Join the Community Foundation of Johnson County and our guest speaker, Ben Winchester from the University of Minnesota Extension Department of Community Development, for a virtual conversation about rewriting the rural narrative and our rural housing supply. Ben is an expert in the field who has come to Iowa (virtually and in person) many times over the past decade to share his insights with local community leaders, industry experts, and residents, and we are thrilled to invite him to visit with us right here in Johnson County! Along with Ben’s presentation, the CFJC staff will be sharing a presentation on the upcoming shift in wealth from generation to generation, called the Transfer of Wealth, in Johnson County, and how your support now can leave a legacy for our communities long into the future. See the session details and a bio of Ben below, and make sure to RSVP to join us on October 23rd at 6pm for this wonderful virtual learning opportunity!
Rewriting the Rural Narrative and the Future of the Rural Housing Supply
It seems the rural story has already been told. Small towns keep getting smaller. Churches, schools, clinics, businesses, and now post offices, have closed their doors as the lucky few migrate out to the big cities. This deficit framework dominates how we discuss and envision our rural communities. Yet there’s a wave of change coming to rural America – people are moving in, moving out, and moving over resulting in major demographic shifts that will forever change the face of rural communities and have far-reaching consequences. Since the 1970s there’s been a regular march of new residents populating our rural communities resulting in a housing shortage the past 15 years. During these next 20 years we are poised to welcome in a whole new generation of residents as nearly three-quarters of our owner-occupied housing will turn over as seniors and baby boomers move out. A broad examination of the trends related to these moves – such as workforce housing, a tight labor market, and changing residential preferences – will be discussed. At the end of this event you can’t say you don’t see this coming!
All are welcome to attend this virtual event. This information is especially pertinent to senior citizens and their families; economic development groups, housing, and government agencies; health care officials; real estate and property managers; and construction and housing developers.
Speaker Bio: Benjamin Winchester
Rural Sociologist, University of Minnesota Extension, Department of Community Development
Ben has been working both in and for small towns across the Midwest for over 25 years. He lives in St. Cloud, Minnesota with his wife and two children. Ben is trained as a Rural Sociologist and works in the Extension Department of Community Development at the University of Minnesota. His conducts applied research on economic, social, and demographic topics surrounding a theme of “rewriting the rural narrative”. He received the international Rural Renewal Research Prize in 2021 for this work.
Winchester received his B.A. in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Minnesota, Morris (1995) and M.S. in Rural Sociology from the University of Missouri, Columbia (2001). He was a founding employee at the Center for Small Towns, an outreach program at the University of Minnesota, Morris and specializes in community development, demographic analysis, data visualization, and moving communities away from anecdata.
