(music) Hey everyone, I'm Sheila Jenkinson and you are listening to the Growing Small Town Nebraska Podcast where my co-host, Marcie Sextro, and I ask community leaders and business owners about their efforts in revitalizing the Cornhusker State. If you love your small town and you're looking for ways to make it even better, or maybe you're interested in what this revitalization movement may mean for you and your family. Join us as we talk with small town Nebraskans making our state the definition of "The Good Life."
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Susan Norris is with us in the podcast booth today. She is the executive director for the Pierce County Economic Development and the PCED a nonprofit focused on housing, economic development, placemaking and leadership in Pierce County. Welcome to the podcast. Susan.
Thank you.
You're welcome. She's also my classmates from high school wife. Susan and I met at a class reunion. I don't even know how long ago that was now...
...ten years...
Was it? 10 years.
10 years.
Yeah, we've kind of kept in contact ever since. That's our connection. And of course, we're talking about Pierce County. I grew up in Plainview (going) well, I grew up in Antelope County, but I grew up going to school in Plainview in Pierce County. So I am super excited to talk to you today,Susan. Thank you.
Yes, you are a super busy woman. Pierce County has some fantastic growth in the last six years. So tell us a little bit about your business growth and how you made that happen.
So in the last six years, Pierce County has welcomed 60 new business owners. And that's a tremendous amount of growth, for a county of 7300. There are several ways that we made that happen. One of the things that we did with each of our communities is we took them through a process called E cap. And it stands for entrepreneurial community activation process.
Say that three times fast.
(laughing)
It's a program offered by the University of Nebraska Lincoln. The goal is to align a community and its city leaders behind common goals and visions. And when we get that kind of synergy, that is when we see the progress really happen. So they came in and we basically created a survey for the community, the good, the bad, the ugly, we didn't hide anything, we really wanted to know what the residents thought. And they gave us all of their ideas, their top priorities and several categories from recreation and streets to economic development. And then we followed it up with four townhall meetings that were moderated by the university. So everyone's got to have their voices heard. And I think what we saw was the people in the communities realize that other people were thinking the same things they were.
Good.
And so it really empowered them to kind of lift their voices up. And then the cities...what's easy for them is, when you have one or two people coming to a council meeting, and you know, they're wanting a change, or they're complaining about something, it's really easy to dismiss that. But when you have three or four or 500 people responding to a survey, and then coming to meetings to develop action plans and steps to address some of those concerns, that changes things. It gives that city council and those city leaders more momentum to go ahead and take that risk. So we did that. And it's a six month process. And we did it with each community across the county. And what we saw coming out of that was a collaboration. We identified some hidden leaders out of the community that were really passionate about wanting to see things change.
So Plainview was the first place that we did it. And when we did e cap in Plainview, they hadn't had a new business in about 10 years. They had 12 or 13 vacant buildings downtown.
Oh, yeah.
No new housing in several years. So we went through e cap. And the results of the community was saying we want the downtown full, we want every building sold. We want new businesses. We want to double our population in 10 years. We want new housing and it seems so incredible for a community that hadn't had a lot of you know, movement in 10 years.
It seemed way out of reach.
It did. I remember looking at that thinking, how are we going to do this, but because the residents stepped forward and because the city was open to listening, the city was willing to invest in themselves and take some risks. We created an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The city put aside some funding to help businesses get going. And six years later, Plainview has 30 new businesses, they've created over 150 new jobs. The downtown is full, we don't have a building left. We're going through a downtown revitalization, fixing up those buildings. We're now looking at getting into Creative District, we have had new housing, all of the rental units and Plainview has turned over in the last year. So they've all been remodeled. We built new townhomes through some grants, but it allowed the city to take some funding and invest in those grant matches, and start doing these things that build some momentums. Plainview has won a number of awards for the progress they've made in the last five or six years. So we took that model rapid economic growth, and we were kind of importing it into Osmond, into PIerce, into Hadar; and they've all seen some success along the way.
So yeah, six years later, we have 60 businesses. One of the unexpected outcomes is that our business owner age went from the average of 55, or 60, is now 30. And so the Chamber of Commerce has gotten younger, our events are getting, you know, they're different. They're a little more fun. And they're geared toward a younger mindset. But yeah, it's been a lot of vibrancy across the county. And a lot of that can be attributed to the E cap process.
I think it's one of the things that's important is moving a little bit with the times as far as keeping current. So when you have various age ranges, that really helps with that. So yeah, Plainviews not just all about the clowns.
(laughing) There you go.
It's just not. There's a lot going on there. I actually drive an hour to get my hair done. Bree at Pure Revival. That's one of those new businesses.
Yep, one of the new businesses.
She's young and very fun. And Jacquie's there and...
There's the Med Spa in there now.
Oh, very nice. Yeah.
So three, three new business owners in one location.
Yeah. And Patsy joined and they're a great team. So yeah, an hour to go get my hair done. And it's so worth it. Just to drive to get there but and plus I get to see my hometown.
Susan, each of your towns in Pierce County, they have some new projects going for economic development, kind of give us a rundown of each town and a project that you're excited about within that community.
So in PIerce, we just completed a three duplex project $1.4 million, that opened up 10 new rental units, which was great, they are full and vibrant. We have been working with their Chamber of Commerce, the local bank Midwest Bank, there took all the information that came out of their E cap process and created a nonprofit called the Pierce prosperity fund. And so they are also focusing on revitalizing Pierce. One of the things that they did is the bank owns some land just west of the high school. So great location. They worked with the city, they worked with PCD. And they opened up phase one of a new subdivision and 15 lots and five are sold. And there's some houses being built already, but they're beautiful. You know, that's an example of that community collaboration that can happen when things start going. Phase two is additional lots. So we're really excited. We always thought Phase two would open in a couple of years. But as fast as those lots are selling, we're going to have to be doing that sooner rather than later.
One of the other things that the residents of Pierce really asked for was park improvements. So we're taking a very underutilized park. Pierce has two. Gilman is the one everyone knows it has the beautiful Arboretum's and the gardens and the pool, but Chilver's Park is a little pocket park right by the courthouse, and it had just a basketball court a tennis, court fairly underutilized. We decided to do a splash pad project, one of the things of the residents said that they didn't like about their current pool was it was not a zero entry. So it wasn't really friendly for little kids...
I lifeguarded at that pool for a couple of years.
Did ya?
(laughing)
There wasn't really any inclusive play area for children with disabilities. So the splashpad project came about and we decided to put it in Chilver's park because it was not utilized very well. And then the city took it a step further. And we're going to redo the basketball courts with a new snap flooring that you see in some of the communities. And then the student council at the high school got really excited about the project. And they decided to redo the tennis courts and turn it into pickleball courts.
Yay.
Yeah. So I mean, that's kind of some exciting things there. But we have four new businesses that have opened in Pierce just in the last couple years from retail and restaurant, you know, to service based. So really exciting things happening for Pierce right now.
In Osmond we just took them through a downtown revitalization plan to kind of take their downtown and in envision what it would look like if we could redo the entire streetscape and take their approach from Highway 20 and not make it look so industrial but make it look more welcoming.
That's awesome
And we had a lot of participation from their business owners, the city We fundraised to create that plan for them. So the local bank put in 10,000 or 14,000 PCD put in some money. So we started to see again that community collaboration and make things happen. And that's been really exciting. And then the the firm that was hired to do that project contacted me a couple of weeks ago and said they had submitted that plan for an award a design award because it came out so good. And the reason it came out so good was because of that community engagement. we've transitioned their grocery store from the previous owner to a new owner, and that succession plan went really well. The former owner is still involved, is willing to help and share his expertise and make sure that that grocery store continues to serve the community. But they welcomed some other new businesses as well. Third Street Bar and Grill is a prime example of another community collaboration project.
Osmond was really hard hit by the 2019 flood, and virtually everything on the east side had to be rebuilt as far as the downtown area. So we saw farmers and business owners and people coming together to rebuild these buildings and invest in some of these businesses. And 3rd Street Bar & Grill is an example of one of those businesses that they invested in, you know, just to make sure that the community had a restaurant.
They have a new superintendent at their high school. And one of the things that we're doing across the county is childcare. Everybody's experiencing the shortage. And we were lucky enough to become a C4K community. And so in Osmond, the school is really actually starting to explore Cradle to Cap, so early childhood education from six weeks through graduation, which it would be, you know, a really amazing project if it can happen here. And we also just recently opened a childcare center in Osmond...just opened it two weeks ago. So a building that was owned by some investors, they decided that they really needed to have childcare, they found a provider and we work with them. 33 children now have childcare in Osmond.
That makes such a difference. You have to have the childcare to have the people...
...to have the jobs and the population you want to increase population is such a great factor that you have in your county. That's wonderful.
Yeah. So as Osmond's been really good about the unity. I think the one thing that sets Osmond apart from the other communities is in a lot of our small towns people migrate out to work into a bigger city like norfork but Osmond has so much manufacturing and jobs that there's people actually coming from Norfork and the surrounding areas to work in Osmond, so you can live and work in Osmond. It creates a really strong sense of unity for that community. They're very proud of what they have.
So what are some of those big manufacturers that are there?
You have Lind and Gubbel's we have Big John's Manufacturing, West-Hodson Concrete and Lumber, Northeast Nebraska Tire and Trailer. They just have a number of businesses that you know you can come and work in Osmond. One of the things that the city also recently did for placemaking activity, they built a brand new pool and it's stunning. It was a $1.1 million project and it opened I think three years ago, but it's been phenomenal for the community. It actually was impetuous for the Pierce splashpad, because the people from Pierce saw the pool in Osmond and said hey, why don't we have something like that? And so the splash pad is a way to give them something different.
Well yeah.
Yeah.
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So explain to our listeners what placemaking is. I thought that was very interesting that you have that. And also what quality of life initiatives are? I saw on your website you have a lot about that as well.
So placemaking and quality of life initiatives. Basically, what can a community do to make living there easier, convenient and better. So we're improving your quality of life...(that) that's through the green spaces, the services that are provided. So the placemaking activities that we've completed across the county in Plainview, brand new playground system in Chilver's park, you know, shade structures over the pool. We have brand new sand volleyball courts, new benches, new lighting, all of the upgrades, you know, recreational upgrades that make those things nice but also improving that downtown making that downtown, beautiful, full, vibrant, walkable. Those are those initiatives.
In PIerce, you know, we're in the middle of a downtown revitalization right now. So fixing those buildings and making that beautiful. We're doing that park upgrade, building new housing, the residents want to come in. So Osmond, obviously for them it's the parks and the pools the ballparks.
Each of our communities is very very active and upgrading. Even Hadar. Hadar was approached by a softball team out of Norfork looking for a home. And they invested a lot of money in fixing up their ballpark and the scoreboards and they're very excited to have these...
That's exciting...
...these girls...
...yeah...
...come and play. So it spurred them to go beyond just the ballparks and they went ahead and upgraded their campground and added some new camping pads. Like it just one little thing leads to another.
It's very nice.
Yeah.
Yeah. So, I don't know if you know this about me, Susan, but I like to eat.
(laughing)
Like, any chance I get. But, you do have something called the summer food truck and I see, I see the posts. And, I'om always like...ooh, should I try it? Drive an hour to...anyway...it's really interesting. What need did you see and how did that program develop to bring those food trucks in?
Four years ago, we started the food truck program and we started in Plainview. I don't know if it's every small town, but in Pierce County, everything's closed on Monday except for Subway. There's no place to eat.
Yeah.
And it, so it becomes a food desert. And the residents were really looking for, you know, something to do. So we thought about why don't we just bring in a food truck into the city. We pay for the water, we pay for the electricity, we find them the location. And we do all the advertising to kind of spur that. And what we noticed through that program is it brought variety into the community. So we could bring, you know, an Asian food truck in or a seafood truck, something different that they weren't getting in our local area. And even though it happens on a Monday, the residents got really excited about it. The location was great because it's in a park. So the city, we pull up picnic tables, we put out trash cans. And what we started noticing is people will be tagging each other like date night in the park, grab their friends that kids can play, they'll eat, they don't have to cook. So it really became a community event for Plainview, you know the food truck Monday. And that program has grown so much over the last four years, we have trucks now coming in as far away as Lexington, York,, they want to be part of a program. The sales are great. And we've seen just this community benefit to that. It's just one more way for people to get together. And we noticed especially during COVID, how important that program became because the restaurants were shuttered and people weren't getting out. But you could go into the park and eat lunch and socially distance. Okay. And we noticed that that's when that community piece really gelled for everybody, that it really just became this activity that people look forward to. And so then Pierce wanted in on the action a little bit. We found a spot right next to the Pierce County Courthouse, which has high visibility. And so they have food truck Tuesdays. That has worked out really well for them. So now the trucks are like they'll come to Plainview on Monday leave their truck overnight, move it to Pierce on Tuesday. So it's a two day thing for them. But they're really enjoying it.
It's nice. So Mary's is my favorite restaurant because it was like my home away from home growing up. That's where I met my parents after activities. I was constantly there. Of course now it's in a different location. And Scott and Jody there do such a great job. But yeah, so I will go on a Monday, I'll be like, Can I meet you at Mary's and they have to have some time off.
Yeah, they do.
They work really hard. So it is very nice to have that option as well.
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Another thing that came out of the COVID time, I believe is your Shop Where I Live.
Yes.
And so share about that and how that's made a difference with your business community.
Yeah, we call it our mini Amazon. We learned a lot about ourselves during COVID.
Yeah...
...the schools learned that they need to do better, you know, with technology. And you know, even though we had great broadband, and we're blessed with all of this great internet activity, we weren't utilizing it to its full capability. So one of the things that we really looked at with ShopRite live is it's a virtual storefront, if your physical doors are closed, your virtual doors are always open. And one of the things that we also learned during our Ecap process is that our alumni, even though they no longer live in the community, they still want to support the community. So they will buy things local and have it shipped to their home. So it's a way for them to still kind of participate in the local economy. The site is a place where (we) PCD covers the fee, where up to 200 business owners can host products and services and just kind of have that online presence. And it's been kind of nice in one of the nice things that that company also does is they provide tutorials and webinars every week. So business owners can go on and learn like how do you how to best engage with your customers online because that's a different relationship than you have with someone when they physically walk in your door. Or what's the best way to ship a product, what's the most cost saving effective method for that?
That's a big thing.
So there's a lot of engagement that happens with that site, not just putting up your product and you know, hoping people buy it, but they are getting a lot of value out of being a participant in that program. It's gone pretty well. The hardest thing is business owners, they're stretched for time, they're feeling I don't have time for one more thing. So we try to make it really easy for them to upload the product and get their name out there. But we also learned that you know, 70% of people shop or look for you online before they ever go to your physical location.
Oh for sure.
So if they can't find you online and you know pop up anywhere, then you don't really exist. So that was another thing that was really important for our business owners to get on Shop WHere I Live and understand that it can be just an online business directory. If you don't want to do anything else. Just do that.
Yeah, it would be a really nice thing to be able to like, if you had your mom living in town and you didn't, you know, and you need to buy a gift, you know, then you can go right on there. purchase something. And I mean, since I'm always like looking for different places, because my mom lives in a different state. Where can I get something for her and have it, you know, shipped to her?
Yeah.
And locally...
That's a great idea...
...yeah, locally, it's just even better. So what great idea. So do you find, you know, as you have all these different community activities that are going on, has it helped in your growth of population? And kind of like, what kind of things do you think Pierce County does the best in the area?
It has helped with the growth in the area, Plainview alone has gone from 11, about 1100 people to 1350. And if you look at our school systems play view, the elementary schools, I mean, these are the largest classes sizes that they've ever had, you're looking at, you know, additional teachers being hired. Same situation in PIerce. And then in Osmond, I mean, we were trying to troubleshoot this childcare issue before the childcare center opened, there were 27 babies getting ready to be born and nowhere for them to go. I mean, there was a bit of a baby boom happening and Osmond. So we are seeing that our population is growing. There's, there's a number of reasons for that most of it is a lot of alumni who just want to come home. When we did the E cap process, we took it a step further, and we did poll our alumni, and we asked them, you know, do you want to come back? And if so what do you need? What does your spouse make? What kind of housing do you need? We asked a lot of questions, and 36% of them wanted to come back. We just needed to find a way to help them to do that. A lot of these new businesses that were opening are the alumni coming home, and most of them are female led businesses. So we're seeing that happen. And we also polled our high school students and 66% of the high school students and it didn't matter if it was Plainview, Pierce, Osmond. All of them wanted to come back or stay. So it was kind of like how do we find a way to help them do that.
So we've been working with the high schools and some of the high schools are doing internship programs and job shadow programs with local business owners and building those networks and finding ways to help them stay local. But yeah, we've seen our population grow in all of the communities in some of it to you know, just like Norfolk the biggest area around, the housing prices are getting a little bit high here. There's also a housing shortage in Norfolk, everyone's experiencing that. So we've been noticing what we call the bounce out effect of Norfolk for at least six years. And so you know, that just is going to continue to happen until the housing market straightens out, which we don't know when that'll happen. But yeah, but know our population has grown. And that's why we focus so much on those quality of life. placemaking things. You can live in Plainview Pierce, or Osmond and you don't have to leave, you have everything you need to live comfortably in these communities. You have doctors and dentists and the grocery stores and you have everything you need to stay local. And that's for us the most important part about small town life. Norfolk is a benefit to us, you know, Norfolk can handle the big entertainment and you know some of that employment. And that's great that the people who are choosing to live in the small town, the number one reason they gave us his family ties, and they also want their children to have the same experience that they had growing up in the same school system. So we don't feel like we compete with Norfolk, we feel like it's a partner for us. We don't look at it as like, how can we be better? It's just how can we provide livable communities that people are enjoying, and if they didn't want to go to Norfolk, they didn't have to, but we love the fact that you're so close.
What's great is that as we're seeing this revitalization sweep through Nebraska, okay, here's counties in Northeast Nebraska, you can travel to all these little towns and enjoy the benefits while you live in your community. You can enjoy what's going on in your community, then you can go to the next community, you can come to Norfolk and all of these great growth spurts that are happening in businesses and things to do just make it more desirable for these young people to stay or come back or alumni to come back. So we are definitely seeing that.
I'm just excited for Pierce County. And I can't wait to see the other things that you guys, as you put this into effect, the things that we will see from it down the road. So congratulations on all the hard work, because I'm sure you've had a lot of hours that you put in, in the collaboration of working with other people. You know, I just I'm excited for you guys.
Thank you.
And it's not always easy. So yeah, thank you for your work. So Susan, we always have one final question, but I have a little insight on you. So I know that you came to the Plainview area from Omaha. So the question is what do you love about living in small town Nebraska?
The connectedness and we call it the sticky factor. I think in Omaha, even though I grew up in Millard, you know, my whole life I can go months without running into anybody that actually knew you know, I could be very anonymous, you go grocery shopping, you go to the mall, you just go to number of activities and never run into anybody you actually know. I'm in a small town, you you go out your front door and you're going to run into someone you know within...you can't go the first place without running into someone you know, I think there is a shared fate that we all have in small towns. Everybody really does want the same things. They want to see their community continue to thrive. They want their school systems to be strong and they want to know their neighbors so there is we call it the sticky factor it definitely exists, and I think it enhances anybody's life. I wouldn't go back to Omaha now, just because I think it'd be lonely. You know, being that anonymous. For me that was the most rewarding part of small town life.
Well, that's wonderful. We so appreciate you coming in today and visiting with us and we look forward to having you on again in the next year or so, so that we can see kind of what has expanded in Pierce County. So thank you for being with us.
Thanks for having me.
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