Pow I-80 Wants Presidential Candidates to Address Economic Development

As presidential candidates trek across Iowa and the war in Iraq rages, bread-and-butter issues also are at the forefront of many Iowans’ minds. With rising health-care costs and factory jobs trickling out of the state, economic development has become one of Iowa’s greatest challenges and is an issue that 2008 presidential hopefuls of both parties must address.

Iowa Independent sat down with Bill Menner, executive director of Poweshiek I-80, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic development in Poweshiek County and the neighboring region. He emphasized the need for rural entrepreneurship, downplayed the "brain drain"and encouraged presidential candidates to find their voice on issues of economic development.

Poweshiek I-80, or Pow I-80, celebrates its third anniversary next month (Poweshiek County, halfway between Des Moines and Iowa City, is located on Interstate 80, thus the name). Menner, who helped found the organization, said that Pow I-80 developed out of several existing economic and community development organizations. “There was a broad consensus that there needed to be streamlining” between Grinnell Tourism; Grinnell Renaissance, a community development organization; and Poweshiek Area Development, a county organization. “We wanted to try to get as many of the organizations under one umbrella," he said.

Though development sometimes has broad definitions, it basically means “helping an area grow,” Menner said. This includes expanding an area’s population to build the work force, increasing the wealth of a community by raising the incomes of all residents, increasing the number of jobs available (Poweshiek County has only 2 percent to 3 percent unemployment, he said.), helping new businesses succeed, and simply building a better quality of life for members of the community.

One of Pow I-80's main goals is to encourage new businesses that are connected to the community. “Businesses actually last longer and stay longer [if] they have roots in the community,” he said. “It’s more effective than pursuing that big Saturn plant.” He noted that the recently closed Maytag plant in Newton was originally a “homegrown company” but after it became a multinational company and was purchased by a stranger, "Well, the rest is history.”

Pow I-80 is “the first point of contact for people considering business” in the area, Menner said. He credited the organization with recruiting FiberWorks, a fairly new quilt-and-fabric store, to come to the city of Grinnell. Pow I-80 also helped KLR Manufacturers grow from a garage to a 20,000-square-foot facility, he said.

Poweshiek I-80 also works closely with the University of Northern Iowa-sponsored MyEntreNet, which, according to its website is "a rural based business accelerator program which creates community-based support networks for entrepreneurship, provides startup and existing companies with advanced technical assistance and training, and connects entrepreneurs and resources in rural regions nationwide through technology." “It’s a great online resource center,” so that “rural Iowans don’t need to travel for creating a network within the county,” Menner said. “Rural people are really under-served[and] we provide a lot of resources to those people right here.”

Discussions of economic development usually include the “brain drain,” the fact that many young Iowans leave the state after getting an education. But Menner said he thought that young Iowans would return later in life. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do to a 22-year-old to make them stay in Iowa,” he said. “Frankly, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for them to go out and experience life out there.” But when they get older, there is a good chance they will return, he said. “[Iowa] is a great place to live, a great place to raise a family,” he said, noting that with inexpensive housing prices, safe streets and a clean environment, ex-Iowans could be lulled back. “We would like to see more high-tech business that might keep some students after graduating,” he said. “But we can’t compete with the Austins, the Bostons.”

Pow I-80 intends to play a role in the presidential race, if a small one. Menner said that the organization had promoted the county to all the presidential candidates and mailed them a list of issues and potential businesses to visit when making their cases. The issue of Medicare reimbursement rates are an important one for Poweshiek County residents, he said. Iowa ranks last in the nation, and Grinnell is the sixth-lowest city in the state, for getting reimbursed.  The cities of Grinnell, Brooklyn, and Montezuma pay $1.50 per capita for Medicare, Menner said, which is higher than many other places. The perhaps unlikely problem is that they are "way too efficient," Menner said.

He hopes to make candidates aware of the issue. “If you’re Hillary Clinton, your state gets very high reimbursement rates,” he said. “We hope to raise their awareness and maybe elicit some promises.” Pow I-80, a 501(c)organization, can't make  endorsements, but Menner said that he hoped the candidates would address the issues important to Poweshiek County citizens, such as rural entrepreneurship, trails, health care, and quality of life. “We want to have them listen to what our residents are talking about,” he said.