It’s that time of year when we all hear some version of “I can’t believe it’s been a whole year already!” Maybe you’ve heard it a few times today. Maybe you’ve said it.  I don’t look at it that way. Instead of measuring how fast the year went by, I like to think about how much. How did we spend our precious time this year? How much of it was on things that matter for rural communities? Where do we want to spend more or less time next year? How can we build habits and systems to make that happen? 

It’s been said that dropping a pebble in water creates a ripple effect that emanates outward from the source. At Dakota Resources, we believe the same can be said about cultivating a thriving rural, particularly when a pebble is dropped with intention inside rural towns like Murdo, South Dakota. Last year, the Murdo Development Corp. engaged with Dakota Resources’ Community Coaching program to spark growth and development in the city of Murdo. Dakota Resources’ Kristi Wagner, who serves as the Director of Organizational Relationships and Community Coach, facilitated the Community Coaching process in this rural town, which is home to the Jones County seat in South Dakota.

At Dakota Resources’ Learning Network Gathering Awards Banquet in Brookings, SD, held on November 3, 2023, three honorees received distinguished awards in appreciation for their service to their communities. This annual tradition, which takes place at the Entrepreneur Support Systems Learning Network gathering, allows Dakota Resources to celebrate the innovative work that is happening in rural places across the state.

I spent some valuable time this week doing a bit of data discovery about rural communities. In my search I explored an interactive map showing the percent change in total population from the 2010 to the 2020 Census at both the state and county levels. I first zoomed in to view the South Dakota county-level data – it was a mix of blue (growth) and beige (decline) county blocks spread across the east and west sides of our state. I discovered 33 of 66 counties in South Dakota had positive population growth in the past ten years!

We believe the future of rural exists here, right now, and that it’s up to all of us to shape it, together. In this spirit, Dakota Resources launched our inaugural Annual Giving Campaign in September, with a goal of financially bolstering our programs and our work to empower rural communities. With an initial goal of 100 supporters by the end of 2023, we’re already halfway there, and today, we ask you – our readers, followers, and partners in a thriving rural – to show your support for us.

While conferences and workshops are frequently offered by all types of organizations and industries, opportunities to truly engage with others by sharing success stories and best practices are comparatively rare.  Every year since 2018, Dakota Resources’ Learning Network program hosts quarterly events known as Thriverr Gatherings. Although our Thriverr Gatherings share some commonalities with a typical conference or workshop, we’ve spent years designing these events to cultivate regular and consistent collaboration and connection for our members.

It’s harvest time here in rural communities across the Midwest and the nation, and it’s that word “harvest” that rings so true for communities like Hoven, South Dakota. While many think of crops like beans and corn as integral parts of a farmer’s fall harvest, the town of Hoven experiences a harvest each day, with the help of Dakota Resources, as community volunteers work together to reach their potential of creating a thriving rural community.

Success stories are among our favorite tales to tell, and that’s certainly the theme of our work with the Entrepreneur Fund. Like Dakota Resources, Entrepreneur Fund is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that lends capital and provides services in order to diversify the regional and rural economy in northern and central Minnesota and, since 2022, in rural Wisconsin as well. Born out of a need to diversify industry on the Iron Range in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, Entrepreneur Fund was founded with two main priorities: to support entrepreneurs to start and grow small businesses that would create steady incomes for themselves and others, and to renew the entrepreneurial culture in the region.

My short answer is a resounding, "Yes!" Decision making can and, according to my experiences, is best when both intuitive and data driven. Let me share a small-town story about how intuition and data can improve decisions.

Community and economic development work is often complex and can mean many different things. For this reason, Dakota Resources continues to survey our constituents in order to take stock of rural development work in and around South Dakota. In late 2022, Dakota Resources engaged stakeholders in a survey in order to assess the building blocks of a thriving rural community and gather statistics around what economic development organizations throughout the state are doing when it comes to economic development in their service area.

Last week, Dakota Resources launched a new website to better serve rural shapers. The website, which can be found at DakotaResources.org, offers an improved user experience, both on desktop and on mobile, and features a more intuitive navigation menu and pages that are better suited to our work today.