Jamie Wright: Rural communities are no strangers to tight labor markets. Even pre-pandemic, rural businesses struggled to fill jobs, and automation is an easy way to fill those gaps. We’re not looking at replacing entire workforces. Our program looks at jobs that are hard to fill or retain, it makes future recruitment easier in a tight market.

 

Amanda Ellis: That’s the voice of Jamie Wright, Executive Director of the Alliance for Rural Impact sharing her expertise on automation and manufacturing in rural communities. In this episode, Jamie takes us behind the scenes of small rural communities and how automation and technology can help resolve workforce challenges. I’m Amanda Ellis, and you’re listening to Livability: Inside America’s Best Cities, a podcast for chamber, economic development and talent attraction professionals. We bring you expert insights on how your community can be a better place to live, work, and play. To learn more about this podcast, visit livabilitymedia.com, where you can also sign up for Livability’s monthly Let’s Talk Talent talent attraction newsletter. Now, let’s jump in. 

 

Well, Jamie, so happy to have you today on the Livability podcast. Thanks for being here.

 

Jamie Wright: Thank you, Amanda. I appreciate you asking us to participate.

 

Amanda Ellis: We’re here today to talk about automation mainly, but for some context, can you first tell us about your organization, the impact for rural impact and some of your work?

 

Jamie Wright: Yes, so the Alliance for Rural Impact was created in 2017 by myself and my business partner, Jennifer Watkins. We had worked together on a regionally-based sustainability plan for Northeast Arkansas, and we had seen firsthand the challenges that face rural America, specifically here in the Delta where I am located. We knew from the conversations that we had held with local communities, the data that we had collected, and just from me living here, that the apathy that combined with the generational poverty, we knew in order to make any type of difference, that we were going to have to have a different kind of community and economic development model. So, we took that into account and we started on this marathon of creating an organization and we called it the Alliance for Rural Impact.

 

Amanda Ellis: Awesome.

 

Jamie Wright: Yes.

 

Amanda Ellis: So, I know that one focal point and prong of your work there is automation. So, how did that become part of that? Talk me through that.

 

Jamie Wright: Well, business in general, they’re really no stranger to workforce challenges, and the pandemic that we’ve all recently lived through exacerbated so many of those. Originally we were focused on community development, making it more of a holistic approach, taking in the educational and philanthropic arms of a community, but when the pandemic hit, we had to shift our focus. So, we took a really hard look at how we could specifically help businesses in the short-run, those businesses who had a third of their employee base out sick at one time or a fourth of their employee base had to return home due to childcare-related issues, and we saw automation as a way to really help alleviate some of those pain points.

 

Amanda Ellis: So, that’s where that business-first approach kind of made sense. Working through that approach, but also to benefit the community overall.

 

Jamie Wright: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so we like to say why robotics in rural, that’s kind of our marketing material. It’s an alternative to the shrinking labor pool. As we’ve seen in recent labor participation numbers, that pool is not growing and automation allows for even the smallest businesses to level that playing field, provide better, safer jobs for their existing workforce, those employees that could keep coming to work, and relatively quickly show some returns on their investment. The projects that we work on, they pay back within six to 48 months, depending on the complexity of a project.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, so can you talk us through a specific success story and how it’s benefited a community?

 

Jamie Wright: So strangely enough, we’re in Arkansas, or maybe not strangely enough, the poultry state-

 

Amanda Ellis: Yes.

 

Jamie Wright: And so for us, we’ve had some real nice successes thus far with poultry. I’m not sure how many of our listeners have had the honor of visiting a processing plant.

 

Amanda Ellis: I have not.

 

Jamie Wright: Well, if you get the opportunity, I say do it. There are some very tedious, sometimes very dirty and dangerous jobs that go along with preparing our food. So, what we have been able to do is come in and help our clients move some really valuable long-term employees out of some physically demanding, sometimes dangerous positions and upscale those individuals and move them into other areas of their organization. This has allowed our clients to grow and even add positions due to the increased productivity and output.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So, what are some of the measures you generally look at when you’re determining whether a project like this was successful?

 

Jamie Wright: Well, we measure a lot. We look at efficiency, has the organization’s efficiency improved? Cash flow, net income generation, of course those are easy to measure. Was the organization able to really increase payroll or their distributions of FTEs? Were they able to offer workforce training opportunities that they hadn’t in the past? These are all very important indicators for us engaging success of our program. Also, because community is so important to us at ARI, we also measure the community. We measure support from local economic development officials and other local leadership, what is their engagement level with the businesses we work with? The businesses that we work with, do they remain in that local community that got them started? Do they contribute to that local community through local causes or real estate improvements?

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, so thinking about our listeners who are mostly in the economic development, talent attraction chamber type space, how would they know whether automation and processes like what you’re describing are something that would benefit their community? Or do you see it more as something that could really be beneficial anywhere?

 

Jamie Wright: Oh yeah, so this really is something, and we’ve created it specifically to be relevant across all industries in both rural and urban settings. The reason, because these workforce challenges are not going away for any of us, and so our work focuses on those small to midsize businesses that are located … ARI, we like to work in communities of 50,000 or less 51% of the time to say we’re rural, but it’s not to say if there was opportunity, that we would not go to a community that was larger. We also focus on those businesses that are poised for growth. Not a startup, but they’re not really sure what the next move could be or how to get there. Specifically some of those that are tapped out of space, tapped out of the employment pool. So whether a business needs a lesser investment of something like a customer management tool or a marketing asset, or if they need a greater investment such as frontline or backend automation or a true product development and innovation, that’s what we’re here for.

 

Amanda Ellis: Are there ways that communities might already be engaging in automation efforts without necessarily realizing it or putting that name on it?

 

Jamie Wright: Oh my gosh, yes, and so many of them already are. Automation is key to the processes that are being upgraded in businesses everywhere. For example, let’s say a small business goes from using Excel spreadsheets to an all-inclusive customer relationship program. In my mind, that’s including automation in your work. Another could be a local manufacturer who needs to address a process within the organization that’s not physically able to be done by a lot of different people, it’s not ergonomic. They have had a difficult time filling that for that reason, so they get a “robot arm.” It’s a little bit more than that, but we can come in and customize those robot arms to take away that physically demanding position. Companies are doing it all over the country, they just may not know that they’re being innovative.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, so thinking about, I feel like one comment that we’ve all heard around the concept is like, oh, it’s taking jobs or there aren’t going to be jobs. Of course now we don’t necessarily have enough people to fill all the jobs, so it’s a unique place to be. But do you view that as a misconception? What are your thoughts on that? What are maybe some other misconceptions that you run into around this stuff?

 

Jamie Wright: You’re spot on. That is one of the biggest misconceptions is that robots are going to take over and workforce will not be needed. That is completely not true. What we aim to do is to really incorporate that existing workforce, show them how important they are and take them into positions to better themselves, not so dangerous. The other biggest misconception from a business owner standpoint is cost. It’s, “Oh, we can’t afford a robot, that’s just way too expensive.” But the reality is, is that technology is evolving every single day, and these units, different types of automation from autonomous tugs to they already talked about robot arms, to just different virtual conveying systems, they are extremely comparable and price-competitive these days.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, so thinking about that same misconception about jobs, everything that you said makes a lot of sense, but thinking about how snug the market is, the labor market is at the moment, but that’s not always the case, is there a point where it would be a negative to have net jobs overall?

Jamie Wright: No. The short answer, no. So, rural communities in general are no strangers to tight labor markets. Even pre-pandemic, rural businesses struggled to fill the jobs that they had, simply because they lack the size and population needed to sustain and grow those. Automation is an easy way to allow these businesses to keep their existing employees and fill those gaps. So like I just said a few minutes ago, we’re not looking at replacing entire workforces, but our program really looks at certain jobs within those operations that are hard to fill or retain, so overall it makes future recruitment easier in a tight labor market.

 

Amanda Ellis: In a way it almost seems like smaller communities have an advantage at the moment, because like you said, some of these challenges aren’t new to them, as much as it may be to some areas with the current trends.

 

Jamie Wright: Mm-hmm. Right, right. There is an opportunity now. There is, I think, a more concerted effort to focus on rural at the moment. I think the pandemic, it may have helped us in that sense. There was a real focus on rural business and we have found our spot to help rural businesses and rural communities likewise.

 

Amanda Ellis: But typically your organization would be engaged by companies versus an ED entity, but you do need the support and buy-in from those types of groups. Is that an accurate way of describing it?

 

Jamie Wright: Well, yes and no. We do speak directly to the businesses, however, we do a lot of outreach to economic developers. The economic developers in these areas, they know the businesses that are there, they understand the day-to-day challenges that they face and sometimes they are that business’s greatest advocate. So we go to the advocates, because those business owners and operators, they are struggling every single day to keep their doors open, and sometimes they go out and work the line, we all know that. So, we do focus on local economic developers oftentimes to make those connections.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, that makes sense.

 

Jamie Wright: When we started the Alliance for Rural Impact, we knew that change in rural communities would not happen overnight, and we knew that it wouldn’t happen with us coming in and saying, “Here’s a grant, go off and implement your strategic plan.” We knew that it would be long-term implementation.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yes.

 

Jamie Wright: It had to be met with additional access to capital. So for that reason, we started or are starting a CDFI, Community Development Finance Institute. We are an emerging finance institute, the Rural Impact Fund, and so it is truly ultimately our goal to help companies, in addition to the technical assistance that we provide, by really helping them by financing some of these automation projects, if needed.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yes. Yes, that was one thing I definitely wanted you to speak to that we haven’t covered yet.

 

Jamie Wright: Yes, yes.

 

Amanda Ellis: Thinking about, you were talking about just the automation doesn’t reduce jobs in a negative way, it really just changes the jobs and makes them better, the jobs that do still involve people. Whether that’s making them more high tech, helping provide training opportunities and upskilling opportunities. So, I wanted to see if you had anything else to add on that topic of upskilling and companies retaining talent, because it seems like these automation processes could help companies create a much more attractive job.

 

Jamie Wright: Yes, most definitely they can. If a company has started to automate in any aspect of it and it goes well, nine times out of 10 they’re going to continue improvements in automation to continue their productivity and efficiencies increases. So, they typically have owners and operators. Every time we walk into an organization, that owner or operator will say, “We have so and so, so and so, and so and so who have been here for 20, 30, 40 years. They know the organization better than we do, and they have so much potential. So how can we think of it,” ARI comes in and thinks of it, “how can we help those individuals take more ownership in their organization that they’re already prideful in?” So, we talk with the owners and the operators and find ways in which to gain additional training for a lot of those employees, those really core employees who just have been the bread and butter for years.

 

Amanda Ellis: I love that.

 

Jamie Wright: What it’s turning out to be and what we hope continues and really picks up steam is that we get multiple businesses in a certain community that take on automation in some form or other. Whether it’s those front-end or the backend or the customer relationship, like I mentioned earlier, any of those. Whatever it may be, we want multiple businesses in a community to take on automation. That community therefore can state, can recruit by saying, we have innovative companies in our community who are not afraid of technology, are not afraid to move forward with innovative thought, with innovative technologies. It is a recruitment tool, most definitely a recruitment tool for communities and businesses.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, I love that. Everything you just said was so impactful, especially to me the bit about giving those employees an opportunity that are invested in a company at a level that they know more about it a lot of times than leadership does.

 

Jamie Wright: Oh my gosh.

 

Amanda Ellis: All kinds of companies across the board, all kinds of locations just don’t always recognize that in their people, right?

 

Jamie Wright: No.

 

Amanda Ellis: And prioritize giving those opportunities versus losing people who might want to do a bit more than-

 

Jamie Wright: Right. But let me say this. It’s not the one thing, it is one of the many things I have been pleasantly surprised by. The companies that we have worked with thus far, and I’m sitting here thinking, and I can honestly say every single one of them thus far have such respect for the employees that have stood by them through everything, and they legitimately want to make their work conditions better for those individuals. Of course they want to grow their business, of course they want more money, but they want it for their employees. I’m sure there are organizations out there that probably doesn’t fit the bill, but we work in small to midsize in rural America, and there are good people, great people, hardworking people. We want to make it a much better work environment. Even if it’s a great work environment, let’s make it a better work environment.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, so thinking about talent attraction and retention from a community standpoint, which is something that is kind of the thing to talk about these days. Fight for talent and more flexibility and where people can live and remote work and all of those big things that have played in there. Do you have any observations about the … because, I mean, at Livability, we talk a lot about small to midsize cities, but even the 50,000 or less number that you gave is quite small. Any observations about how they’re viewing that or looking at how to incentivize people to move there or stay and how that might play into any of your work?

 

Jamie Wright: So every community has its own DNA, and every community, even if they’re side by side, they are 100% complete opposites. You really have to look within the community what are their utilized and unutilized assets? I love those phrases, but literally what are they taking advantage of that others from outside of their community might see as different, as an opportunity and how many of those communities are not? The thing that strikes me and it has been very eye-opening for me as an individual, every one of our own hometowns, you would be surprised at what is made in your hometown that is used all over the world. So I hope that we can begin looking at local manufacturing, our local businesses as underutilized assets, so to speak, and look at the contributions that we are making to the world as a whole and to America as a whole, and go from that. Go outward, build from that, join that with all of our other strategic goals for a community, because it’s breathtaking what people build right under our noses. Living in the Delta, I’ve taken for granted all these years a cotton field. There will be people, visitors, family, friends that live in other parts of the country, and they come down here when the cotton bowls are opened up and they’re like, “What is all of that? It looks like snow on the ground.” They have no idea that-

 

Amanda Ellis: It’s cotton.

 

Jamie Wright: Right. Right down the road from me, one of my favorite brands of shoes and purses is made, and so I had no idea and I had no idea that they had a clearance room I could go raid.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, let’s get to the real important stuff here.

 

Jamie Wright: Right? But manufacturing has just kind of moved out of the limelight over the past few decades and onshoring and new technologies, advances in automation are bringing, I think, manufacturing back to the forefront a little bit. Those are some really strong anchor organizations in some of these real communities, and they should, and I hope that they are, and if they’re not, I hope they are, they start to become bigger assets in their local communities.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah. Yeah, everything you have said makes a lot of sense, and I think you all would be an amazing tool for business retention. Making sure that companies have what they need to stay in the community, tools to help them thrive if it’s bringing in a new company.

 

Jamie Wright: Yes, most definitely. Rural America has so much to offer. I’m always going to be an advocate for automation in rural, because we need to start retaining some of our intellectual mindsets and stop having it go out to other large cities, because we raise beautiful, smart, talented individuals, and so I would love to see them start staying around.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, and when you look at the current climate with costs rising as quickly as they are and everything’s so crazy, I think it does give even another advantage to some of those communities where the cost of living is a lot lower, and life’s a different speed in a way. I think that is true in a good way.

Jamie Wright: In a good way, yes. I mean, you have to find the right fit for you of course, but this has turned out to be a really nice fit for our organization, we hope to be able to continue it. It’s our passion to help rural businesses and communities, so that’s where we want to be.

 

Amanda Ellis: So, explain a little bit more about where you’re based exactly.

 

Jamie Wright: So, I am in Northeast Arkansas. I’m about 50 minutes from Memphis, I am two hours from Little Rock, I am four hours from St. Louis and I’m six hours from Dallas.

 

Amanda Ellis: Okay, that’s coming at it from every direction.

 

Jamie Wright: Yes.

 

Amanda Ellis: Do you have roots there or how long have you been there?

 

Jamie Wright: Yes, I was born and raised here, between here in Memphis, and then my husband is also born and raised here and we have an agricultural background. It’s a very small community, we have about 1,600 people here. I ran the local chamber for a small time and I was very passionate about it, unbeknownst to my own self. I had fun developing projects and learning economic development. There’s still a lot I need to learn, there’s still a lot I want to learn, but I see the potential in rural. I see the potential, I also see the challenges ahead of us. Through our organization, through the Alliance for Rural Impact, if we can help, if not alleviate, soften some of the challenges for these rural communities, I think that’s a win.

 

Amanda Ellis: Yeah. So as we head toward wrapping up here, I always like to close out with a fun question, which is if someone were to visit your community, what is the one bucket list item, or maybe more than one, couple bucket list items that they should make sure to do?

 

Jamie Wright: Well, I’m going to go seasonally.

 

Amanda Ellis: Okay.

 

Jamie Wright: So here in my community, we live directly on Crowley’s Ridge, which is an anomaly in the middle of The Flatlands. So if you are here in the winter in a surprise snow event, come on up to the top of Crowley’s Ridge and you can sled for miles.

 

Amanda Ellis: Wow.

 

Jamie Wright: So, you can get at the top and you can just see all the way across. It’s like looking out over the lands, and you can just sled all the way down. It’s the best sledding around. In the summer, there’s nothing more beautiful than a Delta sunset over a rice field. The Delta sunsets are spectacular in the summer and in the fall. The foliage here in the fall, and shameless plug, but always you can’t get any better food, I swear it, you cannot get any better food than in the Delta.

 

Amanda Ellis: A lot of our guests brag about their food.

 

Jamie Wright: I know. I know, but we’re known to fry anything.

 

Amanda Ellis: That’s true.

 

Jamie Wright: But we do have great barbecue. We have some really phenomenal farm to table places now, and so it’s just great to get out and just try all of it.

 

Amanda Ellis: Well, any excuse to eat treats and snacks and I am on board.

 

Jamie Wright: Amen, me too.

 

Amanda Ellis: So, I totally get that. Well, thank you so much, Jamie. That was some great info, different perspective, and I think will be really valuable for our listeners.

 

Jamie Wright: I do hope so. I really do hope so.

 

Amanda Ellis: So, thank you so much for joining us.

 

Jamie Wright: Thank you.

 

Amanda Ellis: Thanks for listening to the Livability podcast, where we take you Inside America’s Best Cities. At Livability, we highlight the unsung awesomeness of small and mid-size cities across the country. We also partner with communities to reach their target companies and potential residents through digital content and print magazine programs.

 

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate and review this show wherever you listen to podcasts. You can learn more about us at livabilitymedia.com. Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email me at [email protected]. Until next time, from Livability, I’m Amanda Ellis sharing the stories of America’s most promising places.