work-week and travel involved.

Brad Parks dubbed it a great day, and further stated that they had visited with more people during the rural tour than they had at any other, one location that had previously hosted the program throughout the state.

Thank you to all the members who assisted with communication and site hosting at the local level.

The IBF is publishing a report on each community (region toured in our case) which will be posted on its Web site at betteriowa.com.

GIF secures funding for a third Intermediary Re-lending Pool - Make sure your county can access this tool by providing a nominal contribution to the program

$500K has been awarded to GIF to establish another loan pool for economic development projects which can be accessed by counties that provide a nominal match.
Once, twice and now a third opportunity is available thanks to GIF to access loans for your business development needs.

Pictured above: Deb Houghtaling of Grow Iowa

GIF was able to secure the funding by providing most of the match, but will need small county contributions to raise the $50K that will begin the loan pool. Contact GIF if your county is interested in participating in this program.

The Intermediary Re-lending Pools have been aggressively utilized by counties as they work with business starts. Some who have benefited by taking advantage of GIF loan pools in the past have been communities in Adair, Adams, Cass, Decatur, Fremont, Guthrie, Montgomery, Page, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor, Union, Clark, Mills and Pottawattamie.

You can contact GIF directly for additional information on how to take advantage of this valuable tool.

Ken Meter of CRC Works presented information on Finding Food in Farm Country to a group studying regional food systems in Cass County.

REGIONAL FOOD SYSTEMS

Southwest Iowans with an interest in regional food systems and local sustainable agriculture attended a planning meeting for an eight-county Regional Food System on Thursday, April 12th at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic. There were two sessions to accommodate the most number of participants. Ken Meter made a presentation on "Finding Food in Farm Country", speaking about data he has collected on the subject over a number of years and how it relates to the regional food systems. His presentation was followed with a Q&A session. It was a challenging and fascinating presentation. On his website, crcworks.org, in one of the write-ups it notes that one needs to attend several of these presentations to take in all the information because of the detail in it. That certainly is an accurate statement. Included in his presentation was area specific data that brought the issues very close to home.

"This data often gives people a new way of looking at the farm and food economy. The analysis helps local participants gain a deeper knowledge of the conditions they face," said Meter. Those participating in the meeting were from numerous backgrounds including agricultural production, lending, economic development, political, education, health, retail, and others.

This and future gatherings are the first steps in the development of a strategic plan for a Regional Food System for this area. This plan is called for in a $20,000 grant awarded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Value Chain Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture to a local group known as the Cultivators. The Cultivators is a working group of the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development comprised of organizations from Iowa State University Extension, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Cass County Memorial Hospital, Harrisdale Homestead, and Global Horizons. People interested in more information about the Regional Food System study or to be involved at some level should contact Keith Booth at kbooth@iastate.edu.

Targeted Industry Analysis for free

The industrial assessment process (TIA) will bring insight and information so that scarce resources in rural areas can be maximized towards promoting economic growth and regional stability.

Members might recall Dave Swenson and Lisle Eathington of the Department of Economics at Iowa State University. Swenson presented to Coalition members a top-end, regional industry analysis report a little more than a year ago. Funding is being provided by EDA with matching support from the Department of Economics and CIRAS.

The method by which the data is analyzed provides a working tool for economic development initiatives on either a multi-county or county-specific area. The report, which will be issued, will isolate the region's industrial structure, strengths and opportunities for entrepreneurship. This research, in this type of detail, is not offered by any other public service agency in the state.

Counties within the Southern Iowa Council of Governments are scheduled to have their targeted industry analysis conducted in January. From there, Swenson and Eathington will move to the west and complete the remaining counties that comprise the Coalition membership.

Swenson and Eathington suggest a formal, facilitated process to assist a regional planning group in translating the research-based information into regional policies and regional actions to support economic development.

Rural Development Resource Center previously known as Southwest Iowa Entrepreneurial Center
is now a reality

The United States Department of Agriculture - Rural Development announced a $300,000 grant award to the Southwest Iowa Coalition from the Rural Community Development Initiative grant. For more than four years, a working group of regional, primary partners, with a vision to establish a rural development center to support the business start and expansion needs in their rural area, have been piecing together the funding necessary to capitalize the initiative. This latest award, coupled with additionally secured funding, puts the final piece in place to formally begin operation of the Southwest Iowa Entrepreneurial Center with a total of $646,000.

The technical assistance grant program was created by Congress in 2000 to assist in the development or increase the capacity of nonprofit organizations, low-income rural communities or federally recognized tribes to undertake projects in the areas of housing, community facilities, and community and economic development in rural areas. Nearly $6.7 million in technical assistance grants from this funding pool was awarded in March to assist 31 nonprofit community-based development organizations and low-income communities or federally recognized tribes for development initiatives in 20 states.

The Southwest Iowa Coalition, a 14-year old, grassroots, volunteer driven rural advocacy organization, was able to make the application for the grant for use by primary partners committed to founding the Southwest Iowa Entrepreneurial Center. These partners include the Grow Iowa Foundation, Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development and Iowa State University Extension to Communities and Economic Development.

"I am proud to be associated and working with the Coalition whose years of success and stability as a regional organization gives us the capacity to secure critical resources when they become available for our rural, local development needs. As it has in the past with other projects, the Coalition and primary partners will support this Center as it develops its organizational structure for sustainability and moves into independency creating one more legacy of success as the Coalition forges ahead with its mission of rural advocacy," states Southwest Iowa Coalition President, Jim Offenbacker of Taylor County's Bedford Area Economic Development.

The Center will serve as the mechanism which can bring all existing providers in the region of technical assistance, programming and education into relationship in order to conserve resources currently being expended to serve business starts and expansions of all sizes. It will be able to provide additional resources that will increase the availability of assistance and then fill the gaps that exist in the region for business development. In addition the Center will have at its disposal concrete product-to-market tools for small and micro-businesses that will allow for them to affordably expand their market in order to increase sales revenue. Because of the Southwest Iowa Coalition's membership of business owners, local governments, chambers of commerce and economic development organizations, the Center will be able to respond in a timely manner to requests for services and programming needed in local communities.

Basic to the success of the Southwest Iowa Entrepreneurial Center is a physical communication and working site that will eliminate the loss of potential business starts and expansions that are inherent in the current networking scenarios between providers. Supporting and collaborating with the primary partners is Southwestern Community College. Its support has led to the commitment of three offices within the Red Oak Technical Center rent free for a two-year start up phase for the Center. Staff and mobile specialists will be hired to serve through the Center and travel as needed and requested into communities at satellite locations throughout the region that will be established.

Counties eligible to be served by the Center are those within the membership and service areas of the primary partners that have a desire to participate. These counties can include: Adair, Adams, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Clark, Crawford, Decatur, Fremont, Greene, Guthrie, Harrison, Madison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor and Union. Development leadership not currently attached to the project is encouraged to contact the Coalition office at 712/623-5521 or swicomail@mchsi.com for specific community and county inclusion for service or visit www.swico.org. Additional details will also be announced at the April 25th regular Coalition membership meeting. These meetings are open to the public, and reservations can be made by contacting the office.