Reviving the Hamlets of Madison County
Adam Weinberg is trying to bring an economic revival to the hamlets of Madison County.
He was instrumental in forming a partnership between Colgate University, the Madison County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture called "The Hamlets of Madison County." This is a grass-roots movement to revive businesses in the depressed regions of the area. Weinberg, assistant professor of sociology at Colgate University, and about 20 students are working with low-income hamlets to develop economic development plans for their areas so they can attract businesses.
Many of the county's 26 tiny hamlets once had industries--some dating back to the 1800s. But all too often, as those industries died off, no new ones replaced them. As a result, many of those communities have few good-paying jobs and residents are forced to leave to find work. Weinberg says about 70 percent of all rural communities have no plans for attracting industry. The 30 percent that do have plans generally do better economically.
"It's like a business trying to operate with a business plan," says Weinberg. One of the main goals of the partnership is to teach the hamlets how to market themselves to entrepreneurs.
This isn't one of those programs that's long on rhetoric and short on results. The program started in February 1997. In July, Ferris Industries, a commercial lawn mower manufacturer, moved to Stockbridge Valley, bringing the first industry to the tiny hamlet in 70 years.
In Earlville, the partnership is working with two small businesses. One business is a growing wood products company. Weinberg and the students are helping them create a webpage to expand marketing, and have helped them acquire some money to purchase new equipment. The partnership is also working with two local crafts people who want to start a children's furniture factory that would employee 20 people, including some at-risk teenagers. The partnership is helping them put together a business plan.
The partnership started community forums throughout the area, too. In Eaton, the forums led to the purchase of a U-Store-It business. The business will provide two jobs, but its revenue will be used to open a community center for low-income kids, and it provides space for the community museum and for other community people to incubate small businesses.
The program reflects the changes in the country's economy, too.
"Rural America is clearly better situated to succeed in this economy than at any time in the last 20 years. Our economy no longer favors big cities as sites for industry," says Weinberg. He notes that several changes in the nature of industry could contribute to a new trend of relocations to rural areas:
* Industrial companies are smaller than 20 years ago and do not require the large labor pools that cities in the past provided.
* Smaller industries produce smaller goods and do not need to be located along major transportation corridors such as ports, major railroads or highway intersections.
* Industry is increasingly sophisticated and requires a better educated work force than ever before, as well as a higher quality of life to attract and keep workers, both of which rural America provides.
###
Editors and Reporters: If you would like more information on this program, feel free to contact Weinberg at 315-824-7076 (office). Peter Cann, executive director of the Madison Country IDA, is at 315-697-9817. Please contact Steve Infanti of Dick Jones Communications at 814-867-1963 if you need any assistance.
RSS