Brookings Study

Several months ago, Emporia was selected as one of three communities to participate in a rural economy/community study through the Brookings Institute. The Brookings research team was directed to Emporia Main Street through the National Main Street Center, and we were excited to provide information while also learning from other communities that executed successful revitalization activities.
The study process included the acquisition of third party data by the Brookings Institute that covered areas of Emporia, direct data acquisition from Emporia Main Street, and stakeholder interviews from several businesses and community members. The combined data, when coupled with similar processes in the other communities studied, provided a “best practices” concept for rural communities attempting to evolve to meet new economic opportunities/realities.
The five “briefs” (and one landing page overview) can be found below.

• (Series landing page) Building resilient rural places: Strategies from local leaders to strengthen rural assets, diversity, and dynamism: https://brook.gs/36nWWXK
• Brief 1: Why Main Streets are a key driver of equitable economic recovery in rural America: https://brook.gs/33tayPV
• Brief 2: Rural small business need local solutions to survive: https://brook.gs/2JcweJb
• Brief 3: The necessary foundations for rural resilience: A flexible, accessible, and healthy built environment: https://brook.gs/3fQuDo1
• Brief 4: Rural Main Streets can’t achieve true economic revival without bridging social divides: https://brook.gs/3qcYcVN
• Brief 5: Creating a shared vision of rural resilience through community-led civic structures: https://brook.gs/3mob09s

Rural communities don’t have the resources available in larger metropolitan areas. The leadership and organizational diversity in larger areas can allow for multiple focal points that naturally diversify economies and populations. Limited human and financial resources in rural areas mean that we must be multifaceted in our rural approaches.
We can’t just do one thing over and over and think that will make a community improve long term. Too much reliance on any one business or business category can lead to financial disaster. A lack of population diversity can make a community less attractive to growing demographic segments. Unwillingness to invest in entrepreneurial development can blunt a region’s ability to build wealth, develop leaders, and form regional destinations. A lack of planning, sprawl inducing civic policies, and an unwillingness to invest in maintenance can create a community with an unsustainable tax base. Rapidly evolving civic structures that are focused on productivity are required to meet economic and social needs.
Our region has come a long way, but we still have a lot to work on. By finding ways to learn more about communities that share some similarities but exist well beyond normal driving distances, we can execute proven strategies while avoiding homogenization.
Read through the briefs. What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? Where are areas that we need to improve? How would you like to get involved in making those improvements?
We are appreciative of the Brookings Institute and the National Main Street Center for including Emporia Main Street in this study. We need to take this information and make sure we are capitalizing on the data to encourage the evolution of our economy and community for the future of our citizens.