Community Development

Quality of life is an important determinant of economic growth and viability.

We are proud that the communities of Pottawatomie County are safe, clean, blessed with high quality education, health care and transportation. Some of our most rural communities also have broad-band internet access, as does every dwelling and business in our primary city. We are working with communications companies and local communities to expand that coverage throughout the county at present.

The corporation continues to work with local communities to further enhance transportation and communications infrastructure, rural housing, water, waste disposal, health and other public facilities, parks, schools, recreation facilities and programs, cultural facilities and programs, and visitor attractions.

Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation and our towns are proud to help our county be a "Best Place in America".

Community Development Resources

• Kansas Department of Commerce
  Kansas Department of Commerce (KDOC) has a divided mission to support both community and economic development. KDOC has a number of programs that support community development initiatives (some financially), such as housing rehabilitation, School to Careers, Kansas Main Street, Community Development Block Grants, community attraction development grants, and community capacity building. To learn more about these programs, click the Grants button at the top of their page.
• Kansas PRIDE
  The Kansas PRIDE organization is a community self-help program. The PRIDE program provides professional and technical assistance to your community. Take a look at their web page and see for yourself some of the creative community endeavors that have occurred under the auspices of the PRIDE program.
• Huck Boyd Institute
  The Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural development is a public/private partnership between the Huck Boyd Foundation and Kansas State University. Their mission is to help rural people help themselves. Certain well-utilized programs are offered, such as First Impressions which sends professional outsiders into your community to write a first impression report. Ron Wilson, the director of Huck Boyd, is an excellent speaker and is well recommended for your community group.
• KCCED
  The Kansas Center for Community and Economic Development is partnership between KSU and KU rural development programs. They offer technical assistance, publications, and annual conference and more. A community development organization should, in the least, know who's and what's about KCCED.
• Center for Rural Studies
  The Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont has placed on the web a case study pertaining to conducting a community visual analysis. It is a pretty good example of how one inventories the qualities of a community.
• K-State Research and Extension
  Kansas State University's Research and Extension Office has a number of resourceful articles online. Weed through the farming articles and you can find many good articles here on community development, leadership, and other topics; pdf format. Don't forget that you can scroll pretty far down the page.
• Community Toolbox
  University of Kansas' Community Toolbox is one of the finest sources of information for community building techniques. Thousands of pages of info are available in which one can study the procedures for developing a strategic plan to developing leadership and implementing community change.
• Rural Development Perspectives
  This is the home page of the Rural Development Perspectives journal. The journal is produced by USDA's Economic Research Service. It is an inexpensive journal, but if you want to save money they have put many of the articles on line which can be downloaded by using Adobe Acrobat. The articles are by various academicians across the nation, but are dummed-up enough for us normal folks to understand. Each issue carries a different rural development theme.
• USDA Rural Empowerment Zone
  This web site features USDA's Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program. The EZ/EC program is focuses on strategic planning for communities with high rates of poverty; funding packages and grants accompany the planning. This site contains a helpful community toolbox and some interesting case studies in community development.
• Local Contact for USDA Rural Development Loan and Grant Program
  Ron Dickey
  Member Services Director
  / Economic Development Coordinator
  Bluestem Electric Cooperative, Inc.
  614 East Highway 24
  P.O. Box 5
  Wamego, Kansas 66547
  Ph: 785-456-2212
  rond@bluestemelectric.com
  
• Western Rural Development Center
  This limited site contains some excellent articles online that pertain to issues concerning tourism such as impact analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and estimating visitation days. Subjects beyond tourism are covered also. The site is by the Western Rural Development Center at Oregon State University. There are also many inexpensive pamphlets that can be ordered.
• Kansas Humanities Council
  The Kansas Humanities Council is a funding agency for community development projects that fall within the realm of the humanities or heritage.. They have a number of different program including a Speakers Bureau for community events. Grants are offered in several rounds a year, and the mini-grants are offered year-round.
• USDA Rural Development
  USDA Rural Development features a number of programs in the community development/affordable housing/community facilities arena. Both low interest loans and grants can be found. USDA RD is probably one of the largest funders of CD projects.
• Kansas State Historical Society
  This is an excellent link for those seeking grant funding. It lists all of the programs that are offered by four different state agencies and offers links directly to those programs. If you are looking for a link to the Kansas Arts commission - start here.