Summit: Key to revitalizing rural areas is education – It all comes down to education.

That´s what the 170 or so at the first Idaho Rural Summit agreed on.

Gregory Hahn
The Idaho Statesman

If Idaho wants to revitalize its rural areas, it has to educate rural leaders on what resources and help are available, some said.

The state has to make sure rural residents and business owners know how much of a competitive edge they lose if they don´t have broadband access, others added.

It has to sell the idea of rural development to folks who still hope the mill will reopen or the mine will start hiring again.

And it has to teach the emerging leaders in these communities how to resolve conflicts and make decisions — teach them how to lead.

The main goal of the conference was to evaluate the state´s economic development programs and decide on new priorities. To find a way to meet “almost infinite demands,” Lt. Gov. Jim Risch said, with “very finite resources.

The votes of the participants won´t be compiled for a few more days, but so many of the potential priorities they brought up had to do with educating rural residents that some will certainly make the final list.

In some ways, this illustrates one of the reasons the state´s development efforts have been left largely unchanged since Gov. Dirk Kempthorne´s Rural Initiative about two years ago.

Many rural Idahoans — then and now — are reluctant to make the efforts needed to make the changes.

The Idaho Rural Partnership, http://www.idoc.state.id.us/idcomm/ruralpart/about.html which put on the conference, has done a great job linking state and federal agencies together and with interested local officials, said Republican Sen. Skip Brandt, but the rural business owners and residents need to get involved in these discussions.

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Sara Braasch, Director

700 West Jefferson, Room 122

P.O. Box 83720

Boise, ID 83720-0032

Phone: (208) 334-3131

Fax: (208) 334-2348

Email: [email protected]

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“There are a lot of educated people here,” he said. “But there´s a difference between education and experience.”

Brandt, who was the mayor of Kooskia and now sits on the IRP board, was one of just three current state legislators to attend the meeting — another sign that the issues haven´t resonated with the increasingly urban lawmakers.

“It´s a breakdown between urban and rural communication,” he said.

Brandt´s district makes up about one-fifth of the entire state of Idaho — that´s how sparsely populated and spread out it is.

But when he comes to Ada County, he said he finds “12 senators that don´t understand” what the rural areas are going through.

Attendants thought the summit itself was a good sign, but the discussions felt more like a general regrouping than a real step forward to many of them. The rural partnership had been stalled before Director Sara Braasch was hired and given an office with the governor´s staff in the Statehouse. Plus, the state´s financial woes have kept almost all state programs from developing much in the past couple of years. Most of the participants´ goals were modest because of this.

To offer story ideas or comments, contact Gregory Hahn
[email protected] or 377-6425

http://www.idahostatesman.com/News/story.asp?ID=54353