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It's time to stand up for small town living
by Gene O. Morris

Is it possible? Could the people of rural south central and southwest Nebraska, be role models for the rest of America? We have an opportunity to be just that, because you and your neighbors share a rare and increasingly precious way of life. You know each other, for one thing, and when trouble strikes, you lend a helping hand. You don't have to contend with pollution, traffic congestion and crime. Your kids grow up to value honesty and hard work.

So how does all that help smaller Nebraska towns be a role model to the rest of the country? It's because we have a story to tell about a wonderful, fulfilling way to live — a way that a lot of people might like — and we need to spread the news.

Believers are investors

People who see the value of the small town way of life are making investments in the future of our smaller communities. Take for example Community Hospital in McCook and Tri-Valley Health System in Cambridge. In separate projects, announced this year, the two health care facilities are investing more than $50 million in state-of-the-art healthcare facilities. That provides an important foundation, since the need for healthcare is expected to grow substantially over the next two decades, and access to quality healthcare is essential for small towns to provide. In McCook and Cambridge alone, more than 500 jobs are directly attributable to the healthcare industry, and that total rises to several thousand when all the healthcare providers in the region are added together.

We're seeing the same kind of spirit that builds community hospitals going on throughout the area. We have grit and determination, we believe in our towns, and we're backing up our beliefs by investing in the future.

Population boom will aid small towns

One of the things that will help rural areas is the world population boom. Expected to grow from 6 billion to 9 billion people in the next 40 years, land will become increasingly scarce and the world will have to double food supply to satisfy increased demand.

The result? "I'm convinced that farmland is going to be one of the best investments of our time," said commodities analyst Jim Rogers in Fortune magazine. What this means, after years of population losses in rural counties, is that the tide is about to turn. Farms and small towns are poised to surge forward with a strengthened agricultural base.

Even so, small town prosperity is not a sure thing. If small farms and small towns fail to take action, they will wither, and in some cases, perish. But, after losing populations to cities since the 1930s, positive steps are being taken in many places in rural America.

Take the place I live, McCook, for example. At a little less than 8,000 residents, we’re hardly a big city, but in separate projects, the community and the surrounding area are investing more than $10 million in a new college events center, $8.3 million in a National Guard and Army Reserve Readiness Center, $4.2 million in the Keystone Business Center, and $1.2 million in the Fox Theatre renovation. Added to that, in the nearby Southwest school district, citizens are nearing completion of a new $8 million-plus junior-senior high school.

These are not isolated investments. Growth projects are taking place in many other places in southwest and south central Nebraska and throughout the rural Midwest. There's renewed determination ... a can-do spirit arising in America's Heartland.

Working together to save a way of life

We're not only working ... we're working together. A program called "HomeTown Competitive" has identified four keys to community revival. The concepts, called "pillars”, are leadership, youth retention, charitable giving and entrepreneurship. Those are broad terms, true, but communities are finding good things can be accomplished if they combine and focus their efforts in pursuit of their goals.

What it boils down to is this: it's up to us. If we want our small towns and rural areas to grow and prosper, we must get involved. It may take a vote, or volunteer service, or an investment in a new business idea. But, for those of us who love small towns and rural living, it's a price that we're more than willing to pay. Because, if we each do our part, we will be saving a precious way of life.

A former publisher of the McCook Gazette, Gene O. Morris is now a freelance writer based in McCook, Neb. He may be reached by phone at 308-340-5972 and by e-mail at geneomorris@yahoo.com.

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