Minnesota Region IV 2022-2026 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy 2024 Update

Minnesota Region IV

2022-2026 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy

2024 Update

Introduction

Every five years, West Central Initiative invites the region to participate in creation of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), a planning document that highlights the economic position of the region and areas of opportunity. It also identifies how residents, the business community, and the public sector can partner to contribute to the lasting vibrancy of the people, places, and shared prosperity of our communities. In 2021, the region’s Economic Development District Advisory Board approved the 2022-2026 CEDS.

The 2022-2026 CEDS outlined strategies in nine priority areas:

• Workforce Development

• Business Development

• Access to Education

• Resilient Infrastructure

• Housing

• Transportation

• Circular Agriculture

• Equity and Inclusion

• Parks and Recreation

This annual update serves to provide information on the first two years of implementation of the strategies outlined in this plan, including updates to demographics and data sets and the proposed work plan for the calendar year 2024.

Population & Workforce Updates

The Minnesota State Demographic Center released updated population projections in 2023, which included updates from the U.S. Census. The population in most of the counties is projected to remain fairly steady, while Clay County is projected to grow in population by more than 28,000 people.

The population make-up also is projected to change. Diversity of race and ethnicity will continue to grow in west central Minnesota. Projections show population increases in areas already home to a more diverse population. This may prove incorrect, however, depending on how and where the region chooses to welcome changing demographics.

The increase in population and diversity are directly related, as shown in the 2019 data from the State Demographer. For our communities to maintain their workforce, serious progress must be made in the availability of affordable housing and child care, especially that which matches the needs of the projected population.

In 2023, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 2.2% for the region, which was previously 1.7% in 2022. The industry with the largest decrease in positions since 2020 was public administration. The two sectors that experienced considerable growth in employment were construction and manufacturing.

Progress Report 2022-2023

Implementation of the CEDS is a shared responsibility. The document serves as a guide for West Central Initiative, local government units, economic development entities, community organizations, and other regional stakeholders. This progress report serves to document successes of the region, including steps West Central Initiative has taken in 2022 and 2023 toward the goals identified in the CEDS.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

• Otter Tail County received funds from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to pilot the Youth Workforce Navigation Program. The first year of programming connected high school students with a variety of high-wage employers in the county, including tours, which develop interest and relationships between the students and companies.

• West Central Initiative’s Early Childhood Initiatives in each county and White Earth Nation continue to focus on the shortage of early care and education workers in the region. This includes advocacy at the state level for funding that supports successful programming counties are piloting, such as community-based child care project managers and early care and education networks. In addition, this collaboration extends to the Early Childhood Mental Health and Dental Health networks, as they recruit providers and inspire students to pursue these important medical fields.

• The Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber Foundation received $9.62 million from the Good Jobs Challenge Grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. This programming is designed to increase labor participation rates by providing training opportunities to those un- or under-employed.

• West Central Initiative continues to work on issues that affect the attraction and retention of residents, including housing, child care, and community welcoming and belonging efforts.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• The West Central Minnesota Small Business Development Center relocated to the Minnesota State Community and Technical College campus and continues to serve the region’s businesses.

• Fastlane 94 now serves the region’s entrepreneurs through a Launch MN grant. The program brought ILT Academy to central Minnesota, including the business pitch competition Trailblazer Challenge in 2023.

• West Central Initiative will begin its fourth cohort of the Initiators Fellowship in 2024, which focuses on supporting new or expanding social enterprises. The 2022-2023 fellows in the region included a staff-less grocery store and a bio-digester.

EQUITY & INCLUSION

• West Central Initiative partnered with Welcoming America to assist our communities in hosting Welcoming Week events in September of 2022 and 2023. We believe that communities that openly practice their beliefs in neighborliness continue to attract and retain community members from a variety of backgrounds.

• West Central Initiative believes that diversity of thought and leadership brings strength and resilience to the region. In 2023, Rural Democracy and Rural Belonging programming began, focused on empowering our neighbors, especially those from historically marginalized groups, to participate in local government, from voting to supporting nonprofits through board participation to running for local offices.

TRANSPORTATION

• West Central Initiative, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and regional stakeholders partnered to complete the Scenic Byways Plan, freight plan, regional active transportation plan, and oversight of the Transportation Alternatives program. The team also assisted communities through Complete Streets planning, trail planning and funding, and support as they consider changes to traffic flow and multimodal uses.

• In partnership with Pedal Fergus Falls and the City of Fergus Falls, the region’s first bicycle playground is complete. This design allows for children to practice pedestrian and bicycle skills on a simulated road system.

2024 Priority: Resilient Infrastructure

Approximately 40 percent of 2021 CEDS survey respondents identified “improving roads, water treatment, broadband, and other infrastructure” as an area in which they would invest. And 17 percent of respondents ranked it as the investment with the greatest impact. Resilient infrastructure is a category intended to capture physical support systems that ensure a community thrives, but the term encompasses many aspects of rural life.

Physical infrastructure systems continue to age and approach a critical point where, if not replaced or updated, they may fail and leave communities struggling to pick up the pieces. Resilient infrastructure includes systems such as roads, stormwater, broadband, solid waste, and many other major systems that prop up residents’ quality of life. Regional partners highlighted exorbitant costs of major projects, outdated systems, and a local populace that may not understand these vital systems that underpin a community’s quality of life.

Progress report

West Central Initiative completed an update to the regional infrastructure study, originally published in 2003. The update will serve as an appendix to the CEDS.

In alignment with the CEDS, several communities applied for and received funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office for critical infrastructure needs.

West Central Initiative contracted with paleBLUEdot to complete a Climate Action Plan for the region, which highlights the need for infrastructure investment, especially as it relates to clean energy production and aging utility systems.

In alignment with strategies identified in the CEDS, West Central Initiative has applied and been approved for funding from the Department of Commerce to provide technical support to local government units in applying for funding from state and federal sources in 2024-2026. These efforts will focus on clean energy production and utility systems. In addition, we continue to seek private partners and stakeholders to maximize our impact.

GOAL: Expand community understanding of vital support systems

Objectives

• Educate and inform residents and community members

• Assist with navigation of complex policies and requirements

Strategies

• Establish system report cards for localities

• Produce infographics with systems experts explaining infrastructure mechanics

• Provide application support for major projects

• Aggregate need-based data and indicators

• Engage young people in knowledge-building and reconstruction efforts

GOAL: Increase access to multimodal forms of transportation

Objectives

• Inform about future and current market trends

• Implement effective transit and alternative transportation modes

• Advocate for shared transportation space

Strategies

• Host transportation policy and state agency professionals to share programs and trends

• Elevate transit-related services in rural areas

• Assist in problem solving with rural transit service providers

• Connect trails and pathways to business corridors

• Increase prevalence of bike lanes throughout region

• Reduce reliance on single-occupancy vehicles in local communities

• Create more walkable neighborhoods

2024 Priority: Circular Agriculture

Circular agriculture refers to closed-loop systems in which the resources used during the process of growing, processing, and selling agricultural products are produced with minimum waste and use locally sourced inputs. In other terminology: what is grown here is processed here, sold here, and put back into the soil here cleanly. Focus groups highlighted profitability and market share as important components of a successful circular agricultural strategy and suggested that a circular model can lead to greater productivity and profit margins.

Additionally, a focus on sales within the region has the added benefit of strengthening the local food systems. At a time when the world is facing supply chain issues, potential droughts, and inflation, it may be critical to the region’s residents to have ready access to affordable and nutritious food.

Progress report

With stakeholders in Clay, Wilkin, Becker and Otter Tail Counties and a combination of private and public partnership, PartnerSHIP 4 Health completed a Regional Food Plan.

“Easy wins” for the region’s agriculture sector were identified during creation of the Climate Action Plan, including best farming practices that can both mitigate climate change and open new markets and profit margins.

In partnership with the Sustainable Farming Association, West Central Initiative is hosting forums for small- and mid-sized growers to share resources, provide peer support, and find partnerships to benefit shared profitability.

West Central Initiative created a new loan program, The Good Food Loan Fund, to support new and existing small-scale farmers in the nine-county region and White Earth Nation. West Central Initiative also is seeking local and national partnerships to maximize the investments into the local food systems.

GOAL: Implement supportive systems to encourage career pathways into agriculture

Objectives

• Implement new grower financial assistance programs and institutions

• Expand local producer market reach

• Encourage small-scale supply chain usage

Strategies

• Incentivize farmers to implement best soil health practices

• Recognize farm labor practices that keep people healthy and safe

• Integrate livestock into production agriculture

• Advocate for land trusts to protect against development pressure

• Host leadership development program to support increased farmer diversity

• Incorporate process-verified certifications into coursework/curriculum

GOAL: Grow number of small and mid-scale farmers and producers

Objectives

• Support local food initiatives

• Prioritize production processes that utilize locally harvested food and fiber

Strategies

• Leverage advances in technology to streamline online purchasing options

• Improve marketing of regional and statewide resources

• Encourage self-sufficient food production

• Provide financial planning assistance to emerging farmers

• Conduct a study to assess needs for self-sufficient family farms

2024 Priority: Housing

Of all categories, “increasing housing availability” ranked third and fourth across both questions, indicating that participants place housing relatively high on their priority list for investment. Housing spans issues related to economic growth and essential need issues such as affordability, availability, and accessibility.

The region has a great degree of variability in housing needs, such as the needs of unhoused individuals in communities like Moorhead versus the needs of more rural unhoused families and individuals. Key areas of housing concern include affordable housing, housing support, rising home values, lack of new construction, as well as new construction’s high cost.

GOAL: Analyze local housing data

Objectives Strategies

• Provide technical reports on local housing and market conditions

• Determine housing affordability measures for the region

• Coordinate housing study efforts for consistency and more efficient processes

• Use studies to establish community baselines and essential needs

• Partner with and support housing shelter efforts and organizations

• Promote materials on rural versus urban poverty and homelessness

• Utilize community surveys to establish real-time housing preferences

• Coordinate efforts across communities to avoid redundancy

• Establish cost and affordability concerns

• Report local housing market conditions to plan future growth

GOAL: Expand access to funding resources

Objectives

• Seek out and advertise grants and funding resources

• Streamline grant writing support for resource- and time-constrained partners

• Suggest and advise housing policy and regional strategies

Strategies

• Establish news board with up-to-date information on state and national funding

• Integrate county or municipal Housing and Redevelopment Authorities into local housing efforts

• Support local grant efforts with letters of support, data, and technical edits

• Organize skill-share opportunities for grant writing

• Write and publish reports on rural housing issues and trends

• Spread knowledge of innovative and creative approaches

GOAL: Expand housing availability and mix

Objectives

• Expand new home construction as well as renovation and rehabilitation

• Grow housing mix beyond single-family homes

• Stabilize local tax base

Strategies

• Utilize local data collection efforts to market region to developers

• Connect regional partners with speakers, researchers, and advocates

• Advise community use of financial incentive programs

• Invite state partners to regional meetings

• Spread awareness about local housing issues to federal representatives

• Explore nontraditional housing options like accessory dwelling units, multigenerational home layouts, tiny homes, and “shouses”

• Evaluate county and local zoning ordinances

• Advocate for equitable zoning and planning efforts that reduce disparities

• Examine strategies for transitional housing for aging adults

• Engage older residents on housing succession planning