Lacking Assets in the West Central Region

1 Introduction

One current goal in the West Central region of Minnesota is economic development, defined by economists as the general sustainable enhancement of the well-being of a region. In order to pursue this goal of economic development, surveys were conducted to better understand the importance of existing assets, lacking assets, and needed assets in the West Central region. The goal of this report is to examine which lacking assets those surveyed felt were most important. These assets were divided into six different categories—physical, demographic, institutional, economic, social, and cultural. In the surveys, participants were able to rank the importance of certain lacking assets, add comments regarding those assets, and had the option to add additional assets along with comments of those assets.

2 Physical Assets

The first group to look at would be physical assets. In this category there was only one asset listed—land use thinking. Consequently, due to this, this asset is considered to be the most important lacking physical asset.

In each section, the assets are ranked by using mean response (calculated by adding up all of the responses for an asset and dividing by the number of responses). If the means for two or more assets are equal, the variable with the lower standard deviation (sd) is listed first. The ranking for physical assets can be found in Table 1.

Table 1

Ranking of Lacking Physical Assets in the West Central Region

	Asset	Mean
1	Land Use Thinking	4.444 (sd = 1.03)

Because there is only one asset in this category, there is not much to add about this asset. Overall, those surveyed felt that there were better ways that the land could be used.

In this section, participants had the opportunity to list additional assets that they felt were lacking in the West Central region. The additional assets listed and comments pertaining to those assets can be found in Table 2.

Table 2

Other Listed Lacking Physical Assets

Asset	Comments
Clean Water
Diverse Landscape
Good Land Stewardship
Land Zoning/Planning	Lacking and very important to how we keep our natural resources viable/intact

By looking at Table 2, one can see that there are other physical assets that may be lacking in this region, most of which pertain to the land. These additional assets related to the land tended to revolve around land preservation and enhancement. What is interesting to note is that clean water was listed as a lacking physical asset although it was listed as an asset in the West Central region.

3 Demographic Assets

The next group of assets to examine would be demographic assets. These assets include those that are related to characteristics of those living in the region such as age or diversity.

The assets in this region were also ranked using the mean response. The ranking of the two assets in this asset group can be found in Table 3.

Table 3

Ranking of Lacking Demographic Assets in the West Central Region

	Asset	Mean
1	Young People	4.400 (sd = 1.07)
2	Diverse People	4.300 (sd = 1.25)

The findings in this section reinforce the findings in the existing assets, that there is a lack of young people and diverse people. These two groups were ranked very closely in regards to mean response. Participants tended to note that there are few young people because it is hard to retain this group. This would lead to the fact that retaining young people is actually a result of realizing other assets such as job opportunities that pay living wages and cultural and recreational opportunities. Participants also noted that one problem facing the lacking asset of diverse people is that there are diverse people in the region but they are not being embraced nor are other cultures being recognized which leads to segmentation of cultures.

In this section, participants also had the option to list additional asset that they felt were lacking. These assets, and any comments regarding those assets, can be found in Table 4.

Table 4

Other Listed Lacking Demographic Assets

Asset	Comments
Leaders
Families
Volunteers

What Table 4 reveals is that thee are demographic assets in the West Central region that are lacking that are not necessarily personal characteristics so much as groups of people. One problem that may face this region is that these assets may exist, but they are not being realized due to lack of incentives to get involved.

4 Institutional Assets

The next group of assets that will be considered is institutional assets. These assets are those that pertain to certain civic, educational, and business institutions in the region. These assets can be tangible, such as a small business incubator, or intangible such as trust by the Deans within the U.

These assets were also ranked according to the mean response. This ranking can be found in Table 5.

Table 5

Ranking of Lacking Institutional Assets in the West Central Region

	Asset	Mean
1	Health Care	4.444 (sd = 1.01)
2	Small Business Incubator	4.000 (sd = 0.87)
3	Information and Education about the Benefits of the Region	3.750 (sd = 0.89)
4	Regional Development Commission	2.500 (sd = 1.27)
5	Lack of Trust by the Deans within U	2.250 (sd = 1.58)

Table 5 shows that health care is considered to be the most important lacking institutional asset with a mean response of 4.444 while trust by Deans within the U was seen as least important with a mean response of 2.250.

As with other asset groups, participants had the option of listing other assets that they felt were important and lacking in this region. In this asset group, there was one additional asset which can be seen in Table 6.

Table 6

Other Listed Lacking Institutional Assets

Asset	Comment
Rural Media Network	Local media are not connected; there is no rural media

5 Economic Assets

The next group of assets that will be considered is economic assets. These assets are those that pertain to the economic well-being of the region such as jobs that pay living wages and local investment or those that add economic value to the region such as a food network or a health care purchasing group.

Similar to the other asset groups, the lacking economic assets were also ranked based on the mean response. This ranking can be found in Table 7.

Table 7

Ranking of Lacking Economic Assets in the West Central Region

	Asset	Mean
1	Lack of Jobs that Pay a Living Wage	4.750 (sd = 0.46)
2	Local Process of Some Foods	4.500 (sd = 0.53)
3	Health Care Purchasing Group	4.400 (sd = 1.26)
4	Capital	4.375 (sd = 0.74)
5	Local Investment	4.300 (sd = 0.80)
6	Retail Businesses	4.111 (sd = 0.78)
7	Food Network	4.000 (sd = 1.22)
	Energy and Alternative Energy Resources	4.000 (sd = 1.41)
9	Medium and High Paying Businesses	3.857 (sd = 1.07)
10	Wealth	3.800 (sd = 1.23)
11	Infrastructure	3.700 (sd = 1.34)
12	Opportunity	3.250 (sd = 1.49)
13	Tourism	3.000 (sd = 1.49)

The most important lacking economic asset is jobs that pay a living wage with a mean response of 4.750 while the least important lacking economic asset was tourism with a mean response of 3.000. It is important to note that jobs that pay a living wage may actually be the result of other assets such as investment and building local businesses.

As with all other asset groups, participants had the opportunity to add other lacking assets. These assets can be found in Table 8.

Table 8

Other Listed Lacking Economic Assets

Asset	Comments
Wind Turbines	Ranked as a 5
Ethnically Diverse Shopping/Restaurants	Ranked as a 4

Table 8 shows that other lacking economic assets tend to be related to other lacking assets. Wind turbines relate to the lack of alternative energy sources while the lack of ethnically diverse shopping and restaurants may be the result of not embracing other cultures and diverse people.

6 Social Assets

The group that will be considered next would be social assets. These assets include those that relate to the social aspects of the region such as visionary people Assets in this group tend to focus on those that reflect social commitment and civic engagement.

The assets in this group were also ranked using the mean response. This ranking can be found in Table 9.

Table 9

Ranking of Lacking Social Assets in the West Central Region

	Asset	Mean
1	Young Entrepreneurs with “Community Building” Demeanor or Commitment	4.111 (sd = 1.27)
2	Lack of Integration of Interest	3.750 (sd = 1.39)
3	Visionary People	3.555 (sd = 1.59)
4	Citizens with Enough Time to Devote	3.500 (sd = 1.20)
5	Environment, Economic Development, and Diversity	3.375 (sd = 1.60)

The most important lacking was young entrepreneurs with a mean response of 4.111 while the least important asset in this group was environment, economic development, and diversity with a mean response of 3.375. It seems quite odd that the least important asset in this region would be environment, economic development, and diversity because one of the goals of the region is economic development as well as embracing and enhancing diversity.

As with the other asset groups, participants had the option of listing other lacking social assets. However, none of the participants chose to do so.

7 Cultural Assets

The last group of assets to be considered will be cultural assets. Assets in this group would be those that relate to the cultural enhancement of the region and aspects of the culture that could be brought out.

These assets were also ranked using the mean response. There was only one asset listed in this category. This asset can be found in Table 10.

Table 10

Ranking of Lacking Cultural Assets in the West Central Region

	Asset	Mean
1	Cultural and Recreational Activities	2.714 (sd = 1.50)

Participants also had the opportunity to list other lacking assets in the West Central region. However, none of the participants chose to do so.

8 All Assets

It is also helpful to understand how the assets rank against each other regardless of how they rank within the group. To compare the rankings of assets, all assets were ranked using the mean response of each asset as can be seen in Table 11. Besides ranking the assets, the asset group that the asset belongs to was also shown. For this table, assets that are green are physical assets, assets that are red are demographic assets, assets that are blue are institutional assets, assets that are brown are economic assets, assets that are purple are social assets, and assets that are orange are cultural assets.

Table 11

Ranking of Lacking Assets in the West Central Region

	Asset	Mean
1	Lack of Jobs that Pay a Living Wage	4.750 (sd = 0.46)
2	Local Process of Some Foods	4.500 (sd = 0.53)
3	Health Care	4.444 (sd = 1.01)
	Land Use Thinking	4.444 (sd = 1.03)
5	Young People	4.400 (sd = 1.07)
	Health Care Purchasing Group	4.400 (sd = 1.26)
7	Capital	4.375 (sd = 0.74)
8	Local Investment	4.300 (sd = 0.80)
	Diverse People	4.300 (sd = 1.25)
10	Retail Businesses	4.111 (sd = 0.78)
	Young Entrepreneurs with “Community Building” Demeanor and Commitment	4.111 (sd = 1.27)
12	Small Business Incubator	4.000 (sd = 0.87)
	Food Network	4.000 (sd = 1.22)
	Energy and Alternative Energy Resources	4.000 (sd = 1.41)
15	Medium and High Paying Businesses	3.857 (sd = 1.07)
16	Wealth	3.800 (sd = 1.23)
17	Information and Education about the Benefits of the Region	3.750 (sd = 0.89)
	Lack of Integration of Interest	3.750 (sd = 1.39)
19	Infrastructure	3.700 (sd = 1.34)
20	Visionary People	3.555 (sd = 1.59)
21	Citizens with Enough Time to Devote	3.500 (sd = 1.20)
22	Environment, Economic Development, and Diversity	3.375 (sd = 1.60)
23	Opportunity	3.250 (sd = 1.49)
24	Tourism	3.000 (sd = 1.49)
25	Cultural and Recreational Opportunities	2.714 (sd = 1.50)
26	Regional Development Commission	2.500 (sd = 1.27)
27	Lack of Trust by the Deans within U	2.250 (sd = 1.58)

Table 11 shows that the lack of jobs that pay a living wage is the most important lacking asset in the West Central region with a mean of 4.75. The least important lacking asset was the lack of trust by the Deans within the U with a mean of 2.25.

What Table 11 is able to reveal is that physical assets (in this case the one physical asset) were ranked highly while cultural assets (also on cultural asset in this case) were ranked near the bottom. With the exception of one social asset, young entrepreneurs with “community building” demeanor and commitment, all assets in this group ranked in the lower half of assets overall. Institutional assets tended to receive rankings that were high, medium and low though most of these assets were concentrated in the bottom half of all assets overall. Demographic assets were ranked comparatively high compared to all other assets as both of the assets in this group were ranked in the upper third of all assets. Economic assets tended to receive low, medium, and high ranking though these assets tended to be concentrated in the upper half of assets overall.

Table 11 is able to reveal what groups of assets are most lacking, which allows those who are developing and instituting policies to pursue policies that build the most lacking assets.

9 Conclusion

Through the use of surveys it is possible to better understand what assets are most lacking in the West Central region. The surveys also help reveal other missing assets that may not have been thought of before as well as additional comments that participants have. The surveys on lacking assets have revealed that economic assets, demographic assets, and physical assets are of the most importance while social and cultural assets are of the least importance of all lacking assets in this region.