It’s sometimes a struggle.

As provincial populations dip and rural areas bear the brunt of the decline, many small towns in Saskatchewan are in a fight for their lives.

It’s somewhat comforting to know that agriculture-based areas in the U.S. are experiencing a similar phenomenon, and that their town leaders face some of the same challenges as we in Saskatchewan do. A feature article from the Centre for Rural Affairs in Nebraska had me nodding my head all the way through. Take a look at the centre’s top 10 reasons why rural community development is so hard to do:

1. People don’t understand what community development is - Community leaders tend to put characteristics in with community development that constrict the definition. Often it is confused with other development ideas such as economic development, infrastructure, schools, social, culture and business development. Community development is all of these things, but not packaged separately. Contrary to the belief that any one of these can fix or solve problems that need to be addressed, it takes all of them to complete the puzzle we call community development.

2. Differences between rural and urban - agencies and funding sources often try to address community development as if what worked for urban areas will also work for rural areas.

3. Understanding community gate keepers - Rural communities are made up of social groups called the gate keepers. This may prove to be one of the most difficult aspects of community development in small rural towns. Gate keepers are usually people who have lived in the community for years and have prospered. They do not want to see new community development come in and take away what they have acquired. These people often resist big changes with statements like, ‘we don’t need that,’ or ’it was good enough for me when I was growing up.’

4. Change is not comfortable - Like the gate-keeper mentality, change is also a barrier to community development. Comfort levels and routine are easier to understand for most community members. Large-scale change is uncomfortable and often hard work.

5. Parochial attitudes - Parochial attitudes in small rural communities address the ability for these areas to shut themselves off from the outside. Communities, particularly small rural communities in the Midwest, have the notion that they have always managed to do it on their own, and they don’t need any outside help.

The problem with this attitude today is that small rural communities cannot do it on their own as we transition from a local to a global economy.

6. Lack of resources and capacity - Due to depopulation, the changing face of agriculture and the dwindling businesses in towns, the ability to find what we need locally has diminished. We may still need to buy products out of town and we may need to ask for help from outside agencies. But when we make our own community development choices, we can strengthen the local economy based upon the diversity our choices bring.

7. Negative attitudes - It is easier to be an art critic than it is to be an artist. In small rural community development, we all know what we will hear from many of the residents of a town. It is nearly always negative and destructive. You can find out what is wrong with a community in one hour at the local coffee shop, but it can take days to find out what’s good. We need to focus on positive contributions of the community and its people to the world as we know it.

8. Lack of participation across the generations - This question is always brought up in two ways. The lack of volunteers for community events causes an outcry, yet youths and senior citizens complain of not being asked to participate in a meaningful way. Communication is a big key to crossing generations and finding a meaningful way to include all of the community rather than a few overworked individuals.

9. Purpose of existence - Community identity is often clouded by confusion over the true motive for the community’s existence. Every small town in America, rural or not , has an identity and a purpose. This is part of the culture that is passed from one generation to the next. Communities have forgotten why they exist, and when change has altered that reason, they have not learned to adapt to the change.

10. Leadership capacity - Of all the factors and indicators of small town demise, the lack of leadership is the biggest of all. There is untapped leadership in every community, and the goal should be looking for those resources.

Knowing these things doesn’t solve the problem, but it sure does help to identify the issues – which is always a good start.

So, rally your best leaders, embrace change and, for goodness sakes, bring a positive attitude to coffee row - that’s something we all can do.

Christalee welcomes comments:lcfroese@sasktel.net