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During a Rural Family Economic Success (RuFES) presentation in Ridgway Thursday, Barry Denk, director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, explained communities can't rely on government or grants to make the changes communities need to prosper and the answer isn't necessarily to bring in big businesses.
Unlike a lot of agencies out there, RuFES, formed by the state government, is not a social service organization and its focus isn't those who are on welfare. Its focus is how to help the working poor get the help needed to raise their income levels to meet their basic needs.
Forty-nine percent of employers in Elk and Cameron counties employ less than five people, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, Denk said.
It's important to have large companies as well that can provide higher wages and benefits, but the small businesses play a large role in these counties, he said.
These businesses could provide a future opportunity for young people. For example, if a person owns a successful pizza shop and will soon be retiring, he will need someone to take it over and this creates entrepreneurship opportunities.
The community may be able to come up with a way to provide incentives to those small businesses. The community can ask those small business owners what would have to be done to increase the business and to hire another employee. This should be a community issue, not just an issue for economic development people, he said.
Statistics have shown that people born in rural areas are more likely stay in a rural area than those who were born in an urban area who move to a rural area. So the idea is to get young people educated and have opportunities available so they can return to their hometown.
Making their hometowns a success can be done by looking to others in the community to help.
Pennsylvania is actually a very rural state. Philadelphia and Delaware counties are the only two counties in Pennsylvania that don't have rural areas in them.
Although there are a lot of people living in rural areas, no one has been that successful in giving rural areas a voice in Harrisburg or Washington D.C., Denk said.
If rural areas want to get money to help with its issues from state and federal government, it has to work with urban areas to find common ground. The statistics between urban and rural areas are very similar when it comes to issues such as the percentage of working people without health insurance, the percentage of people working full-time and the percentage of people without a high school diploma, Denk said.
The western part of the state has watched as its population has declined, while the eastern part of the state has grown dramatically.
The death rate in Elk and Cameron counties is now higher than the birth rate. If the communities want to thrive, they need to keep those that are in the counties from leaving.
Rural communities are not very open to accepting "outsiders," people who don't fit in to their "norm," Denk said, but they need to realize that people from different areas can bring in new helpful ideas.
It's important to focus on children and realize they are important to economic survival and part of the community, he said.
Parents continue to be the biggest influence when it comes to whether a child will pursue higher education. It's important for children to get additional education and not just those who are excelling in school, but those who have been challenged, as well. One thing a community can do is provide incentive grants for those students who may not be eligible for an academic scholarship, but may want to learn to be a plumber for example, he said. It doesn't have to be the government providing it, maybe there is a plumber from the area that wants to ensure there will be plumber to follow that can provide an incentive.
Once people are making money, they have the ability to help make their community stronger by donating to the United Way or buying Girl Scout cookies, Denk said.
It's also important to provide kids with a sense of ownership in the community, which will make them more likely to stay.
One community helped another by making affordable, reliable cars available so they could get to work. Rural communities can't depend on a public transportation system funded by the government to be put in place, so it needs to think creatively, he said.
The working poor are eligible for an earned income tax credit, but if they pay to have their taxes done, they are losing part of that money. One community trained college students in preparing taxes and they did it for college credit, he said.
Making the community successful is a community project and needs to have the support of community members.
The four pillars needed to build a community are entrepreneurship, charitable assets, youth and leadership.
RuFES was founded as the result of Annie E. Casey, who was a widow with four children in the 1930s. She felt it was important to keep her children with her rather then send them to an orphanage or send them to live with family members. Her oldest son quit school to deliver packages on a bicycle, which became a successful business. When his younger brother said he was going to drop out of school to help, his brother told him he was not. He was told to finish school first because then he could contribute more to the business. The business later became UPS.
A meeting will be held in the future to get ideas from community members and begin the process of making Elk and Cameron counties better places to live and work.
For more information on how to get involved or to share ideas contact Gwen Auman at 788-8585.
Work will now begin to get community members involved to help make this difference in the community.
