Lifestyle goals may spark rural renaissance

By Anthony Hennen | The Center Square

HARRISBURG, PA — Experts say the lifestyle offered in rural communities may be key to igniting a population renaissance.

While better job training programs play a part, so too does advertising the quality of life, as well as connecting homegrown entrepreneurs to the resources necessary for growth.

It will take time, officials told The Center for Rural Pennsylvania on Thursday, but it could pay off in the long run.
“When employers engage and invest in their talent pipeline, they can get what they need,” said Carrie Amann, executive director of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association. “There is no silver bullet that is going to really address the issues that we’re facing in the commonwealth, but transformation is certainly critical.”

Amann spoke of the need for a “culture of innovation” that should be encouraged – not suppressed – by the state government.

“If we start stifling innovation at the state by looking at restrictive approaches to how we interpret laws and rules, then the stifling of innovation and creativity will happen locally as well,” Amann said.

Shoring up the health care network in rural parts of the state starts with getting rid of paperwork headaches and ensuring more housing is available.

“The many challenges that are facing health care in communities like this, much of that challenge is around talent and recruitment, and retention and growing our workforce,” UPMC-Williamsport President Patti Jackson-Gehris said.

She noted problems with affordable housing and timely processing of credentials and licenses for workers, which has been an ongoing problem across the state, as The Center Square previously reported.

“We lose people to bring to this community because they do not feel they can find appropriate housing to move here,” Jackson-Gehris said. “In the health care field, it is a barrier we overcome every day, trying to attract new population, new talent to the region.”

In some rural areas, builders have argued that no affordable housing exists due to a lack of homes on the market and high regulatory costs.

State overreach can be an issue, but so can state inaction.

“Pennsylvania has not done a really very good job, I don’t think, in workforce development or training people — or especially in technology fields,” Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Williamsport, said. “When it comes time to fund it, everybody runs for the hills.”

Without higher-level coordination, it can be difficult to encourage economic growth outside major city hubs, even when the opportunity is there. Manufacturing in Pennsylvania, for example, is overrepresented in rural areas, but can underperform without stronger economic ties.

“There are dynamics in the air in the economy that tend to lead to cluster, so the state has to be especially intentional in thinking about the geography and location of both its industry development but its services to support that,” Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said. “There is not a shortage of ideas in Pennsylvania, but sometimes the resources are not there, especially in rural areas.”

Finding ways to provide resources could go a long way.

“There are great ideas and would-be entrepreneurs all over Pennsylvania, and the state needs them,” Muro said. “What is missing in too many areas is the supportive capacity, the networks, and ecosystems that can allow creative ideas to flourish.”

Building that capacity isn’t always economics-focused, either. Sometimes, it’s about ensuring a place can attract outsiders.

“Rural communities have built-in advantages in terms of natural assets and the social aspects of community life, and that makes them attractive,” Tony Pipa, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said. “Leveraging that quality of life and ensuring a level of expected amenities are really important for retaining and attracting population and workforce.”