Nebraska Rural Initiative Awarded $220,387 USDA National Research Initiative Competitive Grant

The title of this new project is "Relocation to the Buffalo Commons: Using a marketing approach to understand residential decisions among migrants to Nebraska's Panhaldle." Dr. Randolph Cantrell is the project director; Dr. Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel and Dr. Bruce Johnson are project co-directors.

This rural development project will further the long term goal of increased economic opportunities and improved quality of life in rural America by enhancing the ability of rural communities to attract and retain new residents. The primary objective for this proposal is to identify potentially successful strategies for residential recruitment and retention in sparsely populated rural areas. This will be accomplished through the compilation and analysis of detailed information from households that have chosen to relocate to one of the Great Plains' most rural regions: the eleven county western Nebraska Panhandle. These data will define the extent to which various recruitment strategies, either currently in use or proposed, are most likely to successfully assist localities in attracting and retaining new residents.

The project will utilize an innovative combination of secondary data analysis, survey research and focus groups that will approach residential recruitment and retention as a marketing activity. The results of this inquiry will be made available to policy makers and local development interests in the form of best practice recommendations for residential attraction and retention. These reports will be of broad value to resource dependent rural communities and regions that are characterized by a declining population base, and of special significance for development professionals and community leaders in the ten Great Plains states. The project will add value to other, more commonly practiced community and economic development activities by addressing the population and labor force requirements of sustainable prosperity.