HomeTown Competitiveness meetings set in Panhandle

HTC is an economic development initiative designed to help rural communities thrive and survive. It was formed about four years ago as a spin-off from the Nebraska Community Foundation, a statewide nonprofit organization based in Lincoln, along with the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship and the Heartland Center for Leadership Development.

Among the program’s basic goals are providing opportunities for young people in rural Nebraska to remain in their hometowns and to entice some of those who have left to return.

A $2 million grant received in September 2005 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is helping support the HTC’s activities.

Chadron State College has become an HTC partner and is helping organize the four informational meetings.

The meetings will be at 7 p.m. Monday, April 10 at the Harms Advanced Technology Center at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 11 in the Student Center at Chadron State College, at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 12 at the Alliance Learning Center and at 6 o’clock that evening at the WNCC center in Sidney.

The sessions will be directed by Jana Jensen, a ranch wife from Bingham and an assistant development director for the Nebraska Community Foundation, and Darryl Birkenfeld of Nazareth, Texas, who has organized HTC programs in the Texas Panhandle and northeastern Colorado-southwestern Nebraska.

Dr. Lois Veath, interim vice president of academic and student affairs at Chadron State, said an HTC Academy will be at Chadron State on Sept. 12-14 to tell the complete story about the program and put it into action in western Nebraska.

“We want to let as many people as possible know about the success stories that have developed through HomeTown Competitiveness and how it can be a useful economic development tool in the Panhandle,” said Veath. “People can choose which of the four meetings they wish to attend. These meetings will help those who attend make some assessments in their communities and organize a team to attend the academy in September.”

HTC has helped several communities in central Nebraska have a new lease on life. It has a four-pillared approach.

The first pillar is capturing the transfer of wealth so that a portion of the staggering $94 billion in cash and assets owned by the senior citizens in rural Nebraska will remain in the hometown communities through estate planning. Properly directed gifts can help create new economic opportunities and benefit the next generation, organizers point out.

The second is developing new leadership, or passing the torch to the younger generation. It includes a mentoring program by proven leaders to help the replacements be effective in their new roles.

The third pillar is energizing entrepreneurship, or striving to create new jobs and wealth.

The fourth and perhaps most important pillar is engaging and attracting young people to assume the leadership roles, take over the existing businesses and create new ones in order to keep the economy flowing in the small towns across Nebraska.

A sandwich buffet will be available at the evening programs and cookies at the afternoon program at Alliance. It would be helpful if those planning to attend would call Deb Keim at Chadron State at 308-432-6203 so the proper arrangements can be made.

In other economic development news, Veath reported that Chadron State is reopening the Nebraska Business Development Center that it was forced to close two years ago because of budget restraints. During the previous 25 years, the center that was directed by Cliff Hanson, a business professor, had helped scores of Panhandle residents make business decisions.