Crofton, Neb., shows how rural towns can look inward for economic development

Rural communities' best resources for economic development are their own citizens. In a column for the Sioux City Journal, Nick Hytrek highlights two local success stories in Crofton, Neb., a town of 754 people.

For 45 years, Loren and Maxine Steffen (at right in a photo by Hytrek) have run a gas station in Crofton. "In many small towns, when people like the Steffens retire, it marks the end of the business," Hytrek writes for the Iowa paper. "Once upon a time, children would take over the family business. Now those children usually have moved away. Unable to find a buyer, the elderly business owner is forced to close his or her life's work, leaving another empty building on Main Street."

In this case, however, the Steffens sold to a young man, Jeff Hoffart, who will keep the business going. At the same time, a young man who grew up in Crofton, Michael Guenther, returned to town to open an auto service. "It's the type of economic development that can serve as a model for all small towns, said John Crabtree, development director at the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons, Neb.," Hytrek writes. "Rural leaders must realize that growth comes from within, he said. It's highly unlikely to come from Fortune 500 companies relocating to small towns."

These two stories from Crofton, which as Hytrek writes, "is no different than the hundreds of other rural Midwestern towns searching for economic vitality," should encourage other towns to look within for growth. (Read more)