MINER COUNTY COMMUNITY REVITALIZATION
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Preliminary Benchmarks
The Miner County community, through lengthy discussion and study, agreed on three goals that will serve, through the strategies to meet those goals, to orient the community's activities as they seek to reduce poverty making Miner County a more stable, cooperative community that creates and sustains quality life opportunities for all who live or work in Miner County through inclusive and informed decision-making.
The strategic plan signals the beginning of a long-term endeavor. Benchmarks are the measures that inform the community on where they started from and allow for annual assessment of whether progress is made. The benchmarks on the following pages:
- relate in a direct way to achievement of the long-term goals;
- are updated annually;
- are readily accessible to the community or produced by the community;
- can realistically be expected to change in response to community actions;
- are an important source of ongoing education for community members.
A part of choosing baseline measures is also to consider the extent to which the community can evaluate its progress through use of its own resources. The community of Miner County intends for local citizens, and especially high school students, to play a major role in collecting the benchmark measures. The Howard Public High School already initiates excellent community analyses through its ongoing Rural Challenge program. The high school's continued participation is anticipated through compiling the annual benchmark data and generating an annual progress report for the community.
Measures from Secondary Data Sources
- Total population. Disaggregate data by age cohort, births, deaths and in-and out-migration to adequately assess benchmark overtime. It will be important to know which age cohorts are expanding to plan appropriate services as well as to know whether population growth is occurring naturally or is a result of strategic efforts on behalf of the county. Data available annually.
- Total personal income. This measure provides an indication of positive economic and demographic changes. Per capita income can increase even without economic growth. If the population declines and income remains the same, per capita income goes up. Therefore this benchmark will have to be evaluated in coordination with total population. This measure is available from Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) annually but unfortunately it lags 2 years behind.
- Assessed valuation of nonagricultural property. Much of the plan is based on making and attracting new investments. This benchmark will measure what new investment is occurring as development augments the valuation of nonagricultural property. Data available annually.
- Number of private and public sector employers classified by number of employees. According to county business patterns for 1998 there were 77 private sector employers in the county, 54 employed from 1-4 persons, 15 employed from 5-9, 6 employed from 10-19. Only 1 employed more than 50. This measure will assess whether entrepreneurship efforts are producing results and whether the community is successful in business retention and expansion. Data available annually.
- County income derived from retirement and Medicare transfer payments. Recently there has been an out-migration of persons in the retirement age population, which is having an economic effect on the entire county. When retired people leave they take their entitlements with them along with their savings and other sources of personal income. This benchmark measures financial capital in the county as well as the financial loss or gain to the county depending on shifts in the retirement age population. Data is available annually.
- Average annual earnings of wage and salary workers, nonfarm proprietors, and farm proprietors. Currently Miner County ranks lowest among its neighboring counties in average earnings per worker. This measure will inform the community as to how successful they are in terms of people being able to earn a living through economic diversification and development initiatives. Data available annually from BEA.
- Other transfer payments. Aside from retirement payments (largest component) other transfer payments coming to the county are intended for income maintenance. As the county seeks to reduce poverty a decline in income maintenance transfer payments can be taken as a measure of success. Data available annually.
- Major components of community's economic export base. This benchmark will measure the success of Miner County to diversify its economy. Data available annually.
Measures Which Can/Must Be Obtained Locally
Some of the most valuable benchmark data can, and must, be collected locally if it is to be available. The process of collecting the data and reporting it can be a very important means of building effective working relationships and social capital within the community.
- Assessment of the number and affordability of new homes, apartments, and remodeled homes and apartments brought into service. Due to the emphasis placed on housing in the strategic plan it is essential to have an annual measure of progress. Local governments, realtors, and community residents can acquire this measure.
- Assessment of total amount of new investment in community. This relates especially to the goal of encouraging local investment in the community and must be gathered locally through self-reporting or collection.
- Assessment of multiple job holding rate in Miner. This addresses the community's goal of each working-age adult working the equivalent of one full-time job. This must be gathered locally through self-reporting or collection.
- Number of students eligible for free- and reduced-price school lunch. This is the best regularly generated data on the proportion of lower-income children in school. Measures of the proportion of children below the poverty line are only available every three or more years from the Current Population Survey.
- Number of daycare centers publicly available and the number of children receiving care. The only published data for this information pertains to licensed centers and they only care for a small portion of the total demand. There are three of those in Miner County. The county recently completed an assessment of day care and the providers. There are currently 172 children age 1-4 in the county and it is safe to conclude that at least 80 percent of the mothers are employed outside the home.
- Determination of the number of value-added agricultural enterprises in the county, the number of farmers involved, and estimated economic impact. This is a very important issue and the most probable way of improving farm income. This information will need to be gathered by local informants.
- An annual survey to determine the educational, occupational, and locational aspirations of high school students. Survey would determine whether high school students are including the possibility of living their life in Miner County and whether they perceive financially rewarding opportunities in the county.
- An annual survey of county population to determine their judgement about local quality of life and how much they know about Miner County and changes occurring. Citizens should participate in constructing the questionnaire so it evaluates those things Miner County residents consider important. It is widely agreed that a key to rural development is a more informed local citizenry. Building capacity in the county for the community to think strategically and make informed, inclusive decisions while developing leadership is a integral part of the community's plan as stated in their vision. In order to make more informed decisions an effort is being initiated through MCCR to have citizens be more aware of the current facts about the county. That effort is linked to achieving progress in all four strategic objectives.
- Miner County supply of social capital. One of the goals relates very explicitly to the production and utilization of social capital. Some of the activities, like the community learning center, have as a goal not only a more informed citizenship but also the further production of social capital. There are various relatively simple measures that can be a part of such an assessment: church attendance (if people are withdrawing from active community involvement church attendance will suffer); extent of parental involvement in school activities; voting percentage in local, state and national elections; how important projects are undertaken (do they involve collaboration of several different agencies and/or organizations?). The overall success of the Miner County project is going to depend greatly on building and mobilizing social capital.
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