March 28, 2024 • 30 mins
Discover the pulse of rural prosperity and community welfare with as we join forces with Nathan Ole of the International Economic Development Council and Martha Claire Bullen from Communities Unlimited. Our conversation traverses the intricate landscapes of rural economic ecosystems, highlighting the essential links between economic growth, professional development, and the vitality of communities. Nathan provides a wealth of knowledge on the IEDC's initiatives, while Martha Claire champions the voices at the heart of local endeavors, emphasizing the importance of acting on their concerns and aspirations.
We delve into the promising potential of the Economic Recovery Corps program and witness firsthand the inspiring potential of emerging leaders in economic development. The program's focus on under-resourced areas underscores our commitment to fostering growth where it's most needed. Engage with the narratives of those who've taken the bold step to apply for the program, and learn about the transformative effects their work is having on local economies, resonating with hope and tangible progress.
Cap off your experience with a look into the collaborative spirit that defines successful community development. Our discussion spans regional partnerships and the art of networking, illustrating how economic developers and community stakeholders alike are instrumental in weaving together a tapestry of sustainable growth. We celebrate the collective action and dedication driving change in the field of economic development. Join us in this episode to witness the evolution of community growth and the impact of organizations like the International Economic Development Council and Communities Unlimited have on the larger economic landscape.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to episode 22 of Small Talk, the Community's
Unlimited podcast.
My name is Chris Baker.
Our guests today are Nathan Olyand Martha Claire Boland.
Nathan is the president and CEOof the International Economic
Development Council and MarthaClaire is the director of
community sustainability here atCommunity's Unlimited.
There is a lot of excitingstuff going on in the world of
(00:21):
economic development, especiallywhen it comes to rural areas,
so I'm super excited to havethem both on today.
A couple of websites you cancheck out while you listen
EconomicRecoveryCorporg that's anew program that the IEDC has
that we'll be talking about andIEDCOnlineorg is their website,
and our website, as always, iscommunitiesuorg.
Let's get right into it.
(00:42):
Episode 22 of Small Talk fromCommunity's Unlimited.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I use the analogy a lot, then not only do you need
to invite people to your tablefor conversations, but you have
to show up to other people'stables too, and especially those
that you have never shown up tobefore, and the recognition in
this program is that things likehousing and childcare and
infrastructure whether it'swater infrastructure, broadband,
et cetera are really vital andimportant, and so, as economic
developers, we need to bothinvite those folks to our table
(01:10):
but also show up to theirconversations as well.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Nathan is the CEO and the president of the IEDC.
It stands for the InternationalEconomic Development Council.
Nathan, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It's going great, Chris.
Thanks for having me today.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Did I get all of that right there?
Because that's a lot man.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You hit a spot on.
That was perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay.
So why don't you tell us inyour words what you guys do at
the IEDC?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah well, first of all, Chris, thanks for hosting
this, thanks for all the workthat Communism Limited is doing.
I've got a long history withCommunism Limited and a special
place in my heart for the workthat you're doing, so thank you
for continuing to lift that upand spotlight that work.
In particular, I run anorganization called the
International EconomicDevelopment Council, as Chris
said, the IEDC where the world'slargest association for
economic developers.
So what does that mean?
(01:51):
It means that we are in serviceof economic developers, not
just here in the United Statesbut across the world.
We are providing a lot ofprofessional development.
So we have courses andcertification programs for
economic developers to continuetheir own professional journeys,
to learn from one another andto learn what economic
development is and keycomponents of the economic
development work itself.
We also accredited organizations, economic development
(02:14):
organizations, so that they cango through and understand what
their role is as an economicdevelopment organization, also
understanding the financialimplications, the operation
species that you have to have inplace to be able to support the
work in the long term.
We bring people togetherthrough conferences, through
webinars, through affinitygroups and music practice type
of community or type oforganization that you might be
in, because economic developmenthas a wide spectrum of
(02:35):
organizations that serve theeconomic development profession
itself.
And then we build partnerships.
We build partnerships withorganizations like Communities
Unlimited and the RCAP network.
We build direct work incommunities at times, and also
with other large-scale nationaland international organizations
and associations.
Our goal really is to make surethat we've got tools and
resources for practitioners onthe ground to be able to do
(02:58):
their work in the best waypossible.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Speaking of folks on the ground.
Let's talk to Martha ClaireBull.
And Martha Claire, Thanks forjoining us.
Martha Claire is the directorof community sustainability here
at Communities Unlimited.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what CS, that's what we
call community sustainability?
Cs is Martha Claire.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, chris, thanks for letting me join the podcast,
and it's exciting to be herewith Nathan because part of our
work is growing into that spacewhere we're gonna be connecting
with Nathan in the next fewyears.
And really at the heart of whatthe CS team does, it's about
spending time in community andbeing really radically driven by
(03:35):
the community voice, and ourstaff spends a lot of time
building relationship and we goin and say what does your
community want to see happenhere?
And then we really get to workon connecting them to the right
resources that fit those desires.
And it's powerful to say thatwe have an amazing staff that
(03:57):
really goes in and they don'tjust connect with the usual
suspects in community not justthe mayors and the city council,
who are, of course, a hugepiece of the work, but they
really dig deep into communityand look for those champions.
And who are the folks who, ifthey're riding down the road and
see trash on the side of theroad, they stop and get it
because they care about theircommunity and how it's projected
(04:20):
.
They're the ones who attendcommunity cleanups at the park
and make sure that it's safe fortheir kids, and so we wanna
really pull those people to thetable too, because a lot of
times they haven't felt likethey had a voice that was ready
to be heard in community, and wewant to get them to come to the
table and create space for themto share what their dreams are
(04:40):
for their communities, so it canreally be about the people
there.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Okay, so when we talk economic development, can you
guys kind of give me what thatmeans in your words and like
some plain English, because I'ma simple guy.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Well, I think Martha Clare actually just started to
walk into that conversation.
To me it's centered aroundpeople in place.
It is fundamentally aboutconnecting and building
connections, for communityEconomic developers can be folks
from utilities or universitiesor nonprofits or government
entities there's a whole widespectrum of people that play a
role in the economic developmentfield but fundamentally it's
(05:14):
about building connection andabout building collaborative
opportunities.
And so when he's centered onthe people and on the place in
particular that they're workingin the region that they're in,
that's the heart of whateconomic development is and it's
really about driving prosperityfor those places.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah, I mean I think exactly what Nathan said 100%,
and particularly in the ruralspaces.
You know it's identifyingsometimes.
What do those ecosystems looklike in comparison to a large
community, an urban space, wherethere might be a lot more of a
tax base, there might be a lotmore opportunity for large
(05:52):
groups to come in and maybestart a new business?
We're looking a lot of times ata much more small business
entrepreneurship drivenecosystem in the small rural
spaces.
So, while we always are alsolooking down the road, who are
the bigger places where we canconnect?
Because we know in our ruralcommunities there are folks who
(06:13):
are driving out of those spacesinto larger cities to work and
vice versa.
So we want to figure out how dowe pull all those threads
together so that we can createthat ecosystem that kind of runs
the gamut from small businessentrepreneurship up to those
larger entities that come intomaybe the bigger town next door.
How?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
do you find those local assets that you want to
leverage?
I guess maybe, nathan.
From a larger perspective, howdo you guys, how do you identify
those?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, I would actually pull on the string that
Martha Claire talked aboutright there, and it is centered
on small business growth andbusiness retention and expansion
.
Right, because you have tofocus on the assets in your
community.
Any strategy that's going to belong term and sustainable from
an economic developmentperspective is focused on the
assets in that community andfinding ways to help those
existing businesses or thosesmall business owners or
(07:06):
entrepreneurs to grow and thrivein those places.
Certainly, there's other piecesto economic development that
complement that work, but whenyou center that work and focus
that work on small businessgrowth and entrepreneurship,
you're going to actually growbusinesses that are more
sustainable, resilient andobviously continue to embed
wealth into your community, intoyour region, in a long term
fashion.
So it is truly about spendingthat time in your community
(07:29):
Speaking with those smallbusiness owners, understanding
the ecosystem that surroundsthem that's going to help them
either access capital or accessgreat talent, whether that's
small businesses working withcommunity colleges or technical
or vocational schools oruniversities in close proximity,
whether it is talking throughother workforce development
centers, understanding theinfrastructure that exists in
that place.
All of these pieces areinterwoven and interconnected
(07:50):
and I think, as we start tothink about the future of
economic development.
We're going to see much more ofa connectedness between all
those things housing, workforcedevelopment, economic
development, communitydevelopment, infrastructure
because, especially in smallplaces, but in any place, quite
frankly, without those thingsbeing interconnected, without
building those conversations andengaging in those communities,
(08:11):
you're not going to have a longterm sustainable approach to
driving economic prosperity.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Same question Martha.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Claire.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean, he is spot on.
And I think you know we useparticularly two kind of
strategies or tools when we dothis work in community.
We use the wealth works model,which our CEO is is part of that
kind of first tranche of peoplewho put it out there and and
really elevated this as anapproach.
Where you go into community andyou do say let's don't look at
(08:40):
the problems, let's start withthe assets.
And look at those assets likewho are the political players in
the community, and that doesn'tnecessarily, again, I mean your
governmental officials, but whoholds that political power
within the church structuremaybe, or just on the block?
And so we really try to diginto with the community and hear
(09:01):
them say what is the thing inyour community that's nature
related, that might draw in sometourism?
And so we really do stepthrough all of these different
buckets.
And I think a lot of times whenwe start to ask the question,
it's like everybody in the roomgets excited because they're
like oh, I've been living herefor so long I forgot those are
(09:21):
assets, until some new eyes,fresh eyes, got in here and
we're like what about thisreally cool old building?
Could something happen there?
What would it look like forthat space to be renovated?
And we couple wealth works withstrategic doing, which is
another kind of model thatreally takes it and then chunks
it up into like what's the thingwe could do in the next 30 days
(09:43):
and put action behind it.
So we're not always planningbut actually getting to the
doing part of the work incommunities.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, you guys know one of the things that like,
when people talk to me aboutwhere I work at and I try to
explain what we do, I eventuallywind up kind of back at the
same place and it's really Idon't know how to say it
necessarily, but especially whenit comes to like economic
development, part of what we do,the CS work that we do it's
truly quality over quantity, ifthat makes sense, like quality
(10:13):
of jobs for people that aresustainable.
It's not always a straightnumbers game, if that makes
sense what I'm trying to say.
Both of them are shaking theirhead because I think they
understand what I'm trying tosay, because they do it.
Do you guys feel the same way?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, I mean 100%, I mean we.
It's the conversation I thinkthat we're constantly having,
particularly when you're you'retalking to funders whether it's
philanthropy or federal agencyfunders a lot of times, what
they're looking for are numbers.
And it's hard sometimes toquantify the changes that happen
(10:45):
in a community when you justget one street repaved and
suddenly there's this ownershipand this opportunity and hope,
and then it's like things startto happen because it breeds more
excitement and hope for futureopportunity.
And it's hard sometimes to putthat in numbers and to figure
(11:06):
out how do you elevate the truesuccess of these kinds of
programs that happen incommunity.
But really, when you get inthere and you get the
opportunity to have a funder sitdown at the table with a group
of people they've been workingover the last 12 months on a
project and we've been able tofind the right funding and write
(11:27):
a grant with them and then themget awarded that grant and now
be at the point of implementingthose funds it's like everybody
in the room can agree that, okay, this was one grant and so it
seems like that number one iskind of small but it's going to
change 2,000 people in thatcommunity's lives forever and,
chris, from my perspective youknow we're trying to drive more
(11:49):
equitable economic outcomes, andthat means place, it means race
, it means economic status.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
We're trying to ensure that communities of all
sizes, shapes, colors,everywhere across the world,
quite frankly, have anopportunity to grow in the way
that they want to and create agood quality of life for the
people that live and reside andplay in those places.
Because what we know is there'sbeen way too many communities,
both rural and tribal nature,communities of color and people
of various economic backgrounds,that have been left behind in
(12:16):
economic development strategiesin the past, and so we're really
driving towards how do wecreate strategies and implement
on those strategies that aregoing to assist everyone in
bringing up the economicopportunity in those places, and
how do we make sure they'repart of the conversation as
we're designing these programs,so that we're not designing
something that we think willmeet the needs of those places,
but actually verify andunderstand that they will
(12:37):
actually meet the needs of thosepeople in those places.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
We're speaking with Nathan only.
Nathan is the CEO and Presidentof the IEDC International
Economic Development Council,sorry, and Martha Claire
Bolenchia is our Director ofCommunity Sustainability here at
Communities Unlimited.
My name is Chris Baker.
Nathan, you've been at the IEDCfor just over a year, am I
correct, or no?
Two years in.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Two years.
I hit my two year anniversaryjust a few weeks back.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, and in two years we've got a new program
that I wanted to talk to youabout the ERC.
Explain what the ERC is,because that's really where kind
of we connect directly, right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
It is so.
The Economic Recovery Corpsactually has been years in the
making.
In fact, when I was leadingRCAP which obviously is very
closely associated withCommunities Unlimited, you know,
we started really focusing onhow do we build capacity in
places that I've been underresourced in a long time and as
I came on board at IEDC, thisbecame one of the really key,
crucial factors that I wanted usto focus on as an organization
(13:34):
and as an economic developmentfield.
And we were lucky enough tohave an opportunity to work with
the US Economic DevelopmentAdministration to put this
program in place through acooperative agreement.
And we built this program withtwo main goals One, to build
capacity in under resourcedplaces urban, rural and tribal
in nature across the UnitedStates.
And two, to start to create thenext generation of leaders in
economic development, a pipelineof leaders that we can help
(13:54):
both mold ourselves but alsolearn from, because we know that
in under resourced places inparticular, there's really
distinct and unique challengesfrom an economic development.
So we launched this program inpartnership with six other
national partners the NationalLeague of Cities, the National
Association of DevelopmentOrganizations, the National
Association of Counties, theInternational City and County
(14:14):
Managers Association, theRegional Accelerator and
Innovation Network and theCenter on Rural Innovation.
And we did that verystrategically because, again,
economic development happens indifferent organizations.
So county government plays arole, city government plays a
role, entrepreneur supportorganizations in rural places
play a role.
And so we created thisopportunity where we could have
multiple associations andorganizations helping to build
(14:34):
training specific to those typesof organizations that fellows
might be placed in.
And we did this with a longterm approach, so it's not a one
year fellowship, it's a two anda half year fellowship where
individuals are embeddeddirectly in the communities for
that two and a half years tobuild capacity in those places
to accelerate economicdevelopment opportunities and
for themselves to build on theirown long term economic
(14:55):
development journey.
And we went into this thinkingand knowing that there would be
some desire for this, therewould be a need for, but we had
no idea exactly how much needthere would be.
And so we had 65 spots, whichmeant that we had 65
organizations that could host afellow and 65 individuals that
could participate as fellows.
As we opened the applicationwindow up, we had more than 500
(15:17):
organizations apply to host afellow and for 65 slots we had
more than 1400 individuals applyto service, and so it's just
this incredible energy andexcitement around this program,
specifically around the need forthis type of program, and
Communism Limited was one ofthose that came in.
We put about 100 organizationsthrough a pretty rigorous
accelerator program to reallydrive through what this
(15:39):
opportunity might mean for theircommunity, for their
organization, and the work thatCommunism Limited, alongside
their fellow, are going to doover the next two and a half
years is incredibly exciting andthe work that's going to happen
across all 65 fellows and thosehost organizations is very,
very exciting.
It's, to me, one of the singlebiggest projects that we could
have taken on.
In my humble opinion,potentially the most impactful
(16:03):
program we could have designedand implemented.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, it's like it's really boots on the ground type
work right it is.
And the variety of the work thefellows are going to be doing.
It's shocking how much varietythere is in those 65 people that
you were talking about.
Our fellow that is working withus, martha Claire, tell us what
she'll be doing and what herfunction is.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, our fellow is going to be based in out of
Alabama, mobile, alabama, sherryCampbell, and what Sherry is
going to be doing.
It's really exciting becausefor the last year, we launched a
pilot program in East Texasthrough a partnership with the
TLL Temple Foundation, and itwas really a unique approach
(16:44):
because we had the full supportfor, like Nathan alluded to, a
longer term project, and so theTemple Foundation funded this
work for five years, which isreally unprecedented when you
look at philanthropic funding.
And what we're doing is we havebeen embedding local staff, who
already have some of that trustbuilt up in community, to go in
(17:06):
and, rather than waiting out inthe rural spaces for things to
come to them like the resourcesthat come in from the federal
government A lot of times getbottlenecked at the state or
even at the local level We'vegone out into the communities
and we've identified what theyneed and then we're going back
and we're pulling thoseresources down and bringing them
(17:26):
back and saying this is the onethat is the most effective for
you.
Now let us help you walkthrough the application process
and really get to the point ofimplementation.
And it's been a beautifulopportunity over the last years
and we've seen some hugeprogress.
We've made many grantapplications and if all of those
get funded, we'll be able toleverage almost $3 million in
(17:49):
East Texas from that work.
Now we need to see aboutscaling.
What would it look like if wetook this and we tried to
replicate it in another state?
I moved to East Texas for thefirst year to get this off the
ground and that's notsustainable.
I can't move to every statewhen we try to replicate.
So this opportunity with theERC Fellowship is that we have
(18:12):
someone now who is from Alabamaand she's got already some
street credibility there.
People know her and know herwork and she's going to do what
I did and be there to reallylift this up off the ground and
see can we replicate this workin Alabama?
Can we find the rightphilanthropic partners there?
Can we find the right communityresource managers, which are
(18:35):
the staffing component of this,and what will it look like if we
do this in Alabama for the nexttwo and a half years?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And Nathan, why was creating a program like the ERC
and getting this thing running?
Why was it important to youguys at the IEDC?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So you heard me talk about driving more equitable
economic outcomes earlier.
The heart of what we want to dois to continue to push the
field of economic developmentforward, and part of that is
recognizing what has beenhappening in the past that might
have left communities behind,and this program in particular
is a recognition that there aremany communities that have been
left behind as a result ofeconomic development efforts and
(19:12):
a whole host of other issuesthat have confronted them, and
so for us, it is fundamentallyabout moving the field forward.
It's about creatingopportunities for the next
generation of leaders, and the65 fellows are truly that.
They represent a whole widespectrum of folks that have done
economic development work, somein some cases for three years
and some cases for three decadesand so it's this great
compilation of folks that aremission oriented.
(19:34):
It's really important to themto be giving back in some way,
shape or form.
But for us, it was also a longterm play.
We didn't want to do a one yearprogram where you come in and
you help and then all of asudden you leave and then the
community has to figure out whatto do after that.
We wanted to build a long term,two and a half year fellowship.
That would allow for that longterm capacity building and
hopefully many of these fellowswill have the opportunity to
(19:55):
accept the job either with thathost organization or in that
community even beyond the twoand a half years.
Our goal in all that we do isto provide tools and resources
for the field itself, to movethe profession forward and to
ensure that communities of allsizes and shapes are better off
than they were when we startedour work.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
How do people in Alabama with our fellow, how do
they connect with that person,Martha Clare?
I mean, she's going to knock ontheir door.
Do they come to us?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yeah, I think that's a great question and I think the
answer is both.
We certainly hope that folks inAlabama who hear about this
will reach out and connect withus through our website and they
can, you know, click on my nameand connect directly with me.
And right now Sherry isstarting to get out there, and
so the week of March 18th I'llbe there in Alabama with her all
(20:42):
week, and we've got some sitevisits lined up so that we can
start making those connections.
It does not matter to us whoyou are, if you love your
communities in Alabama, whetheryou have an official capacity or
you're just, you know, a momwho really cares about the fact
that you know you're having alot of bullwater notices in your
(21:04):
community and you want to knowwho's doing something about that
.
We're really encouraging in ourliterature that we're starting
to get together to go out aboutthis works.
We want to, we want to hear allthose voices and so we'll have
some listening sessions acrossthe state that will be inviting
people in, both those that dothis for their work in that
professional capacity, but alsoto really deeply engage
(21:27):
community members and give thema chance to have their voices
heard.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Chris.
So here's another example ofwhat Martha Claire just
described, from what I what Italked about earlier in the
connector piece because that'struly what economic development
is, and I use the analogy a lotthat not only do you need to
invite people to your table forconversations, but you have to
show up to other people's tablestoo, and especially those that
you have never shown up tobefore.
And the recognition in thisprogram is that things like
(21:52):
housing and childcare andinfrastructure whether it's
water infrastructure, broadband,etc.
Are really vital and important,and so, as economic developers,
we need to both invite thosefolks to our table but also show
up to their conversations aswell.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
We use the term like meet them where they are right,
like literally sit down at thetable with them and meet them
where they are so important.
Okay, so we've been talking alot about the rural aspect, but
you've an international in yourname, Nathan.
Where are you guys at in thatprocess?
That's got to be a bigundertaking.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It is, and it's a growing part of our membership,
but it's a small part at thispoint in time.
So I've been here two years.
Our membership from aninternational perspective is
about 5% of our total membershipabout 25 countries represented
around the world, and a lot ofour work now on the
international front is focusedon building partnerships with
other associations andorganizations Because, as Martha
Claire knows, in every ruralplace there's a different way to
(22:43):
do economic development.
The same thing every region ofthe world there's a different
way to do economic development.
So if you're in Latin Americaor Australia or Southeast Asia
or Africa, it's going to lookand feel a little bit
differently For us.
What we want to be able to do isbuild those partnerships to
better understand what the needsare in those places and create
tools and resources that can betailored to the needs of those
places.
So if there's a reallydeveloped ecosystem of economic
(23:04):
developers in the EU, thatapproach is going to be very
different than a place inSouthern Africa where we're just
starting conversations aroundeconomic development.
To me, the ERC program is agreat example of that as well,
because whether you're in urban,rural or tribal places here in
the US, there's going to bedifferent approaches needed and
so where we can tailor trainingopportunities for individuals to
both further the professionthere but also tailor the tools
(23:27):
and resources to meet the needsof those places, based on the
conversations you're having inthose places.
That's where we want us to beof service to economic
developers across the world.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Awesome, we've got just about five minutes left
here, guys, and I wanted to giveyou guys maybe an open mic type
of situation, and I'll startthe question off what have I
missed?
Is there anything that you wantpeople to hear about your work,
or about how they can interactwith you, or about, maybe, what
the future holds?
Just kind of like you know, ifsomebody in a community is
listening to this podcast, whatwould you like them to know?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
I mean, I think for me it is really that we're here,
you know, in the seven states,that community is unlimited
serves.
We're here and we want tolisten and we want to hear their
stories and we're open to thatby phone call and by email, and
we really do invite people toreach out and not feel like they
(24:20):
have to wait for us to come tothem.
You know seven states.
It's a lot of territory tocover, and one of those states
is Texas, so that's, you know,happens to be where I'm sitting
today and you know I forgetsometimes how far it is from one
side of that state to the other.
But even if we had, you know,staff in every single county in
all of those states, which wedon't we could not get to every
(24:43):
voice on our own, and so we justreally want to hear from folks
and so never hesitate to goonline.
Our numbers, our email addressesare on our website and they're
there and we're very transparentand we want people to reach out
to us and probably two or threetimes a week I will get a cold
call or a cold email fromsomebody that says, hey, do you
(25:05):
ever come to this part ofOklahoma or this part of
Tennessee.
And those are the ones thatreally get me excited, because
maybe no one has ever elevatedthem as a referral to us before,
but now I've got someone therethat I can go and say let's sit
at a table and talk to thepeople in your community about
what your community wants to see.
(25:26):
Because we really do believeand Nathan said it earlier that
people they ought to be able tolive, work, worship, play
wherever they want to,regardless of the size of the
community that they live in, andthat means that sometimes they
need resources and we canconnect them to those, and so
just never hesitate to reach outto us.
(25:46):
We're here and we really dowant to connect with every
single person across those sevenstates.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Alright Nathan, what would you like people to know
about the IEDC or the ERCprogram that they need to take
away from this conversation?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So I think there's a couple pieces.
Number one economic developmentis changing, and changing
rapidly.
A lot of it for a result of thepandemic, obviously, but also
of a recognition that placeshave been left behind in the
past, and so to me, the futureof economic development centers
are on collaboration.
Competition has always been apart of economic development.
It will always remain a part ofeconomic development, but those
(26:23):
that figure out how tocollaborate, how to think
regionally and to truly engagewith with folks regionally, are
at the forefront of whereeconomic development is headed
and certainly at the forefrontof driving prosperity in their
community, in their region.
The second piece that I think isreally critical rural economic
development in particular, Ithink, is maybe the most
undervalued aspect of theeconomic development profession.
(26:43):
Folks that are doing this insmall places in particular,
obviously have challenges, butthey also have really unique
opportunities and it can oftenfeel like a little bit of a
lonely place to be in a smallplace.
And for IDC, for the economicdevelopment profession, we want
to make sure that the voices ofsmall community practitioners
are at the forefront of whatwe're doing, whether we're
(27:04):
talking about policy, whetherwe're talking about practice,
whether we're talking aboutprofessional development, and so
the strategies that communitieshave limited and so many others
in rural places have been usingare the future of economic
development, because they'recentered around driving and
embedding wealth into thoseplaces in a long-term and
sustainable approach.
It is really difficult to get agovernor or a mayor to think
(27:25):
long term by the nature of thework that they do, and economic
developers' job is really toconnect not just mayors and
governors but other nonprofits,other small businesses, other
large businesses in theircommunity to a long-term,
sustainable approach to drivinggrowth or prosperity in those
places.
And so those small communitiesin particular have great stories
(27:46):
to tell and great lessons forothers to learn, because what's
happening in small places mightbe different in many ways from
larger places, but the lessonslearned, the failures that
people confront, are verysimilar.
And so it is a much smallerfield than you would think it is
and there's great opportunityto engage.
And from IDC's perspective, wewant to continue to make sure we
get feedback from anyonepossible, whether they're
(28:07):
members or not members of IDC,because for us the goal is to
move the profession of economicdevelopment forward, to make it
more collaborative, to make itmore intrinsic to the way that
people think about the way thattheir community not only looks
and feels today but will wellinto the future, and so we're
always looking for feedback,we're always looking for
partnerships and any way that wecan be helpful to any community
, to any person in economicdevelopment.
(28:29):
We're here as a resource.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
You know, in 30 minutes I think we might have
solved a lot of issues there.
You guys, thanks for joiningthe podcast.
This is episode 22 of thepodcast, and it's one I was
pretty excited about because itreally expands our knowledge, my
knowledge of this field that Idon't know a whole lot about,
and so I appreciate your timetoday, nathan, I really do.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Chris, can I just one more thing?
So for those of you listening,obviously most of you know who
communities in the limited it is, but for many people they may
not know, and it is to me one ofthe greatest examples of an
organization centered oncommunity and people and with a
focus on a broad spectrum ofneeds and opportunities in those
places.
And the leadership of Ines andMartha Claire and so many others
(29:15):
have been pivotal not only inmy own individual journey but in
the journey of so many othersin this field.
And so I just would be remissif I didn't lift up how
important communities in alimited it is, not just to the
communities you serve directlybut to the economic development
field itself.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
That's Nathan Oly.
Nathan is the CEO and presidentof the International Economic
Development Council.
Martha Claire Bullen is thecommunity director of community
sustainability here atcommunities Unlimited.
Martha Claire, thanks forjoining us again today.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It was my pleasure.
It's always a pleasure to getto visit with Nathan too.
We appreciate all the workyou've done to continue to
network the right folks in theroom so that we can continue to
do great things in community.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That's episode 22 of Small Talk, the Community's
Unlimited podcast.
As always, you can find pastepisodes and more about us at
communitiesuorg.
We'll see you in a couple ofweeks with a brand new episode.
Welcome to episode 22 of Small Talk, the Community's
Unlimited podcast.
My name is Chris Baker.
Our guests today are Nathan Olyand Martha Claire Boland.
Nathan is the president and CEOof the International Economic
Development Council and MarthaClaire is the director of
community sustainability here atCommunity's Unlimited.
There is a lot of excitingstuff going on in the world of
(00:21):
economic development, especiallywhen it comes to rural areas,
so I'm super excited to havethem both on today.
A couple of websites you cancheck out while you listen
EconomicRecoveryCorporg that's anew program that the IEDC has
that we'll be talking about andIEDCOnlineorg is their website,
and our website, as always, iscommunitiesuorg.
Let's get right into it.
(00:42):
Episode 22 of Small Talk fromCommunity's Unlimited.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I use the analogy a lot, then not only do you need
to invite people to your tablefor conversations, but you have
to show up to other people'stables too, and especially those
that you have never shown up tobefore, and the recognition in
this program is that things likehousing and childcare and
infrastructure whether it'swater infrastructure, broadband,
et cetera are really vital andimportant, and so, as economic
developers, we need to bothinvite those folks to our table
(01:10):
but also show up to theirconversations as well.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Nathan is the CEO and the president of the IEDC.
It stands for the InternationalEconomic Development Council.
Nathan, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It's going great, Chris.
Thanks for having me today.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Did I get all of that right there?
Because that's a lot man.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You hit a spot on.
That was perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay.
So why don't you tell us inyour words what you guys do at
the IEDC?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah well, first of all, Chris, thanks for hosting
this, thanks for all the workthat Communism Limited is doing.
I've got a long history withCommunism Limited and a special
place in my heart for the workthat you're doing, so thank you
for continuing to lift that upand spotlight that work.
In particular, I run anorganization called the
International EconomicDevelopment Council, as Chris
said, the IEDC where the world'slargest association for
economic developers.
So what does that mean?
(01:51):
It means that we are in serviceof economic developers, not
just here in the United Statesbut across the world.
We are providing a lot ofprofessional development.
So we have courses andcertification programs for
economic developers to continuetheir own professional journeys,
to learn from one another andto learn what economic
development is and keycomponents of the economic
development work itself.
We also accredited organizations, economic development
(02:14):
organizations, so that they cango through and understand what
their role is as an economicdevelopment organization, also
understanding the financialimplications, the operation
species that you have to have inplace to be able to support the
work in the long term.
We bring people togetherthrough conferences, through
webinars, through affinitygroups and music practice type
of community or type oforganization that you might be
in, because economic developmenthas a wide spectrum of
(02:35):
organizations that serve theeconomic development profession
itself.
And then we build partnerships.
We build partnerships withorganizations like Communities
Unlimited and the RCAP network.
We build direct work incommunities at times, and also
with other large-scale nationaland international organizations
and associations.
Our goal really is to make surethat we've got tools and
resources for practitioners onthe ground to be able to do
(02:58):
their work in the best waypossible.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Speaking of folks on the ground.
Let's talk to Martha ClaireBull.
And Martha Claire, Thanks forjoining us.
Martha Claire is the directorof community sustainability here
at Communities Unlimited.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what CS, that's what we
call community sustainability?
Cs is Martha Claire.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, chris, thanks for letting me join the podcast,
and it's exciting to be herewith Nathan because part of our
work is growing into that spacewhere we're gonna be connecting
with Nathan in the next fewyears.
And really at the heart of whatthe CS team does, it's about
spending time in community andbeing really radically driven by
(03:35):
the community voice, and ourstaff spends a lot of time
building relationship and we goin and say what does your
community want to see happenhere?
And then we really get to workon connecting them to the right
resources that fit those desires.
And it's powerful to say thatwe have an amazing staff that
(03:57):
really goes in and they don'tjust connect with the usual
suspects in community not justthe mayors and the city council,
who are, of course, a hugepiece of the work, but they
really dig deep into communityand look for those champions.
And who are the folks who, ifthey're riding down the road and
see trash on the side of theroad, they stop and get it
because they care about theircommunity and how it's projected
(04:20):
.
They're the ones who attendcommunity cleanups at the park
and make sure that it's safe fortheir kids, and so we wanna
really pull those people to thetable too, because a lot of
times they haven't felt likethey had a voice that was ready
to be heard in community, and wewant to get them to come to the
table and create space for themto share what their dreams are
(04:40):
for their communities, so it canreally be about the people
there.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Okay, so when we talk economic development, can you
guys kind of give me what thatmeans in your words and like
some plain English, because I'ma simple guy.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Well, I think Martha Clare actually just started to
walk into that conversation.
To me it's centered aroundpeople in place.
It is fundamentally aboutconnecting and building
connections, for communityEconomic developers can be folks
from utilities or universitiesor nonprofits or government
entities there's a whole widespectrum of people that play a
role in the economic developmentfield but fundamentally it's
(05:14):
about building connection andabout building collaborative
opportunities.
And so when he's centered onthe people and on the place in
particular that they're workingin the region that they're in,
that's the heart of whateconomic development is and it's
really about driving prosperityfor those places.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah, I mean I think exactly what Nathan said 100%,
and particularly in the ruralspaces.
You know it's identifyingsometimes.
What do those ecosystems looklike in comparison to a large
community, an urban space, wherethere might be a lot more of a
tax base, there might be a lotmore opportunity for large
(05:52):
groups to come in and maybestart a new business?
We're looking a lot of times ata much more small business
entrepreneurship drivenecosystem in the small rural
spaces.
So, while we always are alsolooking down the road, who are
the bigger places where we canconnect?
Because we know in our ruralcommunities there are folks who
(06:13):
are driving out of those spacesinto larger cities to work and
vice versa.
So we want to figure out how dowe pull all those threads
together so that we can createthat ecosystem that kind of runs
the gamut from small businessentrepreneurship up to those
larger entities that come intomaybe the bigger town next door.
How?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
do you find those local assets that you want to
leverage?
I guess maybe, nathan.
From a larger perspective, howdo you guys, how do you identify
those?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Well, I would actually pull on the string that
Martha Claire talked aboutright there, and it is centered
on small business growth andbusiness retention and expansion
.
Right, because you have tofocus on the assets in your
community.
Any strategy that's going to belong term and sustainable from
an economic developmentperspective is focused on the
assets in that community andfinding ways to help those
existing businesses or thosesmall business owners or
(07:06):
entrepreneurs to grow and thrivein those places.
Certainly, there's other piecesto economic development that
complement that work, but whenyou center that work and focus
that work on small businessgrowth and entrepreneurship,
you're going to actually growbusinesses that are more
sustainable, resilient andobviously continue to embed
wealth into your community, intoyour region, in a long term
fashion.
So it is truly about spendingthat time in your community
(07:29):
Speaking with those smallbusiness owners, understanding
the ecosystem that surroundsthem that's going to help them
either access capital or accessgreat talent, whether that's
small businesses working withcommunity colleges or technical
or vocational schools oruniversities in close proximity,
whether it is talking throughother workforce development
centers, understanding theinfrastructure that exists in
that place.
All of these pieces areinterwoven and interconnected
(07:50):
and I think, as we start tothink about the future of
economic development.
We're going to see much more ofa connectedness between all
those things housing, workforcedevelopment, economic
development, communitydevelopment, infrastructure
because, especially in smallplaces, but in any place, quite
frankly, without those thingsbeing interconnected, without
building those conversations andengaging in those communities,
(08:11):
you're not going to have a longterm sustainable approach to
driving economic prosperity.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Same question Martha.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Claire.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, I mean, he is spot on.
And I think you know we useparticularly two kind of
strategies or tools when we dothis work in community.
We use the wealth works model,which our CEO is is part of that
kind of first tranche of peoplewho put it out there and and
really elevated this as anapproach.
Where you go into community andyou do say let's don't look at
(08:40):
the problems, let's start withthe assets.
And look at those assets likewho are the political players in
the community, and that doesn'tnecessarily, again, I mean your
governmental officials, but whoholds that political power
within the church structuremaybe, or just on the block?
And so we really try to diginto with the community and hear
(09:01):
them say what is the thing inyour community that's nature
related, that might draw in sometourism?
And so we really do stepthrough all of these different
buckets.
And I think a lot of times whenwe start to ask the question,
it's like everybody in the roomgets excited because they're
like oh, I've been living herefor so long I forgot those are
(09:21):
assets, until some new eyes,fresh eyes, got in here and
we're like what about thisreally cool old building?
Could something happen there?
What would it look like forthat space to be renovated?
And we couple wealth works withstrategic doing, which is
another kind of model thatreally takes it and then chunks
it up into like what's the thingwe could do in the next 30 days
(09:43):
and put action behind it.
So we're not always planningbut actually getting to the
doing part of the work incommunities.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah, you guys know one of the things that like,
when people talk to me aboutwhere I work at and I try to
explain what we do, I eventuallywind up kind of back at the
same place and it's really Idon't know how to say it
necessarily, but especially whenit comes to like economic
development, part of what we do,the CS work that we do it's
truly quality over quantity, ifthat makes sense, like quality
(10:13):
of jobs for people that aresustainable.
It's not always a straightnumbers game, if that makes
sense what I'm trying to say.
Both of them are shaking theirhead because I think they
understand what I'm trying tosay, because they do it.
Do you guys feel the same way?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, I mean 100%, I mean we.
It's the conversation I thinkthat we're constantly having,
particularly when you're you'retalking to funders whether it's
philanthropy or federal agencyfunders a lot of times, what
they're looking for are numbers.
And it's hard sometimes toquantify the changes that happen
(10:45):
in a community when you justget one street repaved and
suddenly there's this ownershipand this opportunity and hope,
and then it's like things startto happen because it breeds more
excitement and hope for futureopportunity.
And it's hard sometimes to putthat in numbers and to figure
(11:06):
out how do you elevate the truesuccess of these kinds of
programs that happen incommunity.
But really, when you get inthere and you get the
opportunity to have a funder sitdown at the table with a group
of people they've been workingover the last 12 months on a
project and we've been able tofind the right funding and write
(11:27):
a grant with them and then themget awarded that grant and now
be at the point of implementingthose funds it's like everybody
in the room can agree that, okay, this was one grant and so it
seems like that number one iskind of small but it's going to
change 2,000 people in thatcommunity's lives forever and,
chris, from my perspective youknow we're trying to drive more
(11:49):
equitable economic outcomes, andthat means place, it means race
, it means economic status.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
We're trying to ensure that communities of all
sizes, shapes, colors,everywhere across the world,
quite frankly, have anopportunity to grow in the way
that they want to and create agood quality of life for the
people that live and reside andplay in those places.
Because what we know is there'sbeen way too many communities,
both rural and tribal nature,communities of color and people
of various economic backgrounds,that have been left behind in
(12:16):
economic development strategiesin the past, and so we're really
driving towards how do wecreate strategies and implement
on those strategies that aregoing to assist everyone in
bringing up the economicopportunity in those places, and
how do we make sure they'repart of the conversation as
we're designing these programs,so that we're not designing
something that we think willmeet the needs of those places,
but actually verify andunderstand that they will
(12:37):
actually meet the needs of thosepeople in those places.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
We're speaking with Nathan only.
Nathan is the CEO and Presidentof the IEDC International
Economic Development Council,sorry, and Martha Claire
Bolenchia is our Director ofCommunity Sustainability here at
Communities Unlimited.
My name is Chris Baker.
Nathan, you've been at the IEDCfor just over a year, am I
correct, or no?
Two years in.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Two years.
I hit my two year anniversaryjust a few weeks back.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, and in two years we've got a new program
that I wanted to talk to youabout the ERC.
Explain what the ERC is,because that's really where kind
of we connect directly, right.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
It is so.
The Economic Recovery Corpsactually has been years in the
making.
In fact, when I was leadingRCAP which obviously is very
closely associated withCommunities Unlimited, you know,
we started really focusing onhow do we build capacity in
places that I've been underresourced in a long time and as
I came on board at IEDC, thisbecame one of the really key,
crucial factors that I wanted usto focus on as an organization
(13:34):
and as an economic developmentfield.
And we were lucky enough tohave an opportunity to work with
the US Economic DevelopmentAdministration to put this
program in place through acooperative agreement.
And we built this program withtwo main goals One, to build
capacity in under resourcedplaces urban, rural and tribal
in nature across the UnitedStates.
And two, to start to create thenext generation of leaders in
economic development, a pipelineof leaders that we can help
(13:54):
both mold ourselves but alsolearn from, because we know that
in under resourced places inparticular, there's really
distinct and unique challengesfrom an economic development.
So we launched this program inpartnership with six other
national partners the NationalLeague of Cities, the National
Association of DevelopmentOrganizations, the National
Association of Counties, theInternational City and County
(14:14):
Managers Association, theRegional Accelerator and
Innovation Network and theCenter on Rural Innovation.
And we did that verystrategically because, again,
economic development happens indifferent organizations.
So county government plays arole, city government plays a
role, entrepreneur supportorganizations in rural places
play a role.
And so we created thisopportunity where we could have
multiple associations andorganizations helping to build
(14:34):
training specific to those typesof organizations that fellows
might be placed in.
And we did this with a longterm approach, so it's not a one
year fellowship, it's a two anda half year fellowship where
individuals are embeddeddirectly in the communities for
that two and a half years tobuild capacity in those places
to accelerate economicdevelopment opportunities and
for themselves to build on theirown long term economic
(14:55):
development journey.
And we went into this thinkingand knowing that there would be
some desire for this, therewould be a need for, but we had
no idea exactly how much needthere would be.
And so we had 65 spots, whichmeant that we had 65
organizations that could host afellow and 65 individuals that
could participate as fellows.
As we opened the applicationwindow up, we had more than 500
(15:17):
organizations apply to host afellow and for 65 slots we had
more than 1400 individuals applyto service, and so it's just
this incredible energy andexcitement around this program,
specifically around the need forthis type of program, and
Communism Limited was one ofthose that came in.
We put about 100 organizationsthrough a pretty rigorous
accelerator program to reallydrive through what this
(15:39):
opportunity might mean for theircommunity, for their
organization, and the work thatCommunism Limited, alongside
their fellow, are going to doover the next two and a half
years is incredibly exciting andthe work that's going to happen
across all 65 fellows and thosehost organizations is very,
very exciting.
It's, to me, one of the singlebiggest projects that we could
have taken on.
In my humble opinion,potentially the most impactful
(16:03):
program we could have designedand implemented.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, it's like it's really boots on the ground type
work right it is.
And the variety of the work thefellows are going to be doing.
It's shocking how much varietythere is in those 65 people that
you were talking about.
Our fellow that is working withus, martha Claire, tell us what
she'll be doing and what herfunction is.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Yeah, our fellow is going to be based in out of
Alabama, mobile, alabama, sherryCampbell, and what Sherry is
going to be doing.
It's really exciting becausefor the last year, we launched a
pilot program in East Texasthrough a partnership with the
TLL Temple Foundation, and itwas really a unique approach
(16:44):
because we had the full supportfor, like Nathan alluded to, a
longer term project, and so theTemple Foundation funded this
work for five years, which isreally unprecedented when you
look at philanthropic funding.
And what we're doing is we havebeen embedding local staff, who
already have some of that trustbuilt up in community, to go in
(17:06):
and, rather than waiting out inthe rural spaces for things to
come to them like the resourcesthat come in from the federal
government A lot of times getbottlenecked at the state or
even at the local level We'vegone out into the communities
and we've identified what theyneed and then we're going back
and we're pulling thoseresources down and bringing them
(17:26):
back and saying this is the onethat is the most effective for
you.
Now let us help you walkthrough the application process
and really get to the point ofimplementation.
And it's been a beautifulopportunity over the last years
and we've seen some hugeprogress.
We've made many grantapplications and if all of those
get funded, we'll be able toleverage almost $3 million in
(17:49):
East Texas from that work.
Now we need to see aboutscaling.
What would it look like if wetook this and we tried to
replicate it in another state?
I moved to East Texas for thefirst year to get this off the
ground and that's notsustainable.
I can't move to every statewhen we try to replicate.
So this opportunity with theERC Fellowship is that we have
(18:12):
someone now who is from Alabamaand she's got already some
street credibility there.
People know her and know herwork and she's going to do what
I did and be there to reallylift this up off the ground and
see can we replicate this workin Alabama?
Can we find the rightphilanthropic partners there?
Can we find the right communityresource managers, which are
(18:35):
the staffing component of this,and what will it look like if we
do this in Alabama for the nexttwo and a half years?
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And Nathan, why was creating a program like the ERC
and getting this thing running?
Why was it important to youguys at the IEDC?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So you heard me talk about driving more equitable
economic outcomes earlier.
The heart of what we want to dois to continue to push the
field of economic developmentforward, and part of that is
recognizing what has beenhappening in the past that might
have left communities behind,and this program in particular
is a recognition that there aremany communities that have been
left behind as a result ofeconomic development efforts and
(19:12):
a whole host of other issuesthat have confronted them, and
so for us, it is fundamentallyabout moving the field forward.
It's about creatingopportunities for the next
generation of leaders, and the65 fellows are truly that.
They represent a whole widespectrum of folks that have done
economic development work, somein some cases for three years
and some cases for three decadesand so it's this great
compilation of folks that aremission oriented.
(19:34):
It's really important to themto be giving back in some way,
shape or form.
But for us, it was also a longterm play.
We didn't want to do a one yearprogram where you come in and
you help and then all of asudden you leave and then the
community has to figure out whatto do after that.
We wanted to build a long term,two and a half year fellowship.
That would allow for that longterm capacity building and
hopefully many of these fellowswill have the opportunity to
(19:55):
accept the job either with thathost organization or in that
community even beyond the twoand a half years.
Our goal in all that we do isto provide tools and resources
for the field itself, to movethe profession forward and to
ensure that communities of allsizes and shapes are better off
than they were when we startedour work.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
How do people in Alabama with our fellow, how do
they connect with that person,Martha Clare?
I mean, she's going to knock ontheir door.
Do they come to us?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yeah, I think that's a great question and I think the
answer is both.
We certainly hope that folks inAlabama who hear about this
will reach out and connect withus through our website and they
can, you know, click on my nameand connect directly with me.
And right now Sherry isstarting to get out there, and
so the week of March 18th I'llbe there in Alabama with her all
(20:42):
week, and we've got some sitevisits lined up so that we can
start making those connections.
It does not matter to us whoyou are, if you love your
communities in Alabama, whetheryou have an official capacity or
you're just, you know, a momwho really cares about the fact
that you know you're having alot of bullwater notices in your
(21:04):
community and you want to knowwho's doing something about that
.
We're really encouraging in ourliterature that we're starting
to get together to go out aboutthis works.
We want to, we want to hear allthose voices and so we'll have
some listening sessions acrossthe state that will be inviting
people in, both those that dothis for their work in that
professional capacity, but alsoto really deeply engage
(21:27):
community members and give thema chance to have their voices
heard.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Chris.
So here's another example ofwhat Martha Claire just
described, from what I what Italked about earlier in the
connector piece because that'struly what economic development
is, and I use the analogy a lotthat not only do you need to
invite people to your table forconversations, but you have to
show up to other people's tablestoo, and especially those that
you have never shown up tobefore.
And the recognition in thisprogram is that things like
(21:52):
housing and childcare andinfrastructure whether it's
water infrastructure, broadband,etc.
Are really vital and important,and so, as economic developers,
we need to both invite thosefolks to our table but also show
up to their conversations aswell.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
We use the term like meet them where they are right,
like literally sit down at thetable with them and meet them
where they are so important.
Okay, so we've been talking alot about the rural aspect, but
you've an international in yourname, Nathan.
Where are you guys at in thatprocess?
That's got to be a bigundertaking.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It is, and it's a growing part of our membership,
but it's a small part at thispoint in time.
So I've been here two years.
Our membership from aninternational perspective is
about 5% of our total membershipabout 25 countries represented
around the world, and a lot ofour work now on the
international front is focusedon building partnerships with
other associations andorganizations Because, as Martha
Claire knows, in every ruralplace there's a different way to
(22:43):
do economic development.
The same thing every region ofthe world there's a different
way to do economic development.
So if you're in Latin Americaor Australia or Southeast Asia
or Africa, it's going to lookand feel a little bit
differently For us.
What we want to be able to do isbuild those partnerships to
better understand what the needsare in those places and create
tools and resources that can betailored to the needs of those
places.
So if there's a reallydeveloped ecosystem of economic
(23:04):
developers in the EU, thatapproach is going to be very
different than a place inSouthern Africa where we're just
starting conversations aroundeconomic development.
To me, the ERC program is agreat example of that as well,
because whether you're in urban,rural or tribal places here in
the US, there's going to bedifferent approaches needed and
so where we can tailor trainingopportunities for individuals to
both further the professionthere but also tailor the tools
(23:27):
and resources to meet the needsof those places, based on the
conversations you're having inthose places.
That's where we want us to beof service to economic
developers across the world.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Awesome, we've got just about five minutes left
here, guys, and I wanted to giveyou guys maybe an open mic type
of situation, and I'll startthe question off what have I
missed?
Is there anything that you wantpeople to hear about your work,
or about how they can interactwith you, or about, maybe, what
the future holds?
Just kind of like you know, ifsomebody in a community is
listening to this podcast, whatwould you like them to know?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
I mean, I think for me it is really that we're here,
you know, in the seven states,that community is unlimited
serves.
We're here and we want tolisten and we want to hear their
stories and we're open to thatby phone call and by email, and
we really do invite people toreach out and not feel like they
(24:20):
have to wait for us to come tothem.
You know seven states.
It's a lot of territory tocover, and one of those states
is Texas, so that's, you know,happens to be where I'm sitting
today and you know I forgetsometimes how far it is from one
side of that state to the other.
But even if we had, you know,staff in every single county in
all of those states, which wedon't we could not get to every
(24:43):
voice on our own, and so we justreally want to hear from folks
and so never hesitate to goonline.
Our numbers, our email addressesare on our website and they're
there and we're very transparentand we want people to reach out
to us and probably two or threetimes a week I will get a cold
call or a cold email fromsomebody that says, hey, do you
(25:05):
ever come to this part ofOklahoma or this part of
Tennessee.
And those are the ones thatreally get me excited, because
maybe no one has ever elevatedthem as a referral to us before,
but now I've got someone therethat I can go and say let's sit
at a table and talk to thepeople in your community about
what your community wants to see.
(25:26):
Because we really do believeand Nathan said it earlier that
people they ought to be able tolive, work, worship, play
wherever they want to,regardless of the size of the
community that they live in, andthat means that sometimes they
need resources and we canconnect them to those, and so
just never hesitate to reach outto us.
(25:46):
We're here and we really dowant to connect with every
single person across those sevenstates.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Alright Nathan, what would you like people to know
about the IEDC or the ERCprogram that they need to take
away from this conversation?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So I think there's a couple pieces.
Number one economic developmentis changing, and changing
rapidly.
A lot of it for a result of thepandemic, obviously, but also
of a recognition that placeshave been left behind in the
past, and so to me, the futureof economic development centers
are on collaboration.
Competition has always been apart of economic development.
It will always remain a part ofeconomic development, but those
(26:23):
that figure out how tocollaborate, how to think
regionally and to truly engagewith with folks regionally, are
at the forefront of whereeconomic development is headed
and certainly at the forefrontof driving prosperity in their
community, in their region.
The second piece that I think isreally critical rural economic
development in particular, Ithink, is maybe the most
undervalued aspect of theeconomic development profession.
(26:43):
Folks that are doing this insmall places in particular,
obviously have challenges, butthey also have really unique
opportunities and it can oftenfeel like a little bit of a
lonely place to be in a smallplace.
And for IDC, for the economicdevelopment profession, we want
to make sure that the voices ofsmall community practitioners
are at the forefront of whatwe're doing, whether we're
(27:04):
talking about policy, whetherwe're talking about practice,
whether we're talking aboutprofessional development, and so
the strategies that communitieshave limited and so many others
in rural places have been usingare the future of economic
development, because they'recentered around driving and
embedding wealth into thoseplaces in a long-term and
sustainable approach.
It is really difficult to get agovernor or a mayor to think
(27:25):
long term by the nature of thework that they do, and economic
developers' job is really toconnect not just mayors and
governors but other nonprofits,other small businesses, other
large businesses in theircommunity to a long-term,
sustainable approach to drivinggrowth or prosperity in those
places.
And so those small communitiesin particular have great stories
(27:46):
to tell and great lessons forothers to learn, because what's
happening in small places mightbe different in many ways from
larger places, but the lessonslearned, the failures that
people confront, are verysimilar.
And so it is a much smallerfield than you would think it is
and there's great opportunityto engage.
And from IDC's perspective, wewant to continue to make sure we
get feedback from anyonepossible, whether they're
(28:07):
members or not members of IDC,because for us the goal is to
move the profession of economicdevelopment forward, to make it
more collaborative, to make itmore intrinsic to the way that
people think about the way thattheir community not only looks
and feels today but will wellinto the future, and so we're
always looking for feedback,we're always looking for
partnerships and any way that wecan be helpful to any community
, to any person in economicdevelopment.
(28:29):
We're here as a resource.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
You know, in 30 minutes I think we might have
solved a lot of issues there.
You guys, thanks for joiningthe podcast.
This is episode 22 of thepodcast, and it's one I was
pretty excited about because itreally expands our knowledge, my
knowledge of this field that Idon't know a whole lot about,
and so I appreciate your timetoday, nathan, I really do.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Chris, can I just one more thing?
So for those of you listening,obviously most of you know who
communities in the limited it is, but for many people they may
not know, and it is to me one ofthe greatest examples of an
organization centered oncommunity and people and with a
focus on a broad spectrum ofneeds and opportunities in those
places.
And the leadership of Ines andMartha Claire and so many others
(29:15):
have been pivotal not only inmy own individual journey but in
the journey of so many othersin this field.
And so I just would be remissif I didn't lift up how
important communities in alimited it is, not just to the
communities you serve directlybut to the economic development
field itself.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
That's Nathan Oly.
Nathan is the CEO and presidentof the International Economic
Development Council.
Martha Claire Bullen is thecommunity director of community
sustainability here atcommunities Unlimited.
Martha Claire, thanks forjoining us again today.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It was my pleasure.
It's always a pleasure to getto visit with Nathan too.
We appreciate all the workyou've done to continue to
network the right folks in theroom so that we can continue to
do great things in community.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That's episode 22 of Small Talk, the Community's
Unlimited podcast.
As always, you can find pastepisodes and more about us at
communitiesuorg.
We'll see you in a couple ofweeks with a brand new episode.
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