Oregon Community Profiled in Upcoming Economic Development Book

Why is it that some communities appear to implement community and economic development projects like clockwork while still others seem locked in an endless quarrel and debate? Is this state of success or failure permanent? What are the underlying factors that form such success or failure?

Brian Cole, in his upcoming economic development strategic planning book, Building Communities: 25 Strategies to Advance America, not only presents a model that addresses these questions, but he also presents a profile of an Oregon community that has experienced all four stages—Apathy, Argumentative, Action, and Alliance—in what Cole refers to as his Four Stages of Community Development Capacity model.

The community profile on Baker City, Oregon transcends an entire generation of community and economic development activity beginning in 1983.

Approximately 30 years ago, Baker City, a rural community of just under 10,000 population was facing the highest unemployment rate and one of the lowest per-capita incomes of any county in the state. The economic condition was so depressed that the civic spirit was nearly dead, and the community had little willingness or ability to define or enact a brighter future. The community was in the Apathy Stage of the Four Stages model.

The combination of emerging local and state leadership changed the dynamics in Baker City beginning in 1986. The combination of an engaging gubernatorial candidate, potential state resources, and an exciting local project with national implications created a willingness to define a brighter future. The wheels were put in motion to build the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center at Flagstaff Hill.

By the early 1990s, the community not only displayed the willingness and ability to move forward, but there was great unity and professional capability driving a very broad civic agenda to improve the overall quality of life and economic condition of Baker City. This is what Cole refers to as the Action Stage.

Finally, by 1996, the community was experiencing so much success in defining and implementing projects that a collaboration was formed to identify additional financial resources and create internal efficiencies in the advancement of the community agenda. This is what Cole refers to as the Alliance Stage.

Cole completes his profile of Baker City by noting that many of the advancements of the 1990s reversed themselves in the decade that followed. Key elements of community development capacity such as unity and professional capability were lost, and the community fell back into a phase of internal dissention marked by controversies and recall attempts of elected officials.

The Four Stages model as well as profiles of 17 other communities across America is all contained in the upcoming book, Building Communities: 25 Strategies to Advance America. The book is intended to present the theories, tools, and practices necessary for successful economic development.