Migration into the South’s major markets as a result of job creation over the last 20 years has been remarkable. The region’s top 10 or 15 metros have not only driven the region’s economy, they’ve had a major positive effect on the economy of the nation over the last two decades. It’s ironic then that the South’s major markets may now be the single-most-important impetus to rural growth in the South.

What may be benefitting rural regions throughout the region in the near future, if not right now, is a growing element that makes economic developers cringe: angry anti-growth sentiment fueled by congested roadways, stressed out infrastructure, water worries and a variety of other items associated with too many people and too many vehicular hours of delay.

Elected officials in Southern states with overdeveloped large markets are listening carefully to the anti-growth and slow-growth activists. And, for the first time in the South’s history, they are acting on those concerns with significant measures. One of the ways they are dealing with the problems associated with growth is to make rural areas in their states so attractive to you and your project that you can’t possibly dismiss them during your site search.

States in the South’s eastern region (east of the Mississippi River: the area of focus in this rural edition) with the largest markets, such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, have implemented unprecedented rural job creation and investment initiatives. These programs are designed to get your attention. That doesn’t mean Southern states void of huge markets such as West Virginia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas don’t feature effective rural programs. They do. It’s just that there’s more of a sense of urgency to make rural regions more attractive and profitable in Southern states that feature one or more mega-markets. Of course, those are some of the same markets getting hammered by locals with anti-growth or slow-growth agendas.

There’s no question that some major markets in the South are staring overdevelopment right in the face. A growing number of people in those major markets are giving their elected officials an earfull of complaints. Naturally, those elected officials, especially the ones who want to remain elected officials, are listening and acting accordingly. There was even one governor in the South (who probably wants to remain anonymous) heard saying that if a prospect comes to his state economic development agency, they will be shown a rural site and a rural site only. If the prospect insists on a site in a major metro, they will be passed on to local economic development officials, that governor was heard to say.

As mentioned, economic and elected officials in many Southern states are doing everything they can to make their rural areas more attractive to you. In North Carolina and Florida, you will garner much higher incentives by choosing a rural site over a more urban one. In Virginia you will be guaranteed a large selection of spec buildings as a result of that state’s Shell Building Program. For the most part, landing in the rural South is so much more attractive than it was just five years ago. That’s a result of state governments making rural job creation a high priority. That certainly hasn’t always been the case.

One of the best rural initiatives launched in the South recently is the OneGeorgia campaign. Administered by the OneGeorgia Authority, the new rural initiative is an economic development grant program designed to enhance the ability of Tier One and Tier Two counties (economically distresses and relatively undeveloped counties) to be more economically competitive.

OneGeorgia is being funded by one-third of the state’s tobacco settlement money. The fund will be used for Georgia’s rural areas and its most economically distressed communities. It is anticipated that the OneGeorgia fund will total approximately $1.6 billion over 25 years. First year funds should top $60 million with $9 million in reserve.

There are four accounts that make up the OneGeorgia fund. The Equity Fund raises capital for the necessary infrastructure to support economic development. Funds from this account will provide financial assistance to regions or counties for water and sewer projects, regional technology development, regional airport improvements, regional industrial parks, tourism, rail spur construction and other projects. Rural incubators, work force training and agribusiness programs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. There is some funding from this account set aside for feasibility studies, project planning and market analyses. In short, the Equity Fund will make rural regions in Georgia more prepared in the form of product for your project.

The Economic Development, Growth and Enterprise (EDGE) Fund is designed to provide special assistance to expanding and locating companies. In short, this fund will help local development boards compete better in the incentives game. Potential projects accessing this money will be heavily screened on a case-by-case basis. The assistance will be given to a local Georgia development authority in the form of a loan or grant then passed on the to the prospective company if it qualifies. Projects will not receive assistance from this fund unless the benefits exceed the costs at both the state and local levels. The other two funds under the OneGeorgia plan provide assistance to farmers.

OneGeorgia looks to be an effective rural initiative. It encourages rural counties in Georgia — usually five or six that are contiguous — to band together to form a region. This is called regionalism. Collaborative projects that have a regional (multi-rural county region) focus or effect will be favored over proposals exclusive to a single county in the OneGeorgia rural initiative.

In other Southern states, particularly in North Carolina and Virginia, rural counties banding together in an effort to create investment and jobs has met with tremendous success. Those programs have also empowered the regions by getting a bigger bang out their buck. For example, five or six counties that collectively fund economic development initiatives can create a much stronger voice than what one rural county can create.

Laura Meadows, Executive Director of the OneGeorgia Authority, says the program is designed to encourage regionalism among rural counties in the state, but it’s not designed to instruct rural counties and regions on what to do in regards to economic development. “We want to support what they want to do,” said Meadows. “They have to come up with their own ideas on how they want to create jobs. Through a scoring system, we will simply decide if those ideas are good ideas or not. If they are, we’ll help fund their ideas,” she said. It should be noted that Meadows’ office is not located in an Atlanta high-rise office building. It’s located in Dublin, Ga., a rural community near the center of the state.

Meadows couldn’t say whether or not OneGeorgia is the result of mounting anti-growth sentiment in Atlanta. “That I can’t answer,” said Meadows. “But I can say that the OneGeorgia program will help urban areas as well as rural areas. We’re all tied together in this. Our urban areas will benefit from more competitive rural counties.”

Meadows last statement is dead on. About half of Georgia’s population lives in the Atlanta MSA. But during the day, much more than half of the state is living and working in Atlanta because labor migration. Outbound labor in Georgia is an acute problem. Some workers living in rural Georgia counties must drive two hours into Atlanta to their jobs. If more competitive jobs were available in the rural counties in which they live, that commute and the additional traffic on Atlanta’s roads would be eliminated.

Overdevelopment in the South is not exclusive to Atlanta. Northern Virginia’s anti-growth activists are heard from on a daily basis. That’s also true in many other major markets in the South. The reason? Of the South’s almost 100 million people, nearly 40 million live in the South’s 12-largest markets.

So spreading the wealth and new development to rural regions of the South makes perfect sense to those running state economic development agencies. In fact, if anything it’s a way to achieve a statewide economic balance. That’s why special considerations are given to projects locating in rural areas in many states in the South. And those special considerations could be the difference in your company finding a profitable site in the South or not.