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Poll: Potential rural leaders need mentoring, education
Nebraska
Many young people and women might be willing to be leaders in rural Nebraska but they need encouragement, leadership education and mentoring to step up.
That's how Nebraska Rural Poll organizers interpret the latest results of the ninth annual University of Nebraska survey. Surveys were mailed in February and March to 6,300 randomly selected households in Nebraska's 84 rural counties. Results are based on 2,915 responses.
This year's community portion of the poll included questions about community leadership. Organizers wanted to know why some people serve in elected or appointed offices while others don't.
"We continually hear there's a problem finding leaders in rural communities so our advisory board suggested we look into motivations and barriers to community service," explained John Allen, the university Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources rural sociologist who heads the scientific poll.
Results point to 19- to 29-year-olds and women as two potential under-represented sources for new community leaders and highlight the need for leadership education, said Randy Cantrell, another IANR rural sociologist.
Overall, 14 percent of respondents have run for or been appointed to public office. Most of these people cited community minded reasons for service, including interest in their community's future, a belief that it's important to help their community and a desire to make a difference.
More than 60 percent of rural Nebraskans who have not held elected or public office said they aren't interested. Other leading reasons for not seeking office included not being asked (35 percent) and lack of time (32 percent).
The 19- to 29-year-olds were the age group most likely to say no one asked them (45 percent), they don't know enough about issues (35 percent), they haven't lived in the community long enough (24 percent) and they don't know how to go about seeking office (23 percent). Fifty-five percent of young people said they weren't interested, the lowest percentage of disinterest of any age group.
"This is a great argument for leadership education. We need to start early to show them how and mentor them," Allen said. "Part of it is education and the other part is to invite them into civic leadership, give them a role and help them feel a part of the community."
Men are twice as likely as women to serve in public office, the poll showed. At least 30 percent of women said they didn't run because they lacked the skills, no one had asked them or they don't know enough about issues.
Village boards and other public groups may need to create strategies through which leaders make a point to reach out to younger people and women, engage them, train them and get them involved, Allen said.
Cantrell agreed. "Somebody is really going to need to go knock on the door. You may need to sit down, visit with them and tell them 'it's OK that you're young or you're a woman, we need your energy.'"
Almost 30 percent of farmers and ranchers have run for or been appointed to public office, nearly twice the rate of the next closest occupational group, sales.
"Farmers and ranchers are the most engaged in terms of civic involvement," Cantrell said. "I think that's important. They may have more opportunities to serve because of ag-related boards, but they respond to that and step up."
The poll also asked respondents whether their communities had changed in the past year, what services they were satisfied or dissatisfied with and whether they planned to move in the coming year.
Nebraskans were more positive about their communities this year than last, the poll found.
This year, 26 percent of respondents said their community has changed for the better, up from 22 percent a year ago. Twenty-two percent said it has changed for the worse, down from 25 percent last year; 52 percent said it stayed the same, unchanged from 2003.
"My interpretation of this community optimism is that there's still a future out there," Allen said. "Rural people seem more positive about changes than you'd know from all those national media stories about boarded up towns."
Overall, five percent of respondents plan to move this year, the same percentage as last year. However, 13 percent of 19- to 29-year-olds and 10 percent of 30- to 39-year-olds plan to leave.
"I think this data reinforces the idea that if we don't figure out a way through policy and education to integrate young people into our communities and show them economic and leadership opportunities, they are going to leave," Allen said.
Satisfaction and dissatisfaction with community services and amenities were similar to previous years, said Becky Vogt, the poll's manager.
Rural residents are most satisfied with library services, K-12 education, parks and recreation, and basic medical services. They are least satisfied with transportation, entertainment, city and county government, law enforcement and retail shopping.
The scientific poll is the largest annual survey of rural Nebraskans' perceptions on quality of life and policy issues. This year's response rate was 47 percent. The margin of error is plus or minus three percent.
Complete results are available online at http://cari.unl.edu/ruralpoll.htm.
The poll is conducted by the university's Center for Applied Rural Innovation with funding from the Partnership for Rural Nebraska and IANR's Cooperative Extension Division and Agricultural Research Division.
Date: 7/21/04
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