The Brookings Institution found plenty to like about Emporia’s economic climate in a recent set of reports.
In a joint effort with National Main Street, the Brookings Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking selected three rural cities — Laramie, Wyoming; Wheeling, West Virginia; and Emporia — that have been outperforming what it considers certain standard business metrics. It spent much of the year studying the reasons for that overall performance and it released a series of briefs with its findings earlier this month.
Emporia Main Street Director Casey Woods says Brookings looked at the three cities from an entrepreneurial and asset-building perspective.
One of the things the Brookings report found that it didn’t find with the other two communities was Emporia’s ethnic diversity, which has led recently to an emphasis on large-scale community events. It also recognizes Emporia’s ongoing efforts to diversify and expand the business community.
The report also indicates potential areas of improvement, including jobs that lift the median income, jobs that engage a “forward-thinking” approach to the future, engaging educational institutions to reduce the so-called “brain drain” and new approaches to tourism.
Once coronavirus is out of the picture, Woods also says Emporia needs to actively pursue other business development programs and possible grant funding, both to keep existing businesses operating and to develop new ventures.
The overall report had several conclusions:
*Main Street organizations are a key driver of “equitable economic recovery” for rural areas
*Rural small businesses need local solutions to survive
*Rural resilience relies on a “flexible, accessible and healthy built environment”
*Rural Main Street organizations need to bridge social divides before achieving economic revival
Click here for the Brookings Institution report.
Click here for the National Main Street cover sheet.
