One of the issues facing small towns and rural areas is that young people often flee to larger areas whether by choice or necessity. Scott Sharp chose to return to Trenton and has now taken on the challenge of bringing development to north Missouri.
Scott Sharp has been named the executive director of the North Central Missouri Development Alliance.
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Sharp has been named the executive director of the North Central Missouri Development Alliance, a 501 (c) 3 organization that works with public and private groups to bring economic and community development to Grundy County. He fills a position left vacant by the resignation of Micah Landes, who was the first director of the group.
Sharp, a 2003 graduate of Trenton High School, said he and his wife, Trish, a 2002 THS graduate, were living in Columbia when they decided they were ready to move home. He sees that move as a risk they took that has paid off.
“Trish and I were living in Columbia and that’s a pretty good place to build a career….I think it was a risk to move back here to develop a career within this community. We’ve made it work pretty good here,” he said, noting that Trish has an art degree that could have made it difficult to have a career in a small community.
He sees a parallel between what he’s been doing since his early 20s and the task of serving area businesses and the community.
“I’ve been selling pop since I was 21,” said Sharp, who worked at Trenton Coca-Cola before taking a position at Pepsi in Chillicothe several years ago. “I’ve been in small businesses in three different counties every single day. When I visit with them we’re always talking about what’s successful and what’s not working.”
Sharp said he wasn’t really looking to leave his current position, but working to bring development to the area drew his interest.
“I can definitely sink my teeth into something in my own community,” he said, saying that he believes if people are willing to invest in the community in whatever way they can, there will be good results.
The rural areas, he noted, are beginning to be a viable alternative to people who are deciding where to live, work and raise their families because of a good quality of life and affordability.
“Small towns are starting to be more and more of a selling point to people,” he said.
He is happy he and Trish, an art teacher in the Grundy R-5 School District, have been able to raise their children, Owen, almost 13, and Carly, 9, in their hometown – and have been able to make a living in the area. He talked of the pride he felt recently while watching Owen perform with the Trenton Middle School band in the new performing arts center. He said he wants to use facilities such as that and those found on the campus of North Central Missouri College as a platform for cultural and artistic events in the community.
“I definitely see the benefit of using them to develop the economy and the community,” he said.
Sharp is set to begin his new duties on June 14.