Mayor Brown honored by CAEDC

By: 
Jason Ferguson

It was a celebration of economic development and community last Thursday evening at Laughing Water Restaurant at Crazy Horse Memorial, as the Custer Area Economic Development Corporation (CAEDC) hosted its annual meeting that included an update on the CAEDC’s recent activity as well as the presentation of a pair of awards.
City of Custer mayor Bob Brown was honored as CAEDC’s Individual of the Year, with CAEDC treasurer Phil Abernathy, who presented the award, saying Brown is a person in the city who makes things happen.
“You go to all these events and you hear ‘it takes a village. I had all this help.’ That’s true,” he said. “You do have to make things happen. A  lot of things don’t happen if there aren’t the right people to make them happen.”
Abernathy said Brown enables things to happen, especially behind the scenes.
“There are towns that are thriving like us, and there are towns that aren’t that fortunate,” Abernathy said. “The difference is economic development. It takes people connecting the dots or people bluntly making it happen. That’s why our town is better than those other towns.”
Receiving the CAEDC Organization of the Year Award was the Custer Volunteer Fire Department. Department members in attendance at the banquet were presented the award from CAEDC president-elect Aleah Witt.
Witt lauded the fire department for working to improve fire protection in the community, its help with the annual fireworks show and its reponse to emegencies.
“Thank you guys so much for what you do,” she said. “We really appreciate you.”
CAEDC past president Tanya Olson emceed the event, and opened the banquet by giving an update on all of the efforts CAEDC has taken on in Custer, saying it “worked on a little bit of everything.”
“Traditionally economic development was things like new business attraction, developing entrepreneurs and helping existing business grow,” she said. “Right now in the economic development world that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what needs to happen for successful economic development.”
Olson said good infrastructure, housing, invested leadership, a quility work force, a high quality of life in the community, strong community engagement and effective storytelling are all also a part of economic development.
Olson said in collaboration with the Custer Area Chamber of Commerce a revolving loan fund has been completely loaned out and is working in the community to help a pair of main street businesses transition ownership to new owners and subsequently keep those businesses open year-round.
CAEDC also finished out its three-year recruitment assistance program grant with the state and Custer Dental Studio. The program helps attract and retain medical professionals in rural communities, and the grant, for which CAEDC partnered with the city and county, enabled Custer Dental Studio to open in Custer.
In addition, CAEDC recently went through six months of Dakota Resources’ Build Organizations for Local Development Training, and Witt, Abernathy and fellow CAEDC board member Dr. Kari Bolen organized another impact leadership development “boot camp,” which Olson said yielded some “committed future leaders of the community,” while opening eyes to all the talent in the community through a number of age groups.
On the housing front, CAEDC has continued to work on housing solutions for the town, and helped organize a local group that, along with other are economic development committees, was able to get $30 million to start a Hills-wide housing trust to help rebuild workforce housing stock in the Black Hills.
For childcare, CAEDC has teamed with Growing Roots on a $50,000 community-based childcare grant from the state, which helped Growing Roots study its building needs and potential multi-generational community education or community partnerships on child care.
“Childcare and early childhood education are important to having a strong work force and excellent school systems,” Olson said.
On the quality of life front, CAEDC continues to be involved with the community garden, and has partnered with Monument Health to hand out “nutrition prescriptions” that allow people to receive $25 they can use for fresh fruits and vegetables from Lynn’s Dakotamart or the Custer Farmer’s Market. Those are funded by the local Zonta Club.
“Custer is so full of these stories...people who had a big idea and the determination to see it through,” Olson said. “Of course, there is no place that exemplifies this more than the place we are sitting right now, Crazy Horse Memorial.”
Olson later noted in larger cities governmental entities player a larger role in holding together the fabric of a community, but in smaller communities such as Custer, it is the people who play that role.
“There are a lot of people in our community who do a lot of work most of us never know about,” she said. “I have to tell you, I’ve been back here with Matt (Fridell) for 23 years, and the difference in Custer 23 years ago to now is really amazing.
“We are a really vibrant small town. We’re the envy of most of the other small towns in the Black Hills, if you didn’t know that already. People really want to know what the magic is out here, and the magic is the people. Many of you are a part of that.”
Those in attendance also heard from Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation CEO Whitney Recountre II, who spoke about recent developments on the mountain, as well as Crazy Horse’s partnership with the City of Custer and its business community.

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