Rural county leaders from across the United States will attend a four-day peer exchange next week in Audrain County.
Through the Rural Leaders of Economic Mobility program, led and organized by the National Association of Counties (NACO), two-person teams from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, and NACO staff from Washington D.C. will arrive in Audrain County starting Monday afternoon. During this two-year program, county leaders have studied and used resources to identify economic mobility deficits in their counties and work to implement strategy and programs to improve upon positive economic mobility initiatives. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the program and each county’s $50,000 grant.
Teams will arrive to Mexico late Monday, (September 22) and then get to work on Tuesday, (September 23). The group will hear a presentation from Mexico Workforce Resource Assistance Program Director Darlene Sopher as well as comments on the WRAP program’s success from Mark Korman, owner of Fluid Power Support and True Manufacturing Office Manager Brad Walker.
RLEM leaders will then tour Missouri Military Academy, the Audrain County Shelter Resource Coalition for its transitional housing program, and the Handi-Shop where they will view the organization’s capital campaign plans, before spending a few hours discovering downtown Mexico and the county’s history with tours of the Audrain County Historical Society.
Leslie Meyer said Wednesday is “all about agriculture” as the RLEM teams will begin with a tour of Sydenstricker Genetics and then hear from Sydenstricker Nobbe Partners’ leadership on its training school and impact on the workforce. Other stops in the day include a tour of the ADM Biodiesel facility, special presentations from the Community R6, Mexico, and Van-Far FFA chapters, a tour of the Poet ethanol plant, and agri-tourism highlights at Hickory Ridge Orchard and a presentation from the Mexico Farmer’s Market.
Audrain County Presiding Commissioner Alan Winders said the peer exchange is an extremely positive event for the county and is appreciative of the support given to help plan and execute the day’s activities.
“There is a high level of excitement surrounding this visit from everyone, we are all appreciative NACO selected Audrain County for this event,” he said.
Associate Commissioner Tracy R. Graham echoed Winders’ sentiment. “Audrain County is very much a team and we had so many partners step up to make this a successful event for everyone,” he said. “We cannot thank the Mexico Chamber of Commerce, MMA, Missouri Farmer’s Care, the Missouri Soybean Council, and our local businesses enough for their support.”
Since their selection to the program 18 months ago, the RLEM teams have met in person several times, including two peer exchanges. The first one took place in Venango County, Pennsylvania last fall and the second one was in Hertford County, North Carolina this spring. The peer exchange in Audrain County will be the last for the current round of RLEM teams. Meyer explained the peer exchanges have been instrumental in changing the way the participants think of their own county issues and have spurred ideas for potential future projects and programs.
“We are rural counties from across the country, so obviously we have differences, but there are so many similarities and our residents have the same needs in terms of childcare, educational opportunities, insurance issues, and employment needs,” she said. “These peer exchanges generate ideas on what we can do in our own counties to help our county residents.”
Meyer used last fall’s peer exchange as an example. She said Venango County was the heart of the mining business for years and “hung its hat” on Komatsu building mining equipment at its Franklin, PA location. After decades of being the home of Komatsu mining, the plant shut down and the county was forced to pivot and branch into something new. Ultimately, Komatsu turned the plant into a testing facility for innovations while several local fabrication businesses opened to address that gap. She linked Venango County’s story to Audrain County’s history.
“For decades, Audrain County was known as the ‘fire brick capital of the world’,” she said. “Then the industry changed and we lost AP Green and Harbison Walker. Our county had to pivot as well. This is not a new story for rural counties.”
This round of the RLEM grant program will end next spring. Participating teams will present a capstone to the Gates Foundations and demonstrate how the $50,000 grant positively affected the county. For its part, Audrain County used the grant to implement a local SAE grant program for the three high school FFAs located in the county; opened seats for county residents in the Mexico Sustainability Project’s Getting Ahead classes; and will host employer education lunch and learns, utilizing WRAP’s strategies in 2026.