Ten Lessons Learned in Miner County

By Paul Higbee

A decade into a concerted effort to reduce local poverty and revitalize its economy and community life overall, Miner County , South Dakota can point to a litany of success:

--New employment has been created, thanks especially to local investment, and to “economic engines” that promise to propel industrial development well into the 21 st century. Those industries are renewable energy, regional health care, organic food production, a Rural Learning Center that shares rural renewal strategies nationwide, and public education.

-- Miner County is a national leader in telemedicine and other communications technologies that reduce rural isolation.

--Improved housing options have been developed for all residents, but especially for seniors who are now able to retire locally, in comfortable quarters close to quality medical amenities.

--Public school enrollment, once projected to decline sharply, has stabilized.

--Sales tax, taxable growth, home sales and other indicators point to an economic upswing in a county that had experienced economic decline from 1920 through the end of the century.

Those successes won Miner County wide attention and are keeping the Rural Learning Center a busy place. Staff take calls from rural leaders everywhere who are eager to replicate the effort, but the fact is, no community finds success by mirroring another’s work. Each must chart a course unique to its own history, resources, and emerging opportunities. There’s a saying at the Rural Learning Center : “If you’ve seen one small town, you’ve seen one small town.”

So, when it comes to helping other rural places find success similar to Miner County ’s, there another list more significant than the litany of success. It’s this list of ten general lessons learned in Miner County as revitalization moved forward:

Miner County Lessons

Ten Lessons Learned in Miner County