I am a child of the Great Plains I grew
up in Red Cloud hometown of Pulitzer
Prize winning author Willa Cather
her prose about the plains have inspired
people for a generation as a boy I rode
my Pony spirit nearly every morning and
reveled in the opportunity to check the
cows or ride a fence row greet mulberry
symmetry as a boy I knew I was cared for
and loved by a large extended family
friends and a great hometown I’m a
tag-along a bonus baby I’m the last of
six kids the family story is is that my
folks went to Texas to buy a bowl but
came home with me
I wish I could make that up Red Cloud’s
about a thousand people in south central
Nebraska
there were 23 in my kindergarten class
the same number is in my graduating
class I got to do everything I got to
play sports I got to be the lead in the
musical I got to participate in clubs I
got to go to 4h horse shows I had to be
really thoughtful about who I might
invite to a movie because the nearest
movie theater was 40 miles away as I
grew older and began to understand a bit
more about the world I started to get a
an odd message from my parents and other
adult mentors your future someplace else
nobody ever used those exact words but
the message was clear you’re a bright
articulate kid with terrific prospects
we’ll see you for the holidays ish that
is that is devastating we love you in
fact we love you so much you should live
someplace else
this is no way to build a community
Nebraska is terrific nearly everything
and everyone works comparatively we have
great public schools we have an engaged
citizenry the streets are safe and clean
that people are kind and giving earlier
this week a website wallet hub said that
Nebraska is the fifth happiest state in
the country Nebraska has what people
want most abrasca know that but
unfortunately I’ve heard too many times
when a community leader proposes a big
idea and the response to that person is
we can’t do that we can’t dream that we
don’t have enough money the truth is our
abundance goes far beyond our people
systems and culture in the next 50 years
we’re going to see a transfer of wealth
of some six hundred billion dollars now
there’s always a transfer of wealth from
generation to generation as parents pass
away and leave their estates to their
kids but if the children no longer live
in the communities where that wealth was
made and accumulated we not only lose
that human capital we also ultimately
lose that financial capital imagine with
me what if just 5% of that six hundred
billion dollars was given back to the
places where it was made and accumulated
that’s 30 billion dollars 30 billion
dollars that could have an exponential
impact on the future of our hometowns in
the 21st century with new technologies
in the internet more and more people can
live and work wherever they choose I
think our community I cannot
development question today should be why
do I want to live and work and raise my
kids in this community we need to give
talented young people good reasons to
stay to return to join us
people attraction has to be our top
priority to embrace these opportunities
the Nebraska Community Foundation was
formed in 1993 I went to work there in
1997 the Nebraska Community Foundation
is not a typical Community Foundation
we’re not a charity we don’t make grants
we empower people we’re a community
development organization focused on
building long-term trusting
relationships with our community
partners and vesting decision-making
power in local leaders we’ve learned a
lot one of the most important things
we’ve learned is this work has to happen
together as partners we don’t do things
for people we don’t do things to people
we walk hand in hand with our volunteer
community affiliated fund leaders our
flat power with partnership model is
working it’s held up as a model of rural
development and we’re asked to share
this story all across the United States
and internationally community leaders
are having more and more optimistic
conversations with their youth and young
adults the picture you see on the screen
are the graduates of Imperial high
school each of them are holding a
mailbox in that mailbox is a
personalized invitation for them to
return home after they’ve completed
their education that’s powerful
especially if you compare it with
what we’ve historically done lots of
places and lots of people have this
habit of giving high school seniors
luggage for graduation affiliated fund
leaders across the Nebraska Community
Foundation Network are inviting their
friends and neighbors to be a part of
this last year in CF and its 220
affiliated funds around the state
received over 8,500 gifts last year more
than 29 million dollars was reinvested
in our hometowns 290 million since 1994
our network has grown fivefold in the
past 10 years and now has a hundred and
thirty million dollars in assets more
than 300 people have included their
hometown in their estate plan and those
plans we estimate to be some 60 million
dollars this is awesome we are totally
proud of what’s happened and all the
progress we’ve made but if we compare
those numbers with just a tiny fraction
of the transfer of wealth we’re just
seeing the tip of the iceberg remember
5% of 600 billion dollars is thirty
billion dollars how could we use thirty
billion dollars invested wisely as a
margin of excellence in our hometowns to
have better education wellness
prosperity quality of life that would
attract talent and young people
I totally should have known that one I’m
an economist
[Applause]
I’m an economist and economics is a
social science so there’s lots of things
we don’t know but a few we do one of
which is that capital in all of its
forms flows to certainty and optimism so
if we want capital human capital and
financial capital to flow to our
hometowns to flow to the places that we
live in and love we have to be positive
and optimistic well the good news is
there’s a whole lot of good news out
there check out these headlines I’m
trying to figure there we go look at
these focus on community bings brings
big growth to Pender young adults
returning to rural towns young
Nebraskans can live and work anywhere
Imperial gives them reasons to come home
you can go home again McCook a great
place to be a kid we have the pleasure
of working with dozens and dozens of
communities throughout the state where
there are many more young families than
there were ten years ago
we’ve surveyed 7,000 middle and high
school students about their perceptions
of their communities only 12% of those
kids said their hometown is too small
and the majority of them said they would
be delighted as adults to come back and
live and work at home if career
opportunities were available to them
this is not the rural narrative we’re
used to seeing or hearing charitable
giving has become a big part of helping
communities use people attraction as
their primary strategy you know Neil and
Holt County they have a four million
dollar endowment that’s helping to
underwrite their countywide community
economic development efforts four
hundred and seventy five individuals and
young families have moved back to Holt
County in the past few years in McCook
there’s a 2.2 million dollar endowment
the payout of which is being used
for youth engagement and to work on arts
and culture last month in Ravenna school
kids got to experience the Eclipse with
an astronaut and what about my hometown
a Red Cloud check this headline out 20
years ago Red Cloud seemed all but dead
now the hometown of Willa Cather is
changing its fate heritage tourism and
early childhood development are two of
the primary strategies that Red Cloud is
using for people attraction there are
many graduates from the late 1990s and
early 2000s who have moved back home to
Red Cloud to raise their kids and build
their businesses elementary classes are
significantly larger than what they were
red cloud is focused on its assets eight
thousand people a year come to Red Cloud
to visit Cather sites eighty percent of
those people live out of state what if
just 20 percent of those people spent
the weekend as opposed to the day thanks
to charitable giving and philanthropy we
now have a full time heritage tourism
development director in Red Cloud we
think the economic impact of heritage
tourism and Red Cloud could exceed three
million dollars a year this December Red
Cloud is going to open a
state-of-the-art Early Childhood
Development Center to serve 80 students
this 3.5 million dollar project which
includes a 1.5 million dollar endowment
is going to be an enormous source of
attracting people to say yes we want you
to live and work and raise your family
in our hometown
there is no magic bullet for this work
for years and years I’ve said our work
is patient and tenacious but there are a
few things that we’ve learned and some
commonalities that we’ve identified in
communities that are doing this work in
doing this work well in attracting young
people home when they combine a
collective vision for the future of
their community with distributed
leadership lots and lots of people
rowing in the same direction
discretionary capital and by that I mean
flexible money and lots and lots of
citizens and residents engaged in the
process people are magnetizing their
hometowns it is fascinating to watch it
is fascinating to be a part of it’s
super encouraging it’s been a long time
since I sat on the back of my horse and
ate mulberries Nebraska is a great place
to live work and raise our families it’s
our job to share that with others thank
you
[Applause]
up in Red Cloud hometown of Pulitzer
Prize winning author Willa Cather
her prose about the plains have inspired
people for a generation as a boy I rode
my Pony spirit nearly every morning and
reveled in the opportunity to check the
cows or ride a fence row greet mulberry
symmetry as a boy I knew I was cared for
and loved by a large extended family
friends and a great hometown I’m a
tag-along a bonus baby I’m the last of
six kids the family story is is that my
folks went to Texas to buy a bowl but
came home with me
I wish I could make that up Red Cloud’s
about a thousand people in south central
Nebraska
there were 23 in my kindergarten class
the same number is in my graduating
class I got to do everything I got to
play sports I got to be the lead in the
musical I got to participate in clubs I
got to go to 4h horse shows I had to be
really thoughtful about who I might
invite to a movie because the nearest
movie theater was 40 miles away as I
grew older and began to understand a bit
more about the world I started to get a
an odd message from my parents and other
adult mentors your future someplace else
nobody ever used those exact words but
the message was clear you’re a bright
articulate kid with terrific prospects
we’ll see you for the holidays ish that
is that is devastating we love you in
fact we love you so much you should live
someplace else
this is no way to build a community
Nebraska is terrific nearly everything
and everyone works comparatively we have
great public schools we have an engaged
citizenry the streets are safe and clean
that people are kind and giving earlier
this week a website wallet hub said that
Nebraska is the fifth happiest state in
the country Nebraska has what people
want most abrasca know that but
unfortunately I’ve heard too many times
when a community leader proposes a big
idea and the response to that person is
we can’t do that we can’t dream that we
don’t have enough money the truth is our
abundance goes far beyond our people
systems and culture in the next 50 years
we’re going to see a transfer of wealth
of some six hundred billion dollars now
there’s always a transfer of wealth from
generation to generation as parents pass
away and leave their estates to their
kids but if the children no longer live
in the communities where that wealth was
made and accumulated we not only lose
that human capital we also ultimately
lose that financial capital imagine with
me what if just 5% of that six hundred
billion dollars was given back to the
places where it was made and accumulated
that’s 30 billion dollars 30 billion
dollars that could have an exponential
impact on the future of our hometowns in
the 21st century with new technologies
in the internet more and more people can
live and work wherever they choose I
think our community I cannot
development question today should be why
do I want to live and work and raise my
kids in this community we need to give
talented young people good reasons to
stay to return to join us
people attraction has to be our top
priority to embrace these opportunities
the Nebraska Community Foundation was
formed in 1993 I went to work there in
1997 the Nebraska Community Foundation
is not a typical Community Foundation
we’re not a charity we don’t make grants
we empower people we’re a community
development organization focused on
building long-term trusting
relationships with our community
partners and vesting decision-making
power in local leaders we’ve learned a
lot one of the most important things
we’ve learned is this work has to happen
together as partners we don’t do things
for people we don’t do things to people
we walk hand in hand with our volunteer
community affiliated fund leaders our
flat power with partnership model is
working it’s held up as a model of rural
development and we’re asked to share
this story all across the United States
and internationally community leaders
are having more and more optimistic
conversations with their youth and young
adults the picture you see on the screen
are the graduates of Imperial high
school each of them are holding a
mailbox in that mailbox is a
personalized invitation for them to
return home after they’ve completed
their education that’s powerful
especially if you compare it with
what we’ve historically done lots of
places and lots of people have this
habit of giving high school seniors
luggage for graduation affiliated fund
leaders across the Nebraska Community
Foundation Network are inviting their
friends and neighbors to be a part of
this last year in CF and its 220
affiliated funds around the state
received over 8,500 gifts last year more
than 29 million dollars was reinvested
in our hometowns 290 million since 1994
our network has grown fivefold in the
past 10 years and now has a hundred and
thirty million dollars in assets more
than 300 people have included their
hometown in their estate plan and those
plans we estimate to be some 60 million
dollars this is awesome we are totally
proud of what’s happened and all the
progress we’ve made but if we compare
those numbers with just a tiny fraction
of the transfer of wealth we’re just
seeing the tip of the iceberg remember
5% of 600 billion dollars is thirty
billion dollars how could we use thirty
billion dollars invested wisely as a
margin of excellence in our hometowns to
have better education wellness
prosperity quality of life that would
attract talent and young people
I totally should have known that one I’m
an economist
[Applause]
I’m an economist and economics is a
social science so there’s lots of things
we don’t know but a few we do one of
which is that capital in all of its
forms flows to certainty and optimism so
if we want capital human capital and
financial capital to flow to our
hometowns to flow to the places that we
live in and love we have to be positive
and optimistic well the good news is
there’s a whole lot of good news out
there check out these headlines I’m
trying to figure there we go look at
these focus on community bings brings
big growth to Pender young adults
returning to rural towns young
Nebraskans can live and work anywhere
Imperial gives them reasons to come home
you can go home again McCook a great
place to be a kid we have the pleasure
of working with dozens and dozens of
communities throughout the state where
there are many more young families than
there were ten years ago
we’ve surveyed 7,000 middle and high
school students about their perceptions
of their communities only 12% of those
kids said their hometown is too small
and the majority of them said they would
be delighted as adults to come back and
live and work at home if career
opportunities were available to them
this is not the rural narrative we’re
used to seeing or hearing charitable
giving has become a big part of helping
communities use people attraction as
their primary strategy you know Neil and
Holt County they have a four million
dollar endowment that’s helping to
underwrite their countywide community
economic development efforts four
hundred and seventy five individuals and
young families have moved back to Holt
County in the past few years in McCook
there’s a 2.2 million dollar endowment
the payout of which is being used
for youth engagement and to work on arts
and culture last month in Ravenna school
kids got to experience the Eclipse with
an astronaut and what about my hometown
a Red Cloud check this headline out 20
years ago Red Cloud seemed all but dead
now the hometown of Willa Cather is
changing its fate heritage tourism and
early childhood development are two of
the primary strategies that Red Cloud is
using for people attraction there are
many graduates from the late 1990s and
early 2000s who have moved back home to
Red Cloud to raise their kids and build
their businesses elementary classes are
significantly larger than what they were
red cloud is focused on its assets eight
thousand people a year come to Red Cloud
to visit Cather sites eighty percent of
those people live out of state what if
just 20 percent of those people spent
the weekend as opposed to the day thanks
to charitable giving and philanthropy we
now have a full time heritage tourism
development director in Red Cloud we
think the economic impact of heritage
tourism and Red Cloud could exceed three
million dollars a year this December Red
Cloud is going to open a
state-of-the-art Early Childhood
Development Center to serve 80 students
this 3.5 million dollar project which
includes a 1.5 million dollar endowment
is going to be an enormous source of
attracting people to say yes we want you
to live and work and raise your family
in our hometown
there is no magic bullet for this work
for years and years I’ve said our work
is patient and tenacious but there are a
few things that we’ve learned and some
commonalities that we’ve identified in
communities that are doing this work in
doing this work well in attracting young
people home when they combine a
collective vision for the future of
their community with distributed
leadership lots and lots of people
rowing in the same direction
discretionary capital and by that I mean
flexible money and lots and lots of
citizens and residents engaged in the
process people are magnetizing their
hometowns it is fascinating to watch it
is fascinating to be a part of it’s
super encouraging it’s been a long time
since I sat on the back of my horse and
ate mulberries Nebraska is a great place
to live work and raise our families it’s
our job to share that with others thank
you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: