More than $152 million in new investments have come to Seward County in the last three years.
The Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership is largely responsible for that figure as part of its work toward growing the county and realizing a specific 20-year vision.
The SCCDP is nearing the end of its three-year strategic planning cycle and looking to create a new plan for the next three years.
The SCCDP earned national accreditation in June 2021, making it one of just six accredited chambers in Nebraska and one of less than 200 accredited chambers out of the 7,000 nationwide.
The SCCDP formed six years ago in September 2015, when eight entities came together to form one united vision asking the question, “What will Seward County be like in the next 20 years – by 2035?”
Those entities included the Seward Area Chamber of Commerce, Seward County Economic Development Corporation, Milford Chamber of Commerce, Utica Commercial Club, Seward Area Development Corporation, Seward Arts Council, Seward County Visitor’s Committee and the Seward County Housing Corporation.
“Then, they asked the question, ‘Does anybody have the capacity to be the caretaker and steward of that vision?’ and the answer was ‘no,’” said Jonathan Jank, president and CEO of the SCCDP. “That’s why we were formed.”
Some of those original eight entities still exist as affiliate members of the SCCDP, while others dissolved into the new partnership.
Jank said the new organization was tasked with carrying out plans to make the 2035 Vision a reality by focusing on different pillars of strength.
Those pillars range from agriculture to housing to arts and culture and more.
After finding its identity as the SCCDP, Jank said the organization underwent its first three-year planning cycle to think on a larger scale.
“We realized we needed multi-year strategic plans that would help us to work on things larger than just a one-year action plan,” he said.
That plan was built around survey responses, feedback and focus group discussions from SCCDP members and the business community, with both public and private sector partners across the county.
They distilled wants and needs into three initiatives that became the SCCDP’s guiding light over the last three years:
• Quality growth;
• Welcoming county; and
• Workforce recruitment and support.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, throwing a wild curveball at businesses.
“Even though there were a tremendous amount of challenges that happened during the pandemic, we were still able to continue this strategic plan moving forward,” Jank said.
He attributed the county’s ability to pull through COVID to the resilience of existing businesses.
“They fought hard to continue to stay open, and many ended up thriving as we’re slowly but surely coming out of it,” he said.
Leanne Miller, marketing and events director for the SCCDP, said one of the projects that kept businesses rolling through COVID was the Triple Impact Match Event, which encouraged people to buy gift cards to local businesses, with all purchases matched by the Legacy Fund for Seward County and LB 840 Economic Development funds.
“It basically tripled the money that was spent,” Miller said.
The TIME program brought in $207,977 to benefit 75 businesses in all parts of the county.
Quality growth
The SCCDP defines quality growth, Jank said, as “not growing for the sake of growing, but being intentional about how and where we grow.”
That means recruiting new businesses that complement those already here and diversifying when it comes to the types of businesses and housing available in the county.
“We are the ninth fastest growing county in the state,” Jank said. “I think that’s something to be proud of.”
The City of Seward has experienced an average of 1.02% growth each year since 1930, according to census data.
Jank said it’s exciting to see each community within the county grow in its own way, but housing has become a barrier.
The SCCDP secured a $1.2 million Rural Workforce Housing grant to encourage developers to build more homes that are affordable for more people.
“Our goal is to leverage that $1.2 million into about $15 million in investments in the coming years, into about 85 to 89 housing units,” Jank said.
That is in addition to the new 170-lot development being built east of Seward.
He noted projects like the soon-to-be-built Seward Wellness Center are part of the quality growth plan because they attract more people to the county.
“That’s an amenity that has clearly been on not just our strategic plan, but a number of community plans over the years,” Jank said. “This is a fulfillment of so many people’s work over that time.”
Welcoming county
Jank said Seward County is full of welcoming people who embrace newcomers and help them get involved, but there is more to be done for those who already live here.
“Considering yourself welcoming is one of those intangible things,” he said. “What does it look like? How do you feel when you’re here? That’s hard to quantify.”
The SCCDP has recently turned its focus to the county’s commuter population.
“Actually, 63% of our county leaves the county every day for work,” Jank said. “The reality is if you leave in the morning and you’re physically out of the county for the day and then come back in the evening, sometimes you miss things.”
The organization launched a Talk Seward County podcast to make it easier for people to hear what’s going on while they commute, as well as a Seward County Stories video series that people can watch whenever they have the time.
“We need to meet people where they’re at,” Jank said.
Miller said the videos are meant to share the stories of Seward County residents and what they love about the county.
“We’re getting the opportunity to talk to young professionals across the county that have chosen to make this their home,” Miller said.
The series can be found on the SCCDP’s YouTube channel and social media.
Workforce recruitment and support
The SCCDP has had a hand in creating 293 new jobs over the past three years through new business investments.
Many of those investments have been at the Seward Regional Rail Campus, but they also stretch to businesses in Milford, Utica, smaller communities and rural areas.
Just like people choosing to live in Seward County, Jank said businesses lay down roots when they find what they’re looking for.
“They’re going to choose where they want to locate for the reasons that they need. We can’t make those decisions for people. Our job is just to tell them about the opportunities,” he said.
New plans
As the SCCDP continues to work on these issues, its next three-year plan will pivot to include more specifics in related areas:
• broadband;
• childcare; and
• housing.
These initiatives came about largely because of the pandemic, Jank said.
“Those three areas just continue to come to the top of people’s priority lists, and I think COVID only exacerbated those three,” he said.
The organization recently helped launch the Seward County Broadband Task Force, made up of representatives around the county to help bring better internet connectivity to homes and businesses.
“We need broadband access for everyone. It was clear through kids being home from school during COVID that it wasn’t just ‘we need this for fun or Netflix or gaming.’ Now, this is actually an educational asset that you need to have,” Jank said. “It needs to be affordable and it needs to be not just in municipalities, but in rural Seward County as well.”
When it comes to childcare, Seward County has been identified as a “childcare desert,” with 150 children ages 0 to 5 unable to access quality care in licensed facilities, based on census data.
“We acknowledge that childcare is a workforce development issue,” Jank said. “It impacts people’s ability to work outside the home, and if they choose to work outside the home, they need to have affordable and reliable childcare and quality childcare.”
Using grants from Communities for Kids and the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, SCCDP is working with existing childcare providers to figure out how they might be able to accommodate more children, whether through increased staffing, meeting higher licensing requirements or adding more physical space.
As far as housing, Jank pointed to Seward County’s most recent housing study which highlighted the need for more affordable housing in all communities, as well as identifying where those communities have land to grow.
