Note to Editors: Adapted from the Kansas Profile radio series, this column profiles a different Kansan, Kansas community or Kansas-based company every Wednesday, as a regular feature of the K-State Research and Extension News  lineup. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at  http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm.

Released: January 31, 2007

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

"That’s not the way we’ve always done it." This familiar phrase might be known as the Bureaucrat’s Lament. It is a common reaction among many of us when we are faced with change in the way we do things. Today we’ll learn about a rural county that has been a pioneer in implementing a new version of a community betterment program. No, it’s not the way we’ve always done it, but it has enabled this program to break new ground.

David Coltrain is the ag extension agent in the Walnut Creek District of K-State Research and Extension. That district includes Rush, Ness, and Lane counties.

In fall 2006, David Coltrain approached me with a question: Would it be possible to have the First Impressions program done for the entire county of Rush County?

As background, let me explain that First Impressions is a community betterment program sponsored by the Huck Boyd Institute for Rural Development and K-State Research and Extension. It originated in Wisconsin in 1992 and is now offered through extension all across the country. In Kansas, the program is coordinated by the Huck Boyd Institute at K-State.

The purpose of First Impressions is to provide an outsider’s perspective on a community. After a community signs up to participate, we organize teams of out-of-town visitors to go into that community unannounced at different times over a period of a few weeks. There are three teams of two people each.

Each team of visitors will interact with the community as if they are tourists, passersby, or prospective residents or business owners. They will sight-see, buy gas, ask for directions, eat lunch, window shop, ask about the community, and generally look over the town and visit with people informally.

Each team then fills out a questionnaire which records their first impressions of the town in several dimensions: Cleanliness, hospitality, appearance, infrastructure, signage, recreation opportunities, housing, and more. It is not a statistical measurement of those factors, but rather their first blush reaction of how these appeared to them as visitors. These written impressions are compiled into a single report which is presented at a public meeting, along with slide photos of various elements around the community.

Such an outsider’s perspective can be quite useful for a community. A fresh set of eyes can notice things that the locals take for granted. The outsiders can call attention to things that need improving. That is part of why this program has been in demand through the years, but it has always been done one town at a time.

So when extension agent David Coltrain contacted us about First Impressions for an entire county, our first reaction was the classic: That’s not the way we’ve always done it. Besides, there are logistical challenges in trying to cover a whole county.

But David made the case that Rush County is trying to work county-wide: "The residents of Rush County emphasize that they want to include all the communities."

After all, in the small rural counties it takes all the people pulling together to reach a critical mass. And Rush County is truly rural. Its largest town is La Crosse with 1,346 people and the smallest is Alexander, population 73 people. Now, that’s rural.

So we gave it a try. A First Impressions New Generations work group was organized to help with the project, and in December 2006, the results were presented in Rush County. David Coltrain says, "We had a good turnout at the public meeting, including two county commissioners and two city commissioners. The residents are enthusiastic about making community improvements. We have to work together as a county if we’re going to accomplish anything."

"But that’s not the way we’ve always done it." Fortunately, Rush County was able to overcome that bureaucratic reaction and implement a new version of this program. We commend David Coltrain and the people of Rush County for making a difference by pioneering this new approach. That’s not the way we’ve always done it, but in Rush County, they found a way to do it even better.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan.

For more information:
The Huck Boyd Institute is at 785-532-7690 or rwilson@ksu.edu

K-State Research and Extension