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FRANZ VANCURA: “I came to the conclusion that I’d have a better quality of life staying here.”

Franz Vancura always thought he’d practice law in the Twin Cities. That certainly was the plan when a Minneapolis law firm hired him in 2011. But when his new employer encouraged the recent University of St. Thomas School of Law graduate to take a year to clerk for a judge before jumping into life as a corporate attorney, Vancura didn’t pursue any opportunities in the metro area. “I applied to any judge north of Brainerd,” said the New Ulm native.

Vancura’s interest in the region started when he was young. His family owned property on Little Webb Lake in Hackensack and he had happy memories of fishing and relaxing with friends and relatives on the lake. “I had a real connection with the geography and nature of the area,” he said. When he was hired by Judge John P. Smith in Walker, Vancura packed up his Minneapolis condo and moved to a cabin in the woods on Horseshoe Lake.

Most people with big-city ambitions would find the off season at a resort community like Walker a little sleepy. But Vancura thrived, especially after he bought an English Springer Spaniel and spent his weekends walking through the woods hunting grouse and pheasants. “It became harder and harder to justify leaving a place I loved and a community I’d gotten involved in to go back to the Twin Cities,” he said. “I just came to the conclusion that I’d be happier and have a better quality of life staying up here.”

At 31, Vancura is at the old end of the generation dubbed the Millennials. Born between 1981 and 2000, the group gets its name from the fact that it’s the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. According to Minnesota Compass, there are 1.5 millennials living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes—200,000 in Central Minnesota. That’s compared to 1.3 million Baby Boomers—the demographic bulge of people born between 1946 and 1964. As the Boomers retire, these young people are crucial to our region’s future.

By Elizabeth Foy LarsenPhotography by Michael Schoenecker

As Baby Boomers retire, the Millennials get set to become our new leaders.

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That’s what Vancura found when he did some research and discovered that there was only one other attorney under the age of 55 with a solo practice in Cass County. So he literally hung out his shingle and founded the Vancura Law Firm, now located in Walker. He immersed himself in the community, joining the Walker Rotary Club and St. Agnes Parish, and learned how to curl. He also took on as much pro bono work as he could handle and raised money for Hackensack’s PAWS and CLAWS Animal Shelter, an Initiative Foundation Turn Key component fund.

Locals took note. “Franz was one of the first people to get back to us and say he’d help in any way,” said Betty Thomas, the founder of beekeeping supply company Mann Lake Ltd. and the driving force behind PAWS and CLAWS. “Sometimes you can’t just have older folks who are established. You need to bring in the people with new ideas and listen to them.”

Economic development experts agree. “The Millennials are our future leaders, elected officials, employees, company owners and parents,” said Kathy Gaalswyk, president of the Initiative Foundation. “As the Baby Boomers retire, sell their companies and discontinue their public service, this is the next wave of leaders.”

Attracting these future leaders to Central Minnesota could be a challenge. An analysis done by the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., found that only 14 percent of Millennials live in rural areas nationwide, a marked decline from the 29 percent of Boomers who called small town America home when they were young adults. This challenge is further compounded by the fact that even though Millennials are less

INVENTING OPPORTUNITIES: Travis and Jen Kelley own and operate JenTra Tools, a Backus-based manufacturer of door levels.

Many Millennials in

rural communities

will have to start

and run their own

businesses.

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inclined to buy a home than older Americans, there’s a housing shortage in Central Minnesota.

The good news is that there’s another story beneath these statistics. Research by Ben Winchester, a fellow at the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality, actually shows a “brain gain” in rural Minnesota since 1970, comprised primarily of people between the ages of 30 and 49 who, like Vancura, move to rural communities because they are drawn to the quality of life. As Millennials start families, Central Minnesota has an opportunity to capitalize on the region’s natural assets and the fact that our economy is no longer based solely on agriculture.

“This isn’t your grandpa’s rural,” said Winchester. “Anywhere between 30 to 60 percent of people in the rural communities are proprietors. A lot of people are independent contractors.”

GENERATION START-UP Like any generation, Millennials have their own perspective on the world, which is often shaped by current events. Hit hard by the recession, they don’t feel the same kind of loyalty to a single employer that their older co-workers do. According to the Pew Research Center survey, about two-thirds of all employed Millennials say it is likely they will switch careers sometime in their working life, compared with 55 percent of Gen Xers and 31 percent of Baby Boomers.

In fact, many Millennials in rural communities will have to start and run their own businesses. “Millennials will be the most entrepreneurial

Their Town What Millennials want from where they live.

“As the Baby

Boomers retire, sell

their companies and

discontinue their

public service, this

is the next wave of

leaders.”

A MORE THOUGHTFUL LIFESTYLE: Winchester’s research shows that the top three reasons people move to small towns are slower pace of life, safety and low cost of housing. But Millennials also want their town to have amenities that enhance their quality life, from bike trails to farmer’s markets.

BROADBAND: In addition to having access to anything from Instagram to online shopping, a growing number of Central Minnesota workers are telecommuters. A wired life isn’t optional for Millennials. It’s who they are.

DIVERSITY: Millennials are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in the history of the United States. In Central Minnesota, the percentage of non-white residents has risen from 4.3 percent in 2000 to 7.4 percent in 2012. Millennials also are more embracing of immigrants than older Americans and appreciate how they add to the culture of their town, whether it’s by opening a new restaurant or just having fresh points of view. In fact, nearly six in 10 Millennials say immigrants strengthen the country, according to Pew Research.

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generation,” said Jack Schultz, the author of Boomtown USA: The 7 ½ Keys to Big Success in Small Towns. “That’s important because most small towns aren’t going to be able to bring in the next company. We have to grow our own.”

Starting a business just made sense to Travis Kelley, the 28-year-old co-founder and owner of JenTra Tools in Backus. After two years of working at a Minneapolis lumber company, the Backus native moved back home to sell doors to lumber yards north of Brainerd. When he noticed that the doors often warped after they were installed, he and his wife, Jen, decided to figure out a solution.

“The doors in our factories were always flat as a board,” Kelley said. “If the door is installed properly, it shouldn’t warp.” Seeing an opportunity for a precision tool that takes the guesswork out of door installation, the Kelleys created a prototype using tin, cardboard and a level from Menards. “We used it to put a door in and thought, holy cow, that will work,” said Kelley.

As a new company with no track record, the Kelleys weren’t able to get traditional funding for a loan to start their business. But research turned up several local opportunities that turned their dream into reality. An ex-lawyer from Andersen Windows wrote their utility patent pro bono. Business financing from the Initiative Foundation and Crow Wing Power got them on their way.

Manufactured in Rogers and assembled in Backus, The CHEATAH door level hit store shelves in 2012 and already has been mentioned on the DIY Network’s “Must Have” list from the International Building Show. They’ve sold 6,000 units and are working toward introducing other tools and breaking into the big box market. Kelley credits much of his success to his hometown. “I have so much support,” he said. “I grew up with these people so I know they always have my back.”

CONNECTORS AND COLLABORATORS This can-do spirit is part of a Millennial’s approach to work in general. It’s not unusual today to hear a Boomer marvel, and sometimes even gripe, about how their Millennial colleague feels entitled to a one-on-one meeting with the company’s president. But there’s a positive spin to that generational stereotype. “Millennials like to be in the loop,” said Diane Tran, the founder of Minnesota Rising, a network for emerging leaders in Minnesota. “People can say they constantly want ribbons and awards, but it’s more that they enjoy human connections. Millennials like feedback, collaborating and working in teams.”

That’s not the only way Millennials are changing the way that traditional workplaces operate. “Boomers are into the time clock,” said Chris Fastner, who in his work as the senior program manager for organizational development at the Initiative Foundation oversees the

Millennials by the Numbers

percent of Millennials say being a good parent is one of the most important things in their lives.

More than six in 10 Millennials say that families have a responsibility to have an elderly parent come live with them if that parent wants to. By contrast, fewer than four in 10 adults ages 60 and older agree that this is a family responsibility.

More Millennials have at least some college education (54 percent), compared to 49 percent of Gen Xers, 36 percent of Boomers and 24 percent of the Silent generation (born during the Great Depression and World War II) when they were ages 18 to 28. Millennials, when compared with previous generations at the same age, also are more likely to have completed high school.

Millennials are more likely to be living with other family members (47 percent), such as their parents, than were the immediate two previous generations at the same age (Gen Xers, 43 percent; Boomers, 39 percent).

percent of Millennials have placed their cell phone on or right next to their bed while sleeping.

Among Millennials, 59 percent cite the internet as their main source for news.

SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER

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