This is a  beautiful picture that showcases the grandeur of the Alberta prairies and the important role that the farming industry industry plays in this part of Canada. I’m posting this picture because we used it in a a day long social media strategy session that my partner Mark (Mark Holmgren Consulting) and I facilitated.

Mark and I are assisting a group of communities in southern Alberta called Return to Rural (R2R). We are helping them develop their social media strategy and supporting them as they learn why, how, who, what, when and where of the social web landscape.

R2R is a ground breaking initiative that is re-branding their community as a place where young people and young professionals can reconnect with their rural community roots and values. It’s more than re-branding of course. It’s a long term community transformation process that will take careful nurturing by the lead organization, the  SAMDA Economic Partnership.

For generations, young people left their rural country communities to find work, new experiences, fame and fortune in the bigger cities across Canada.  For many their move to large urban centers worked out, but for others, their search for a place to call home didn’t materialize. In general terms, many of these immigrants to the big city felt a pervasive sense of disconnection from from that special, hard to put your finger on feeling of belonging to a home community. R2R is calling to them with a message that rural life is an economic and socially satisfying option, an option that once chosen, can reconnect you to that special belonging feeling.

Return to Rural is an ambitious and timely project with great promise for success. The issues faced by members of Return to Rural are shared by small farming communities across Canada. I am very keen to chronicle the lessons learned as I believe the Return to Rural story can be a very useful aid for many community leaders who are who are seeking innovative solutions to complex challenges in their rural community.

Stay tuned, I will  be posting again about the progress that Return to Rural is making as they engage their constituents inside and outside the SAMDA catchment areas.

Oyen Inland Grain Terminal [1 of 3], originally uploaded by neutralhills.

Brent Uncategorized rural urban farming