A group of about 40 Iowa business and industry leaders spent the latter half of this week touring Carroll County for the May gathering of the Leadership Iowa program. Their focus for this month was economic development and community vitality, and the group spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday touring local businesses and attending sessions on the region’s successes. One of the keynote speakers was Debi Durham, the director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). She says rural populations might be trending downwards, but that is not necessarily true for rural economies.
She adds Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Empower Rural Iowa Initiative will continue to expand the positive aspects of the state’s less populated areas. Alyson Fleming, who is originally from Carroll, is one of the co-chair for this year’s program and currently works in Des Moines as a State Revolving Fund (SRF) Program Specialist at the Iowa Finance Authority. She has visited communities in all areas of the state and says the most successful ones have a community attitude similar to Carroll County’s.
Carroll Area Development Corporation (CADC) Executive Director, Shannon Landauer, says the Leadership Iowa visit was an excellent opportunity to showcase what a place like Carroll has to offer.
She adds it is a win-win scenario, as the Leadership Iowa team will take what they’ve learned here back to their own homes and businesses. The three-day visit featured stops at some of the county’s most well-known companies, such as: Templeton Rye, Puck Custom Enterprises and Farner-Bocken.
