While Madison County has a relatively low unemployment rate of 2.6 percent (April 2003), for anyone that wants to work and can not find work, the numbers just don't help alleviate the feelings of despair and helplessness. A prosperous community needs to have diverse offerings for the workforce. The causes of many social ills are related to the lack of acceptable employment that offers the employee a living wage and a feeling of self worth.

     Madison has lost a couple of employers over the last few years, resulting in the net loss of approximately 200 jobs. As of April 2003, 267 people who live here and want to work cannot find it. And, many others are forced to commute to surrounding areas to their jobs. No single replacement employer for those positions has appeared. While it is easy to blame the downturn in the economy for this, Madison also has inherent disadvantages that prevents it from being competitive with surrounding counties for attracting the best employers. Lack of sufficient infrastructure, water, sewer, rail, etc. and lack of a skilled workforce are today's reality. This is not however as bleak a picture as it may at first appear. Let me explain.

     As the experience of numerous rural communities illustrates, small rural communities like Madison can use a wide variety of private and public resources to help enhance local growth, development, and conservation. An array of grant, loan, and technical assistance programs can be found at the local, state, and federal levels. Virtually every example of successful rural development, revitalization, and conservation shares the following three characteristics.

     A critical mass of committed citizens determined to enhance their community's growth and quality of life. Committed citizens, whether they are elected officials, motivated residents, or business leaders, are a prerequisite for improving prosperity. Even well-drawn plans and time-honored procedures cannot succeed without people who will raise funds, organize constituencies, foster collaboration, and demand change.

     The recognition and use of the area's assets - location, natural resources, natural attractions, and historic and cultural value. A committed core of citizens will not make progress without realistically assessing and leveraging the assets of their community. Madison can focus on commercial development that serves the human traffic passing through our town and county. Today, our county with its forest and farmland can and does support an infrastructure for the profitable production of forest and agricultural products. Those areas with scenic landscapes and historic and cultural values encourage the growth of tourist amenities that use these assets without compromising them. These strategies can enhance the existing environment and economy instead of compromising it.

     Financial and technical support. Almost by definition, rural communities like Madison have a small tax base because of a lack of big businesses and large populations. Limited resources leave us particularly vulnerable to unwanted growth - whether in the form of a state highway, a commercial strip mall, or a housing subdivision. We may need planning and legal expertise to create our own vision for growth and strengthen our zoning codes, or we may require economic stimulation to revive struggling businesses and infrastructure. This type of support generally is found beyond the immediate community and must be fostered.

     A positive and successful example of these three characteristics is the recent awarding of the Community Development Block Grant for the Madison Main Street Project. This shows what great things can be done in a small community when people come together and work for a common goal. The Town and County officials and citizens that have and continue to work on this project are to be commended for a job well done.

     To help advance additional rural smart growth initiatives we must increase our resolve to do the following.

     Develop local land-use strategies. Without an inclusive, land-use plan there is no framework that embodies a community vision or directs growth and conservation. Federal and state agencies fund communities with grants and technical assistance for planning that includes citizen outreach, visioning processes, comparing growth scenarios, and revision of zoning codes. With a firm mandate and adequate funding, these programs could help arm Madison against misguided development projects with consensus-based plans and the regulations to enforce them.

     Leverage and coordinate public and private programs. Some federal and state programs are built on the synergy between various objectives. Many linkages can be traced to the economic value of sound land management - whether in providing an appealing quality of life, attracting the tourist trade, sustaining resource-based industries, or preserving clean water and air. Strong coordination, both among agencies and with non-profit organizations, can increase the effectiveness of all federal rural development and conservation efforts.

     Facilitate access to grants and loans. Some knowledge about government agencies is needed to begin identifying funding sources, and even more to actually obtain funding. We must make the commitment to develop a citizens' task force to identify grants and process the applications.

  Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide  

     A fundamental smart growth principle is the interdependence of rural and urban communities. Dense, mixed-use development allows residential and business growth without consuming large areas of rural working land and open space. It also creates markets for resources and products of rural economies. Working landscapes provide recreational areas, environmental benefits, groundwater recharge, and resource-based products for urban communities.

  Economic Renewal as Economic Development  

     In contrast to conventional approaches that rely on recruiting new industries, economic renewal stresses self-reliance, diversity, and more inclusive decision-making. What I like to call "growing from within." Taking the view that many small efforts work better than a single one-size-fits-all solution, its priorities are resource productivity, support of existing businesses, encouragement of new local enterprise, and recruitment of compatible new business.
The process is built on four principles:

Plug the leaks. Like heat from an uninsulated home, dollars leak from an inefficient community. Plugging unnecessary leaks puts money back into our local economy just as surely as if it had been earned through new industry - but it avoids many of the growth related problems and costs.

Support existing businesses. We must not overlook the wealth-creating power of our own entrepreneurs. Locally owned businesses tend to be more responsive to local needs and values, and more likely to ride out the ups and downs of local economic activity. Supporting them also keeps more dollars circulating in the local economy.

Encourage new local enterprise. As with existing businesses, new businesses will contribute far more to the local economy if they're locally owned. A town that's plugging leaks and supporting existing businesses is an exciting place to start a new one.

Recruit compatible new businesses. The indiscriminate courting of outside corporations is a risky, high-stakes game that has left many a small town in economic trouble. However, having pursued the previous three steps, Madison would be in a stronger position to recruit new businesses that are compatible with our values and needs.

  The Madison Forum  

     Twelve years ago 50 business and government leaders from the Town and County of Madison, and, with the cooperation of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Center on Regional Development held a series of meetings to envision what Madison would look and feel like ten years in the future. The Madison Forum as it was called, had this as its mission statement:

To initiate a practical plan for action that will strengthen the local economy, preserve the rural community and enhance the unity of the people of the County and Town of Madison.

     At the onset, the Forum identified the following five areas of concern, which were shared by all sectors of the community. They were distilled into five goals for which a strategy of action could be formulated. (NOTE: Remember as you read, these goals were written ten years ago - think about how they apply today) Those goals were:

1. Increase the Quality and Quantity of Jobs. Although Madison County traditionally maintains a low rate of unemployment, many of the available jobs are at the low-pay, low-skill level and over 55 percent of the work force commutes out of the county many of them as much as 100 miles, one-way. Many of the county's young people feel they must leave home to find better training and employment opportunities. Much more can be done to attract new and better jobs to the area.
2. Capitalize on Existing Assets Agriculture is still strong in Madison County, although it will need diversify to stay healthy in the future. There is a great potential for tourism. The county's many scenic and recreational assets have attracted many residents and part-time residents. More can be done to develop the tourist industry. The county also has some well established businesses; we must identify ways to keep existing businesses healthy. The Route 29 Corridor is an important commercial link and logical area for development, these and other growth areas must be nurtured to prevent indiscriminate development.
3. Provide Direction and Pro-active Leadership Growth is both necessary and unavoidable. Therefore, the organized channeling of growth is an important tool in economic development. It is also necessary for a growing community to pay attention to broadening its tax base in order to provide the necessary services the citizenry demand and deserve. To accomplish this, it will be necessary to have a countywide commitment toward investing in the future and improving water and sewer availability.
4. Invest in Human Resources Through Education The County has a high rate of illiteracy, a significant portion of the labor force has less than a high school education, and many of the county's residents perceive themselves held back by poverty or racial inequality. These are not keys for success. For all of the county's peoples to grow, both economically and in quality of life, it will be necessary to increase participation in adult education programs, apply religious and ethical values to financial management, meet the need for affordable day care, reinforce the education of youth toward prevention of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, increase parental support for student effort and school objectives and promote racial harmony by de-fusing problems and sponsoring community-wide activities.
5. Preserve Rural Character Through Planning High on the list of objectives of Forum members was the necessity to preserve the rural character, traditions, and lifestyles that contribute so much to the ongoing quality of life in Madison County. But situated as it is between growing commercial and residential development from two directions, this objective is impossible without careful planning and coordination between vigilant government, civic and citizens' groups. Development must be confined to designated areas and limited in its impact on the rural lifestyle that is so important to all residents.

The Madison Forum report goes on to address how the goal of initiating a practical plan for action would be accomplished. Unfortunately, the leadership of our County at that time and since has not followed up and they let the effort to wither and die. I believe a new effort must be mounted and I am committed to carrying out the goals and strategies developed in this plan.

For those interested, I have reproduced the entire Madison Forum document online. (It's about 13 pages long. Participant names have been removed to protect privacy.) To read it online click here: THE MADISON FORUM

Robert Miller - September 2005