Planting Futures in Rural Nebraska
This summer, UNO junior Trevor Harlow went far from home … but got much closer to his career aspirations.
Through Rural Futures Institute (RFI) Student Serviceship, Harlow, lived, worked and served alongside community leaders in Red Cloud, Nebraska, a community of 948 on the south-central border of the state. It’s best known as the childhood home of celebrated Nebraska author Willa Cather. And even though it bills itself as “America’s Most Famous Small Town,” community leaders are seeking a higher profile — and growth.
Enter Harlow, a political science and environmental science major who helped create a strategic marketing and economic development plan to fulfill the Heritage Tourism Development Initiative.
The primary aims were to increase visibility of the Red Cloud brand and to persuade local voters to approve application of Nebraska’s Local Option Municipal Economic Development Act (LB840), which authorizes incorporated cities and villages to collect and appropriate local tax dollars for economic development purposes.
“I hope to learn great and innovative ways to support community development and gain skills that I can utilize to support my hopeful career in government,’ Harlow, a Waterloo, Neb., native shared before heading to Red Cloud. ‘I’m excited to be able to work in any way I can to support an amazing community such has Red Cloud, but specifically I’m very excited to do anything in the political realm.”
Harlow was one of three Mavericks participating in RFI’s program. Also representing UNO were Clayton Keller and Kyle McGlade, both graduate students in public administration.
Keller lived and worked in Columbus, Nebraska, where he split his time between the Columbus Area Future Fund and Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. He played an integral role in the Future Fund’s “Toward a Bolder Future Campaign” while also planning and organizing local activities for Young Nebraskans Week. He even helped promote a lemonade stand that raised funds to fight childhood cancer.
McGlade worked with the Omaha Municipal Land Bank to support legislation to develop housing strategies for regional organizations in rural communities across Nebraska.
RFI, one of four interdisciplinary institutes working across the University of Nebraska system, employed 24 students this summer from UNO, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Peru State College. Working in pairs, they served 11 communities, problem-solving and creating opportunities in housing, community recruitment, community planning, welcoming, economic development and more. The work included strategic planning; event planning; assessment creation and analysis; visioning; and marketing.
“We want to thank everyone who makes this program possible, especially the community host teams,” RFI Executive Director Chuck Schroeder says. “We are honored to have such great trust relationships with Nebraska’s rural communities and to be able to connect them with so many high-level students from the University of Nebraska. We know that the more rural experiences we can give our student leaders, the better perspective they will have as they take on leadership roles throughout the course of their careers.”
Extended details, including student bios and community project descriptions, are available at ruralfutures.nebraska.edu/2018serviceship.
— Jessica Yrkoski, University Communications