How can my community encourage entrepreneurship and youth retention?
Communities need to assess their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in a thorough, systematic fashion. For years the ‘Community Development Process’ has been an effective strategic planning tool for this. See: http://crd.neded.org/pubs/take5_intro.html . The historic pattern is that young people migrate out of small towns to urban centers in order to pursue their education and then more diverse choices for making a living. Entrepreneurs are most likely to flourish where the support of people willing to take a risk can be found. If smaller communities wish to compete for the long term commitments of their youth and prospective entrepreneurs, the best they can do is demonstrate a commitment to providing the tools young entrepreneurs need. In this day and age, these tools certainly include telecommunications that hook up with the wide world. Answers to the economic development FAQs were provided by: Nebraska Department of Economic Development: Steve Williams and Pat Langan Nebraska I
