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SUMMER 2017
How rural communities are changing inside
and out to overcome their challenges
Reevaluating
and
Reinventing
Rural communities all over the country are facing steady
depopulation, economic decline and deteriorating main streets.
This typically stems from the loss of a community’s original
or main industries that provided the foundation for the local
economy in the past. Despite these challenges, there are ways
for rural families, businesses and leaders to work together to
turn things around.
Taking a Fresh Look
It starts with taking a fresh look at the
rural community. This often involves:
•
Reevaluating
current assets such as
historic buildings in the downtown
area, a beautiful rural landscape, low
cost of living, unique cultural/arts
resources and potential for entrepre-
neurial businesses.
•
Reinventing
the community’s appear-
ance and use of technology to make it
a more attractive place for residents to
live and travelers to visit.
While beautification of building exteriors,
through painting and other “spruce up”
projects, is often where rural communi-
ties begin their efforts toward positive
change, it’s important for them to also
invest in the improvements not readily
seen—communications technology. For
example, high-speed Internet helps to
level the playing field between rural com-
munities and big cities as well as makes
it easier for rural communities to attract
new businesses and recruit new talent.
Working Together,
Leveraging Technology
Robust partnerships between local govern-
ment, nonprofits, business organizations
and community groups are essential to
the success of reinvention. While most
economic development strategies involve
trying to recruit major employers, many
small towns and cities complement recruit-
ment by emphasizing their existing assets
and distinctive resources.
Rural communities can get help from Cool
& Connected, a planning assistance pro-
gram sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture Rural Utilities Service, EPA’s
Office of Sustainable Communities and
the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Cool & Connected helps small towns use
broadband service to revitalize main
streets. Communities can combine broad-
band service with other local assets such
as cultural and recreational amenities to
attract investment and people as well as
diversify local economies.
Is It Time to
Reevaluate Your
Internet Plan?
The Internet plan you selected a couple
of years ago may not be up to the
demands your business places on it
today. Have you added employees? Are
there more devices in use? Do you expe-
rience slowdowns when video streaming
or uploading large files?
It’s a good idea to periodically reevaluate
your bandwidth usage to see if an Inter-
net plan upgrade is needed, and Great
Plains Communications is here to help.
We offer a variety of Internet solutions for
businesses including high-speed Internet
and managed Ethernet. At Great Plains
Communications, we don’t expect your
business to fit in a box. That’s why we
customize services to meet the unique
technology and communication needs of
every business customer – from the larg-
est enterprise to a small storefront.
To learn more about our Internet
solutions for businesses, visit
www.gpccom.com/businessor call
402-456-6467.