Community Choices:
Public Policy Education Program
Exploring the Human Resources/Economic
Development Connection
Program
Overview
Henry Cothran
Bo Beaulieu
University of Florida Southern Rural Development Center
March 2000
The Southern Rural Development Center
©
The Current Situation


Rural America leads the nation in:

Families living in poverty.

Rate of unemployment/underemployment.

Functionally illiterate adults.
Only a small segment of rural workforce
has a college education or more.

These human capital shortfalls can
impede economic and social progress in
rural areas.

Situation is most acute in the South.
The Current Situation (cont.)

Many college-educated rural residents
move to urban communities.

Brain drain remains significant in rural
areas.

Essential for the community to explore
how its economic future is shaped by its
human resource conditions.
Purposes and Objectives


To offer local citizens an opportunity to
study and resolve problems in their
community using the framework.
Four objectives:

Introduce the public policy education framework.

Strengthen citizens’ understanding of human
resource and economic development issues.

Mobilize citizens to explore links between human
attributes and economic development
opportunities.

Enhance citizens’ involvement in working on
solutions to identified problems.
Format and Resources

Most modules contain:

Instructor’s Guide

Module Overview

Small Group Activities

Transparency Masters

Background Readings and References
Table 1. Topics Covered
Section I
Module One
The Public Policy Education Model: A Framework
for Addressing Local Issues
Module Two
Identifying Local Decision Makers
Module Three
Promoting Multicultural Awareness
Section II
Module Four
Understanding the Local Economy
Section III
Module Five
The Community’s Human Resource Attributes
Module Six
Migration’s Impact on the Community’s Human Resources
Module Seven
Human Resources and the Family
Module Eight
The Job Market: The Opportunities for Youth
Community Choices:
Public Policy Education Program
Exploring the Human Resources/Economic
Development Connection
Module One:
The Public Policy
Education Model
8 March 2000
The Southern Rural Development Center
Objectives

Determine the meaning of public policy
education.

Know the criteria for assessing which
issues can be characterized as public
policy issues.

Understand how to use the public policy
education model for addressing issues
of local importance.
Foundation for the Public Policy
Education Program

Give citizens a better understanding of
community policy issues.

Stimulate citizens’ interest/involvement
in local policy decisions.

Enhance community’s capacity to arrive
at key policy decisions.

Help citizens participate in the
democratic process.
Key Terms

Policy—agreed upon course of action.

Public Policy—a designated course of
action adopted by a governmental entity.

Education—process of imparting
information and technical assistance to
people and communities.

Public Policy Education—program that
applies the university’s knowledge base
to assist citizens in making informed
policy choices.
Characteristics of
Public Policy Issues

Involve problems that require group
decision.

Solutions are based on value judgments.

Issues are of broad interest and concern.

Deal with controversial matters.

Tend to be recognized by decisionmakers as problems/concerns.
Values

People’s views of what should be or
what the desirable situation should be.

A person’s perceptions of what is good
and bad.

Affect how people think about problems
and policy strategies.

Conflicts arise when people discuss
public policy issues with different sets of
values.
Figure 1. The Public Policy Education Model
Source: House and Hahn.
Prepared by
Lionel J. Beaulieu
Southern Rural Development Center
March 2000
Community Choices:
Public Policy Education Program
Exploring the Human Resources/Economic
Development Connection
Module Four:
Understanding the
Local Economy
8 March 2000
The Southern Rural Development Center
Events That Have Impacted the
Economy of Rural Areas

Employment declines in agriculture,
manufacturing, and natural resourcebased industries.

National shift toward a service and
information-based economy.

Development of new technology.

Internationalization of the U.S. economy.

Structural shifts within agriculture and
manufacturing.
Challenges Facing Rural Areas

Maintaining and enhancing the
competitiveness of farms and rural
businesses.

Further diversifying the rural economy.

Easing the transition for families.

Providing technical and educational
assistance for local government.

Identifying options for increasing jobs
and income.

Helping conserve and manage natural
resources.
Module 4: Objectives

To present export base theory as a
model of the way a local economy
works.

To relate general export base theory to
your home state and community.

To use the export base model to examine
local economic development
alternatives.
Export Base Theory

Basic Industry—Consists of those local
firms that sell goods and services
outside the local areas.

Service Industry—Consists of those
firms that sell goods and services in
local markets. Includes inputs to basic
industries and goods and services to
local residents.
How Basic Industries Influence
Local Economic Development

Direct Impacts—sales, jobs, and income
generated directly by firms producing for
non-local markets.

Indirect Impacts—sales, jobs, and
income generated by firms selling goods
and services to basic industries.

Induced Impacts—sales, jobs, and
income generated by spending activities
of employees in direct and indirect firms.

Multiplier—sum of direct, indirect, and
induced impacts.
Defining Economic Development:
Some Perspectives

Growth measure in economic or
demographic terms.

A particular event in a community, such
as a new shopping facility or industrial
plant.

Programs to improve local services,
increase equality of opportunity, and
expand the economic based of the
community.
Defining Economic Development:
Some Perspectives (cont.)

What it is, however, is a system for
meeting the needs and wants of people
in a particular geographic area over time.
The capacity to meet these needs serves
as the focus of the the economic
development process over time.
Economic Development Alternatives
Economic development successes
are likely to be based on a mix of
activities . . .

Improve efficiency of existing firms.

Improve ability to capture dollars.

Attract new basic employers.

Encourage business formation.

Increase aid from broader government.
Figure 1. Economic Activities of a Community
Rest of the World
$
G&S
Goods and Services
Export Firms
Labor
Services
$
$
G&S
Goods and Services
Service Firms
(Input Suppliers)
$
Labor
Labor
Local Population
(Households)
$
$
Service Firms
(Local Population)
$
G&S
G&S
Imports
(Leakages
$
G&S
$
Export Firms: Some Examples
•
•
•
•
•
•
1.___________________________
2.___________________________
3.___________________________
4.___________________________
5.___________________________
6.___________________________
Service Firms: Some Examples
•
•
•
•
•
•
1.___________________________
2.___________________________
3.___________________________
4.___________________________
5.___________________________
6.___________________________
Economic Development Alternatives
Economic development successes
are likely to be based on a mix of
activities . . .

Improve efficiency of existing firms.

Improve ability to capture dollars.

Attract new basic employers.

Encourage business formation.

Increase aid from broader government.
Improve Efficiency of Existing Firms

Start educational programs to improve
management skills.

Start a business-industry visitation
program.

Identify capital sources to encourage
business growth.

Provide educational programs to keep
local businesses aware of latest R&D.

Improve quality of the local labor force.

Provide local and regional services that
compete in price and quality.
Improve Ability to Capture Dollars






Survey consumers to assess market
potentials.
Revitalize downtown shopping districts
or other retail areas.
Develop training programs for local retail
and service.
Encourage residents and businesses to
buy locally.
Seek to combine sales/service activities
with recreational events.
Organize the retail and business
community (I.e. Chamber of Commerce)
Attract New Basic Employers

Develop local industrial, office or
commercial sites; have public services
in place; provide information on local
labor supply.

Develop local and regional facilities
(such as transportation, recreation,
business services, communications)

Provide local tax incentives that reduce
location or operating costs of new or
expanding firms.
Attract New Basic Employers
(cont.)

Lobby for state and federal programs
and facilities that could be located in the
community.

Explore non-traditional sources of
employment—retirees, recreation
resources, trade centers, bedroom
community for nearby urban centers.
Encourage Business Formation

Form capital groups to invest private
funds locally.

Provide counseling and education
assistance to those wishing to start a
new business.

Study the market potential for new retail,
wholesale, service, and input-providing
businesses.
Encourage Business Formation
(cont.)

Be aware that adversity often stimulates
entrepreneurship.

Adopt an encouraging community
attitude toward new businesses.
Increase Aid Received from
Broader Government

Seek to ensure that assistance programs
for the elderly, handicapped, and others
are being fully tapped.

Obtain aid from state and federal
governments in the form of grants for
local projects (such as water and sewer
systems, streets, parks).
Prepared by
David Mulkey
University of Florida
March 2000
Community Choices:
Understanding the Local
Economy
Where can you find these
modules?
http://srdc.msstate.edu/publications/commchoice/commchoice.htm
Community Choices:
Understanding the Local
Economy