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Poll on Rural Economic Development Strategies

Posted on | August 22, 2011 | No Comments

What economic development strategies are important to rural citizens?  To discover that answer, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln asked 2,490 rural citizens the question, “What type of impact on your community do you think would result from your community pursuing the following economic development strategies?” Although the results varied by location, age, education and income, the overall results were very positive toward entrepreneurship as a development strategy:

• Providing loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs in their community (79%)
• Developing a youth entrepreneurship program in their local school/s (76%)
• Providing training or technical assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurs in your community (74%)

Poll respondents were also positive toward specific infrastructure development that captured the unique characteristics or resources of the community.  For example, persons living in or near communities larger than 10,000 believed developing industrial parks in their community would have a positive impact (66%) compared to persons living in or near communities with fewer than 500 persons (33%).  In addition, persons living in the Nebraska Panhandle region were more positive about the perceived impact of promoting development of wind energy (82%) than persons living in Southeast Nebraska (68%).

To read this report and others, visit the Nebraska Rural Poll at the Center for Applied Rural Innovation.

Submitted by Rebecca Vogt, Survey Research Manager, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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