Iowa Rural Summit Agenda
Wed April 10
12:00-5:00 Early Registration
Hotel Grinnell, First Floor
1:00-4:00 Housing Development in Rural Iowa – “Raising Rooftops,”
Drake Public Library, 930 Park Street
•Getting Ready for New Housing
•Collaborating to Build Workforce Housing
•Overcoming Internal Obstacles
1:00-4:00 Downtown Grinnell Historic District walking tours. Guided tour of Merchants National Bank.
Meet at Grinnell Chamber, 833 4th Avenue
5:00-7:00 Welcome Reception
Peace Tree Brewing Company, 923 Main Street
Sponsored by Trusted Energy and The Bill Menner Group
7:00 Dinner on Your Own
Thur April 11
7:00-8:45 Registration
Hotel Grinnell, First Floor
9:00-12:30 Plenary Sessions
Hotel Grinnell, Second Floor Auditorium
9:00-9:10 Grinnell Mayor Dan Agnew
9:10-9:15 Iowa Rural Development Council Chair Sandy Ehrig
9:15-9:30 Iowa Economic Development Authority/Iowa Finance Authority Director Debi Durham
9:30-10:30 Patrick Woodie, North Carolina Rural Center CEO
Growing Better, Together!
10:30-11:00 Exhibitor Overview
11:00-11:30 Break
11:30-12:30 Empower Rural Iowa – What We’ve Learned and What Comes Next
Sponsored by the Iowa Finance Authority
- Debi Durham, IEDA/IFA (Facilitator)
- Dave Duncan, ICA, and Kevin Cabbage, FMTC, Connecting Iowa Rural
- Jim Thompson, IEDA and Jennifer Crall, Iowa Select, Growing Rural Iowa
- Sue Cosner, IADG and Terri Rosonke IFA, Investing in Rural Iowa
12:30-1:45 Working Lunch; Facilitated Tables
Hotel Grinnell First Floor Event Center
Sponsored by Grinnell Mutual, Grinnell College, Grinnell Chamber and Grinnell Tourism
1:45-2:15 Break, Visit Exhibitors
2:15-3:00 Explore the Work of Empower
Drake Public Library, 930 Park Street
Sponsored by Aureon Ripple Effect
Grinnell Arts Center Main Gallery, 926 Broad Street
UCC Church Basement, 902 Broad Street
Sponsored by McClure
Hotel Grinnell Auditorium
Sponsored by IEDA
3:00 -3:30 Break
3:30-4:15 Key Issues Confronting Rural Communities: Iowa Case Studies
Grinnell Arts Center Main Gallery, 926 Broad Street
Drake Public Library, 930 Park Street
Sponsored by Delta Dental
UCC Church Basement, 902 Broad Street
4:30 IEDA Community Catalyst Awards
SBA Top Lender Award, Rural Markets
Hotel Grinnell First Floor Event Center
- Governor Kim Reynolds
- Lt. Governor Adam Gregg
- Jayne Armstrong, SBA District Director
5:15 Rural Recognition Reception, Hotel Grinnell Event Center
Sponsored by Iowa Farm Bureau Federation
7:00 Dinner on Your Own
Fri April 12
7:00-8:00 Buffet Breakfast; Facilitated Team Work – Tables from Lunch
Hotel Grinnell First Floor Event Center
8:00-12:00 Plenary Sessions
Hotel Grinnell Second Floor Auditorium
8:00-8:05 Iowa Rural Development Council Executive Director Bill Menner
8:05-8:15 Sid Jones, President, Home State Bank, Jefferson
Taking Action: Lessons from Past Summits!
8:15-9:15 Rural Communities and Anchor Institutions
Sponsored by IADG Community Foundation
– Jim Thompson, IEDA (Facilitator)
– Brett Antczak, CEO, Palo Alto County Health System
– Tina Bakehouse, Chief Creative Officer, Malvern State Bank
– Raynard Kington, President, Grinnell College
– Deb Lucht, CEO, Minburn Communications
9:15 – 10:00 KCCI TV Anchor Eric Hanson and Bill Menner
45 Ideas in 45 Minutes: Your Chance to Share Your Best Practice
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:00 Telling the Rural Story – Getting the Word Out!
Sponsored by Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area
- Eric Hanson, KCCI-TV (Facilitator)
- Linc Kroeger, Executive, Pillar Technologies
- Bonnie Ramsey, Co-Owner, Ramsey’s Market, Lenox
- Carly Cummings, Events Manager, FarmHer, Inc.
11:00-11:45 Ryan Taylor, North Dakota Writer/Rancher/Philosopher
The Logic of a Cowboy: Rural Reflections and Rope Tricks
Sponsored by The Bill Menner Group
11:45-12:00 IRDC Vice-Chair Rand Fisher
Community Challenge and Send-off 12:00 A
Rural Leaders to Focus on Development Next Week
GRINNELL, IOWA – Leaders from more than 75 Iowa rural communities will gather in Grinnell next week to seek solutions to issues confronting them and share ideas and successes.
The third Iowa Rural Development Summit will be held in Grinnell April 10-12, bringing together elected officials, business leaders and community members from towns with populations as small as 565.
The Summit is sponsored by the Iowa Rural Development Council (IRDC), a public-private state non-profit that works to support small towns addressing issues such as housing, broadband access, day care, business development and leadership.
“We are thrilled to have such a crowd coming to the Summit,” said IRDC Chair Sandy Ehrig. “We continue to grow and that demonstrates the value rural leaders are getting from the Summit.”
Ehrig, who was appointed co-chair of Governor Kim Reynold’s “Empower Rural Iowa” task force last year, said the goals of the governor’s initiative are embedded in the Summit agenda.
“A number of sessions will reflect the Empower focus,” Ehrig added. “Growing rural Iowa, connecting rural Iowa, and investing in rural Iowa are all elements that every small town has to consider as they look ahead.”
The Summit will highlight success stories and local case studies throughout its 1½ day program. For example, the city of Humboldt will share the story of its journey to a new day care center, a challenge many rural communities are facing today. And the city of Mount Vernon will share its efforts to expand the number of retail businesses downtown.
Another Summit highlight will be the announcement of the 2019 Iowa Community Catalyst awards, $100,000 grants from the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the restoration or demolition of commercial buildings.
Ehrig says plans are already underway for the next Iowa Rural Development Summit, April 15-17, 2020.
Summit to Welcome Governor, Lt Governor
Governor Kim Reynolds and Lt Governor Adam Gregg will be in Grinnell on Thursday, April 11 to attend the Iowa Rural Development Summit and help recognize recipients of the 2019 IEDA Community Catalyst awards.
The governor last year launched the Empower Rural Iowa initiative, asked Lt. Gov Gregg and Iowa Rural Development Council Chair Sandy Ehrig to lead it, appointed a 66-member task force and set a three-pronged approach to rural empowerment.
Those priorities – Connect, Grow and Invest — are the cornerstones of the 2019 Summit agenda, which is being hosted for the third time by the Rural Development Council, a statewide alliance of public and private partners focused on rural vitality.
Rural communities of under 15,000 are invited to bring a three-person team to the Summit. Registration can be completed here and must be done by March 29th.
The Summit begins with an optional workshop on rural housing Wednesday, April 10th. It starts officially at 9am on Thursday, April 11th and concludes at noon on Friday, April 12th.
All Summit activities will be held in or adjacent to the Hotel Grinnell.
For questions or additional information, contact director@iowardc.org.
Rural Community Revitalization Program Manager Position – IEDA
The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) is seeking a Rural Community Revitalization (RCR) Program Manager to lead the state’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative.
The goal of the initiative is to make rural Iowa communities attractive places for people to live and work. The RCR Program Manager will be responsible for providing the overall direction, coordination, implementation, execution, control and completion of specific objectives outlined for the initiative, including developing, designing, implementing and overseeing a long-term strategy and plan for revitalizing rural Iowa communities statewide based on findings and recommendations of the Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Task Forces and analysis of data and information, state and federal laws, rules and regulations and state and federal programs.
The RCR Program Manager will develop a plan with clear scope, goals and deliverables and collaborate with partners and stakeholders, including teams within IEDA, other state agencies, and public and private entities that are engaged in rural community and economic development or leadership development, to determine how best to assist rural Iowa communities to thrive by addressing challenges that exist in rural Iowa.
In addition, the program manager will advise the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and IEDA Director regarding issues and strategies related to rural economic and community development and policy related to revitalizing rural Iowa communities. Finally, the candidate will work with IEDA staff and
resources to create and execute a plan to market and promote RCR initiatives and will represent IEDA’s programs to rural Iowa economic development organizations and communities.
The successful candidate will have significant knowledge and/or experience in rural economic and community development, experience collaborating with organizations and entities to achieve a desired result, project management experience, critical thinking and problem-solving skills and will be adept at planning and organizing and coalition-building. Additionally, the candidate must be well organized and able to execute on multiple fronts simultaneously, as well as be adaptable to changing circumstances. Strong written and oral communication and presentation skills are necessary for this position and travel is required.
Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major coursework in one or more relevant fields and the equivalent of five years of full-time professional level experience such as program administration, development, management or operations is required. Substitution of experience of the caliber and scope indicated above for the required
undergraduate college education on the basis one year of qualifying experience is equivalent to one year of undergraduate education.
The position will be housed in Des Moines, Iowa, at the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Salary range is $70,324.80-$107,785.60. Send cover letter and résumé no later than April 30, 2019 to: Melissa.harshbarger@iowaeda.com