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Economic Development Program Connects Counties Across State Lines and Varied Geographies [1]
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Date: 2025-01-28
In 1993, months of flooding devastated the upper midwest in one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. More than thirty years later, a group of rural counties first united by the calamity are still working together to achieve a shared goal: regional economic development.
Initially founded by local entrepreneurs, Tri-State Development serves 42 rural counties in northeast Missouri, southeast Iowa, and western Illinois. For the past three years the economic development program has been housed at Culver-Stockton College, a private, four-year liberal arts college in rural Canton, Missouri (population 2,736).
“We’re building on a 30-year legacy of regional cooperation,” said Leslie Sieck, the executive director of Tri-State Development, in an interview with the Daily Yonder. “We’ve created a model for rural regional development that transcends state boundaries and demonstrates how communities can work together effectively despite geographical and jurisdictional divisions.”
The three-state region shares a workforce that often crosses state lines, according to Sieck, and services important transportation networks like the Mississippi river and highway corridors. Manufacturing and food processing are also major industries in the area, with General Mills, DuPont, Roquet, and Archers Daniel Midland (ADM) plants, among others, scattered across the region.
Tri-State Development supports growth in these key economic sectors through its task forces on Rural Business and Agriculture, and Transportation and River. Task force meetings are open to the public, and are intended to bring together stakeholders as a means of identifying and solving problems within certain areas.
Other task forces include rural broadband, childcare, and regional health and well-being.
“We bring together those with expertise, those with resources, those with collective experience to create projects or do advocacy,” Sieck said.
Sieck believes this kind of collaboration is critical for rural communities that often go unheard at the state and federal levels. The largest county in the 42-county region has a population of 64,000, while the smallest has around 3,700.
“So you can imagine how difficult it is for our rural counties to garner the attention of any state officials and certainly federal officials,” Sieck said. “But by coming together, our region expands to a total population of over 725,000. Now we can get somewhere.”
Sieck says her region boasts a relatively low cost of living paired with a high quality of life, including access to outdoor recreation and good schools. But more work needs to be done to increase the economic opportunities available in the region.
“I love this area, and I think we have so much to offer. But unfortunately, the investment doesn’t really demonstrate that,” Sieck said.
Tri-State Development, in partnership with staff and students at Culver-Stockton College, is undergoing a stakeholder survey and a labor dynamics study to help identify workforce needs and growth areas in the region. And Culver-Stockton College’s academic focus on STEM and computer technology is part of an effort to attract more tech investment to the area.
Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri is one of the nation’s most rural four-year colleges. It houses Tri-State Development, a rural economic development initiative that brings together stakeholders from 42 counties in northeast Missouri, southeast Iowa, and western Illinois. (Photo courtesy of Leslie Sieck)
The college also offers an internship program that promotes civic engagement in the region’s rural communities.
In 2023 Culver-Stockton College was recognized as the top Engaged University by the University Economic Development Association. The other universities recognized in this category were Virginia Tech and University of Texas at Dallas, which have around 38,000 and 30,000 enrolled students respectively. In contrast, Culver-Stockton enrolls about 1,000 students.
While many universities have economic development programs, they are often based at large public universities with limited exposure to rural communities. Things are different at Culver-Stockton, which is more than two hours away from the nearest metro area, according to Sieck.
“We understand the challenges of being rural. We care deeply about the economic resilience of our communities, and we’re very, very deliberate about partnering with our counties and communities to help drive economic growth,” Sieck said.
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