The Economics of Belonging: Community Development Through an Economic Development Lens
- Jackie Hynes
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Jobs and investment are only part of what makes a rural community economically competitive.
People also make decisions about where to live, work, start businesses and invest based on how connected they feel to a place — and whether they believe they can be part of its future.
That idea came into focus Aug. 27 in Solomon, where 27 participants representing 13 Kansas communities and 11 counties gathered for a Kansas Sampler Foundation Do-Alogue focused on practical approaches to community connection, participation and place-building.
For Driving Dickinson County President and CEO Natalie Muruato, the day reinforced how closely community development and economic development are connected in rural communities.
“I think sometimes we define economic development too narrowly,” Muruato said. “Jobs and investment are incredibly important, but people also decide where they want to live, work, and invest based on how a community feels.”
Creating a Place People Choose
Much of the day’s conversation centered around the Solomon Municipal Pool and programming that has expanded there since summer 2024.
Dive-in movies, family nights, a cardboard boat race and other activities have created more opportunities for residents to use an asset the community already has — and to use it together.
“We want it to be a place families want to spend time, where community groups can participate, and where people can create summer memories together,” Solomon Mayor Brandy Gray said.
Solomon resident Shawna Bowers described what that looks like for her family.
“When there’s a family night or something special happening, it feels different than just deciding to go to the pool,” Bowers said. “Dad gets home from work, we all head to the pool, and it feels like we’re going to something special. We’re creating a memory together. The different activities give families a reason to come together and build the community we chose to live in a small town for.”
Muruato sees a connection between experiences like the one Bowers described and the decisions people make about where they want to build their lives.
“What I saw in Solomon was people creating that sense of place,” Muruato said. “They are taking assets they already have, like the pool and public spaces, and finding creative ways to make people more connected to them. When people are proud of where they live, participate in the community and believe their town is moving forward, that absolutely becomes part of economic development.”
Looking at ROI Differently
The group also learned about Solomon’s fire hydrant painting project, which began when a resident brought the idea to the City Council.
Muruato attended that meeting and watched city leaders work through how residents could participate while keeping the hydrants safe and functional. The resulting project involved families, improved public infrastructure and gave residents a visible way to contribute.
“Community pride is so important in rural communities,” Muruato said. “This is a low-cost, high-ROI project … to set their community up for success in that way, and get it started and create momentum for other small projects like this.”
For Muruato, the return extends beyond the finished project.
“Return on investment does not always show up immediately as dollars,” she said. “Sometimes the return is a child who feels connected to their hometown, a resident who volunteers for the first time, families spending time together, someone taking pride in a public space or people simply starting to believe something positive is happening in their community.”
Those experiences can influence what comes next.
“Communities where people feel ownership are more likely to take care of what they have and invest in what comes next,” Muruato said. “Eventually, some of those returns do become economic because communities people care about are communities where people are more willing to live, work, start businesses and invest.”
Sharing Solutions Across Rural Kansas
Although Solomon hosted the Do-Alogue, ideas moved in both directions.
Sarah Evans, treasurer for the City of Howard, shared how her community uses local sponsorships to provide free admission at its municipal pool. Businesses, families and organizations can sponsor individual days for $100.
“Giving the sponsor that ‘feel-good’ feeling is what makes this program work,” Evans said.
Kylee Maloney came from Kingman, where the community pool has been closed for several years, looking for ideas and connections she could take home.
“After visiting Solomon, I have so many new ideas, leads, and connections that I'm excited to try and explore for our own community,” Maloney said.
Kansas Sampler Foundation We Kan Program Manager Karly Fredrick said bringing rural community “doers” together is an important part of the Do-Alogue model.
“Something that really drives our programming is the belief that the answers, ideas, and encouragement are already in rural Kansas,” Fredrick said. “Yes, there’s value in seeing what another community is doing, but just as important is getting rural community doers in the same space.”
One participant traveled 275 miles from Tribune to attend.
“To me, it shows how hungry rural communities are for practical ideas that actually work,” Muruato said. “Most small communities do not have huge staffs or budgets, so when somebody finds a creative solution, there is tremendous value in being able to see it firsthand and ask, ‘How did you do this?’ One community’s experiment can become another community’s starting point.”
The exchange also reinforced that communities do not have to arrive at the same answer.
“Solomon was not there saying, ‘We have all the answers.’ Howard brought ideas. Kingman brought challenges and questions. Other communities shared what they had learned,” Muruato said. “In rural Kansas, collaboration can be a real force multiplier.”
Giving Residents Room to Participate
Another conversation during the day focused on how communities respond when residents bring ideas forward.
Fredrick shared findings from Kansas Sampler Foundation’s Kansas Power Up & Go work, which included surveys of 500 Kansans and interviews with 175 Kansans ages 21–39. One participant described something they valued about their local leadership as “the ability to not say no.”
Fredrick said that doesn’t mean every idea gets approved.
“It means the first response is curiosity: How could this work? What would it take? Is there a barrier we can remove? Who else needs to be part of the conversation?”
Muruato said creating that opening is particularly important for younger residents.
“If somebody cares enough about their community to bring forward an idea, the last thing we want to teach them is to stop bringing ideas,” she said. “We need them to see that they do not have to wait until they are 50 years old or hold a certain title before they are allowed to help shape their community.”
“People are much more likely to build their future in a place where they believe they can have a hand in creating that future.”
Making the Work Visible
Participants also discussed the role communication and storytelling play in community development.
Promoting activities helps people know how to participate, while sharing photos and stories afterward shows residents — and people outside the community — what is happening there.
“Storytelling is so important in rural communities,” Muruato told participants. “If we really want to make an impact and spread the word far and wide, we really, really need to tell your story.”
For economic development, those stories add context to information about workforce, housing, infrastructure, available properties and business resources. They help show what living, working and investing in a community can look like.
Building From What We Already Have
No single project discussed during the Do-Alogue offers a blueprint for another community. Howard’s sponsorship model may not fit somewhere else exactly as designed. Solomon’s programming may be adapted by another community. And Dickinson County communities can learn from ideas being tested elsewhere in Kansas.
The opportunity is to learn from what others have already tried.
“These small projects are vital,” Fredrick said. “So many are volunteer-led and give people a way to be part of making their community better. They create shared experiences, build pride and help people feel ownership of their community. And sometimes doing one small thing together is what creates the energy to do the next thing.”
For Muruato, the Aug. 27 gathering reinforced the relationship between the work happening inside a community and the economic-development work of positioning that community for its future.
Jobs and investment remain essential. So do the conditions that make people want to take those jobs, raise families nearby, open businesses, volunteer, invest in property and become part of a community.
Want to see the story from Solomon’s perspective? Read how the community is using local assets, partnerships and resident ideas to bring “community back into community” in the City of Solomon’s feature, Bringing Community Back Into Community: Solomon Shares Ideas With Rural Kansas.
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