Five Rural Priorities: Economic Development
Author’s note: on March 2, 2022, I published my Five Rural Priorities for State Government, as a set of nonpartisan issues for discussion in the 2022 Texas election process and beyond. This list is not intended to be comprehensive. Rather, these are simply five areas that I believe to be vitally important to the future of rural communities and their ability to prosper and thrive in the future. This is the second part of a weekly series elaborating on the five areas. If you’d like to discuss more (as an interested voter, a candidate, a party leader, a member of the media, or otherwise), please email me from this page.
II. Economic Development
A. The Problem
The problem here is simple and straightforward. We need good jobs within our rural communities. This is not a problem unique to rural communities. Local leaders around the country want the same thing, whether their community is rural, suburban, or urban. However, rural communities have been uniquely positioned to face some of the harshest consequences of America’s changing economy after World War II.
A few months ago, a younger local citizen was in my office looking at some old pictures in the lobby. These pictures show scenes of Stamford’s historic grandeur. The person asked me a thoughtful question out of pure curiosity: “What happened to Stamford’s population? Why did it decline?” My answer to that person’s question is the best explanation of the struggle for Stamford and for hundreds of rural communities like it throughout Texas:
Stamford developed with an economy based on agriculture, which was labor-intensive in the first half of the 20th century. Farms were smaller, so there were more farmers and more farm employees were required to do the work. Each of those farmers and employees shopped in Stamford and spent their money in the community. That created demand for grocery stores, retail shops, and more, each of which had their own employees, which in turn created a larger community with larger demands for every type of good or service. After World War II, agriculture became very mechanized and more efficient. This was a good thing in many ways, but it reduced the need for manual labor. Farms grew in size. Fewer employees were needed. Those jobs were not replaced, so people moved away. There were fewer people to trade with local businesses, so many businesses closed and the population declined.
Stamford’s population peaked in the 1950 census with 5,819 people. It is no coincidence that this peak happened shortly before the largest advances in mechanization that changed the face of American agriculture. Rural Texas emptied out from the 1950s until the early 2000s. Stamford’s population stands just below 3,000 in the 2020 Census. There is room for optimism and a belief that the 2030 census could show the first population increase since the 1950 peak, but it will not happen without the economic problem being addressed.
Texas’ statewide leaders have boasted over the last two decades of the “Texas Miracle,” a stunning level of economic growth that has made Texas one of the top 10 economies in the world. This is to be lauded, because all of Texas has benefited in some ways, but the Texas Miracle is very much a macro-level success. On the whole, Texas’ economy is larger and more prosperous today than ever before. On the micro-level, Texas’ economic success has been disproportionately weighted towards its suburbs, which comprise many of the fastest-growing ZIP codes in America. While Texas has been a dynamo of job creation for several decades, rural Texas has continued to bleed jobs. When the overall story is one of success, it becomes even harder to convince state and national leaders that there *IS* a problem in rural Texas.
B. Why It Matters
I am a shameless promoter of Stamford, Texas and of rural life in general, but I do not take the position that rural Texas “deserves” something special in terms of economic development. Rather, quite the opposite. I simply ask that state and national leaders look past the macro-level growth in Texas and consider the whole picture. We must acknowledge that Texas has focused its job growth on non-rural areas. As a result, rural Texas faced two choices: be swallowed up by suburban sprawl or be left behind entirely. Neither is a particularly appealing plight for rural communities rich with their own unique history and culture.
The goal of the “Texas Miracle” has been for Texas to capitalize on its own unique resources to build a world-class economy befitting of such a special place. We should want that same goal for each place within Texas. Which stands taller on the world stage? A booming suburban Texas with rural Texas struggling on its outskirts, or a Texas that is strong and prosperous throughout rural, suburban, and urban communities alike?
Rural communities cannot prosper without jobs. But most importantly, and this should not be overlooked, the focus should be on GOOD jobs. I roughly defined “good jobs” recently as those jobs that include good compensation, added benefits, job security, and opportunities to advance. Make no mistake, this is not a nostalgic plea for jobs from an era that no longer exists. Instead, this is a campaign to bring good jobs to rural communities as a replacement for the jobs that disappeared over the last 70 years and were never replaced.
When those jobs disappeared, so did the aspirations of young rural residents to build a life in their hometown or to return home after their education. The rural “brain drain” is a well-documented topic that has afflicted much of rural America. When their hometowns cannot offer good jobs, and when state leaders have encouraged the boom in good jobs elsewhere, young people leave their hometowns to pursue those jobs. As a result, those hometowns lose young talent, young energy to improve community institutions, and the young families that make communities grow. The community ages. Businesses shut down instead of being turned over to the next generation. Homes fall vacant. Population dwindles.
C. How to Solve It
Our first step in rural economic development should be to acknowledge that rural communities are worthy of good jobs just like the rest of Texas. State leaders should not view rural communities as the repository for economic development projects that may be viewed undesirable elsewhere. There are too many cases of rural economic development being treated as the equivalent of tossing a bone to a hungry dog. Desperate for jobs, rural communities were faced with the choice of taking what they could get, rather than nothing at all.
Forward-thinking rural economic development should benefit rural communities in the short term but also create opportunities for long-term prosperity. The lessons of the labor-intensive agriculture economy should be considered. That industry was a focal point for jobs in a community. These folks lived, worked, and shopped within the community, and as a result, other small businesses thrived, even if they were wholly unrelated to the focal points of industry.
Our rural economic development policy conversations should center around three key points:
1. Rural communities should find their focal points around which new economies can blossom and around which good jobs can be created and small businesses can thrive. Each rural community has a unique set of qualities that makes it particularly suited for certain opportunities. Rural economic developers should consider each community’s unique needs and opportunities and then plan and build projects around those attributes. State, federal, and nonprofit funders should consider opportunities to assist local leaders with meaningful planning. Funders should ensure that economic development programs are suited to assist communities with their unique local opportunities, rather than requiring communities to fit their plans into a funder’s rubric to obtain money.
2. We must create more remote work opportunities. As set forth in the first essay (“Rural Broadband”), rural communities have a golden opportunity to chart a new economic path for citizens both with and without college degrees. Remote work and technology jobs require affordable, accessible broadband internet access, but communities must also consider what else is needed to facilitate the work and home life of such prospective residents. Not every remote worker desires to work from home every day. Co-working and shared workspaces are the darling of urban real estate but are an even bigger necessity in rural community. Not everyone who needs an office can or will pay for a full building, but numerous workers can benefit from access to a shared space. If a rural community can offer good internet, affordable co-working spaces, and a rural quality of life, it may well punch its ticket to population growth that has not been seen in decades.
3. Rural communities are the keepers of many of our state’s natural resources. We must always remain good stewards of those resources. Green space is rapidly disappearing near metropolitan centers. Rural communities should capitalize on our ample green space as a marketing tool but also be careful to protect it. Rural communities with sufficient water supplies should vigilantly protect that finite and ever-more valuable resource. Lastly, renewable energy has become extremely important economically to Texas and to many rural communities. These projects have many positive qualities, but too many renewable energy facilities in one place can adversely impact the natural resources they are designed to protect. Rural leaders should work to attract renewable energy projects in a manner that makes our communities better and more resilient, not simply to obtain short-term benefits at the long-term expense of our natural resources.
The economic struggles of rural Texas did not arise overnight. This is a multi-decade trend that includes economic factors far beyond local control. But rural prosperity in the future requires Texas leaders—local, regional, and statewide—to confront these issues. Rural Texas can prosper again. They must not be the repository for jobs that are unwanted in metropolitan areas. Instead, rural communities can become important economic engines using their unique local attributes. If the Texas Miracle is to be truly miraculous, then I encourage leaders to make sure it includes the entirety of Texas.