Cindy Wallace, Executive Director of the Carbon County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC), attended the 26th National Rural Economic Development Association (NREDA) Annual Conference. Wallace is one of three people in Wyoming who belong to NREDA, and she brought home new tactics to help out Carbon County businesses.
“Basically, [CCEDC is] out there trying to do the same thing [as other NREDA communities]. We work in our communities and counties and try to be a resource,” Wallace said of economic planning in Carbon County. According to Wallace, NREDA works well for Carbon County, compared to economic planning organizations that focus on urban projects. They focus on strategies to help smaller communities with smaller budgets.
“[NREDA] originally started out as an organization with rural, local community utility companies, like electric co-operatives and telephone co-operatives,” Wallace said. According to Wallace, the economic development people were involved with these organizations at first. As such, in modern times, NREDA focuses largely on broadband and telephone companies.
“There was about 110 people there from 24 states. It was a mixture between economic development people and people who work in utilities,” Wallace said of the NREDA conference in Denver, Colo. She spoke of a lecture given by Jon Schallert, of The Schallert Group, Inc., which emphasized the unique politics of rural businesses for which people may have to travel many miles to visit. “One thing [Schallert] mentioned—you’ve got to look at your business as a destination. What one thing makes you unique and stands out, that people—when they hear your business name—what do they think of? And what would make them drive a hundred miles to come to your store?” Wallace said.
“I’d like to do a little bit more on social media and learn some of that. One thing I came out to do—I will probably go to my cities and towns and do an [Economic Development] 101-type presentation,” Wallace said of upcoming efforts. She explained that these presentations would help local people to understand exactly what economic development is and how to utilize different strategies.
Wallace explained that she was planning to utilize new technology organized by Community Development Finance Authority. “It’s called the Rural Project Marketplace. They said it’s an interactive forum for rural communities and private sector investors to connect your rural project with financing and funding,” Wallace said. “So, if you have a project, there’s a possibility you can go to this forum, present it, and see if there’s anybody interested in helping to invest in it.”
“We’re wanting to see if we can develop a tax increment finance district to clean up part of the west end of Rawlins, and it works, and there is a way to do it, to follow through with other communities in Carbon County if they have any [projects] like that,” Wallace said of the project she is presenting to the Rural Project Marketplace.
Additionally, Wallace discussed loan programs for rural utility co-operatives, such as Carbon Power & Light. “Through USDA, they have what’s called a RED (Rural Economic Development) Light program,” Wallace said. “The rural utility cooperatives can take out the loan and lend it out to small businesses with a very, very low interest rate. We did that in Kansas when I worked there but I haven’t seen a lot of it down here in Wyoming, especially in Carbon County.”
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