regional flavor: homegrown economies

Presented at the Rural Arts & Culture Summitby Deborah McLarenLocal Flavor Travel

Regional and Local FlavorHomegrown Economic Development

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity is credited with championing the concept of Regional Flavor. Their valuable work is a great place to start in building a Regional Flavor Strategy .

Regional Flavor Strategies is an innovative, homegrown and evolving approach to rural community and economic development. It builds on the best of a region’s people, places, passions and potential.

For decades rural communities have chased the latest economic development rage, with resource extraction, manufacturing, big box stores, prisons and casinos all touted as Rural America’s next salvation. These options have delivered little and none have proven sustainable. 

The need for fresh, more homegrown strategies becomes apparent. One response has come from the growing microenterprise development movement which assists struggling businesses and supports would be entrepreneurs.

RF started with a few pilot projects around the US. While each region’s flavor, needs and proposed strategies were theirs alone, all worked on assuring that business owners received the technical assistance they needed to succeed.

Regional Flavor is an adaptive model

*Engages a broad spectrum of communities, business owners, not-for-profits, and other institutions in collectively reclaiming and reshaping a region’s economic destiny.

*Preserves landscape, heritage and other assets.

RFS invites people often excluded from the economic development process to actively engage in seeking innovative ways to combine regional assets to generate a unique regional flavor.

Regional Flavor is built on the following principles:

1. Help each locally owned business or organization to be world class, unique and continually innovative.

2. Know all the assets specific to your area and develop ways to add value to them.

3. Help weave together the assets of an area such as the artists, specialty food produces, local heritage, recreation opportunities, etc, and create practical activities across political jurisdictions.

4. Encourage visitors and residents to develop long-term emotional bonds with the region.

5. Be strategic about connecting urban and rural areas in the region.

1. Help each locally owned business or organization to be world class, unique and continually innovative.

Too many small towns start by focusing on recreation and attractions assets. They look around at all the magnificent things that visitors can do in their area and excitedly create brochures, DVD’s, web sites and kiosks. People flock to the area, but most of the benefit goes to the nearby communities with more visitor services.

A community redevelopment project designed to help the existing grocery store, B&B, old time drive-in and restaurant showcase their unique regional flavor would start the transformation of the whole town.

2. Know all the assets specific to your area and develop ways to add value to them.

“By collectively identifying our communities’ strengths and assets, we can move forward with a positive vision of who we are as a region and who we can become.”http://www.opengreenmap.org/greenmap/northeast-ohio-green-map

Help weave together the assets of an area such as the artists, specialty food produces, local heritage, recreation opportunities, etc, and create practical activities across political jurisdictions.

4. Encourage visitors and residents to develop long-term emotional bonds with the region.

5. Be strategic about connecting urban and rural areas in the region.

Brainstorm ideas and projects that can bring people togetherGrowing food helps connect urban and rural neighbors

Arkansas Rural Heritage Development Initiative

The Concord Grape Heritage Region

Appalachian Ohio

AEO’s Regional Flavor pilot projectsThree Case Studies

The Rural Heritage Development Initiative was inspired by a project of Main Street Arkansas to determine why Main Street communities in the Arkansas Delta weren’t having as much success as the rest of Arkansas.

The RHDI was sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Partners in the RHDI are Main Street Arkansas, Arkansas Delta Byways and the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, as well as the Main Street programs of Blytheville, Dumas, Helena, Osceola and West Memphis.

Arkansas Delta Cultural History

Main Street Initiative Rogers, AR

Main Street Initiative, Blythville, AR

West Helena pre-initiative

West Helena post-initiative

Product Development and Packaging

Arkansas Delta Heritage Trails

African American Heritage Trail

Birding the Byways (Audubon Arkansas)

Civil War Heritage Trail

Mississippi River Trail (Biking Trail)

Music Heritage Trail

Sunken Lands Tour

National Trust for Historic Preservation Regions

Main Street

Natio

nal T

rust fo

r Histo

ric

Pre

serva

tion

A Proven Strategy: The Main Street Four-Point Approach®

* Organization

* Promotion

* Design

* Economic Restructuring

America’s Scenic Byways

The program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation recognizes certain roads as All-American Roads or National Scenic Byways based on one or more archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational and scenic qualities.

The vision of the Federal Highway Administration's National Scenic Byways Program is "To create a distinctive collection of American roads, their stories and treasured places.”

Lake Erie Concord Grape BeltConcord Grape Belt Heritage Area

The Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt Area was designated as New York State’s 19th Heritage Area in 2006 by state legislation. This was the first Heritage Area to have a primary focus on its agricultural heritage.

Estimated Economic Impact of the Concord Grape Belt Industry

* Annual Economic Impact of $340 Million * 30,000 Vineyard Acres * 6 Major Juice/Wine Processors * Wine Trail with Twenty-Two Quality Wineries * Directly Employ over 2,000 people * Indirectly Employ over 5,000 people * Growing Agritourism Hub

Concord Grape Belt Heritage Area Management Plan Approved

Appalachian Ohio

ACEnet demonstrates four areas of topical expertise working in rural communities:

1) rebuilding a local food sector,

2) education and training focusing on entrepreneurs,

3) civic engagement emphasizing sustainable development and

4) increasing access to capital for families and communities to build economic assets.

Business Incubation

Loan Funds

ACEnet's sister organization ACEnet Ventures provides loans ranging from microloans of $1500 to equipment and real estate loans up to $350k.

Food ManufacturingProduct Development Services

Product Marketing

Training & Business Coaching

Community Development

ACEnet offers a look into the ACEnet model for:

Shared Use Kitchen Incubators Entrepreneurship Small Business Development Market Readiness Regional Branding / Buy Local Campaigns Community Foods: Markets and Gleaning Projects Value-Added Agriculture / Agritourism

The Dairy Barn Arts Center

One of Southeast Ohio's premiere art galleries, drawing nearly 15,000 visitors to the region every year

Promote historic barns within their agricultural and architectural context, and their maintenance requirements, as lasting icons of our cultural heritage.

Barns of Ohio Friends of Ohio BarnsSupporting Barn Conservation Efforts Since 2002

Why the 30 mile meal matters.

Many of us are only two generations removed from a primarily locavore way of life. We often grew and canned our own food or we knew the people who produced it. Within a 30 mile radius of Athens, we have an incredible breadth and depth of people and businesses focused on local foods. Farmers, food events, specialty food producers, a range of farmer and retail markets, as well as independently-owned eateries and bars featuring local ingredients The 30 Mile Meal Project is a collaboration of the ACCVB, the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) and over 130 local food partners.

Main Street

The Ohio Main Street Program, administered by Heritage Ohio, works with communities across the state to revitalize their historic or traditional commercial areas. ACEnet has partnered with numerous other individuals and organizations to work together in the historical and cultural preservation of downtown Nelsonville, OH. With the assistance of this coalition, Nelsonville was selected as a Main Street Community.

Other Examples of Regional Flavor

Circle Farm Tours near Vancouver, BC Canada grew with the work of a few dedicated people

Guiding Principles

* The handmade object and the artists who create it. * Craft is an integral part of economic development.* The creation and appreciation of the handmade object is transformative to individuals and communities. * Cultural heritage. Honoring arts, artists and cultural traditions in a region preserves and enriches community life. * Sustainable development. The people in communities serve as the best resource to understand their challenges and opportunities and to seek and find solutions. * Inclusion. It is vital, and all are welcome to participate. * The regional approach. All communities come to the table with distinct assets and the �opportunity to contribute and learn together across perceived boundaries. * Partnerships. People, the communities and the region are best served by individuals and organizations working cooperatively. Innovation. Creativity is essential in finding and implementing workable solutions.

Weiser, Idaho* Thriving little community in the middle of Idaho farm country is known worldwide as the home of the annual National Old Time Fiddle Contest. Their downtown is a bustling center for locally owned businesses. Weiser and 5 surrounding communities are model of collaboration.

Final Thoughts

Focus on your local businesses

1. Shop locally.

Look at ways your town might use CDBG or EDBG funds to help businesses innovate, redecorate, or expand their effective online marketing.

As a business owner, link you web site to every other small business in your town to increase your visibility online, increase your online traffic and get your town front and center on the information superhighway.

Innovate, innovate, innovate. As a business owner, always be thinking of ways to uniquely express your business vision and objectives. Do it on the Internet, with paint, with services.

Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. Shopping Locally is just the beginning. A single business can be the catalyst for a whole Regional Flavor Strategy, but it’s very hard to be a Regional Flavor Destination all alone.

NOT The End

Click icon to add picture

In an age where

community

involvement and

partnerships with

civil society are

increasingly being

recognized as

indispensable,

there is clearly a

growing potential

for cooperative

development and

renewal

worldwide.

-- Kofi Annan

Arkansas Delta Heritage Initiative http://arkansasdelta.org/Concord Grape Belt Heritage Association http://www.concordgrapebelt.org/ACENet Regional Flavor http://www.acenetworks.org/oldsite/sectors/regflav/National Trust for Historic Preservation http://preservationnation.org/Main Street http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/America’s Byways http://www.byways.org/

Deborah McLaren, ConsultantLocal Flavor TravelAssisting the development and promotion of LOCAL food, art, culture, heritage and travel1873 Iglehart AvenueSaint Paul, MN 55104 USA651-983-9880 Deborah@mm.comFacebook: LocalFlavorTravelComing soon: www.localflavortravel.com