Aisling Cox recently completed an internship with Otter Tail County. This is what they had to say about the experience.
Economic development is not a professional area that can fit into a box. Within the Otter Tail County Community Development & Housing department, there is a never-ending stream of projects across development areas, each of which requires unique focus. The projects all move forward in unison. When one is complete, another one is picked up. The department is thrown curveballs and still manages to keep their heads above water as time flows forward, and progress must be made. To make this work, the department collaborates as a cohesive team. They prioritize communication and efficient task delegation, and employ a constant drive to learn and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of local government.
This variety became immediately apparent in my day-to-day responsibilities. One morning I might be conducting interviews with county personnel about departmental software, developing detailed questions and surveys to evaluate different platforms, then writing formal recommendations based on my findings. The next day could involve traveling across the county to deliver promotional materials for a county open house, directly engaging with local employers and community members. This range taught me that economic development professionals must be comfortable wearing multiple hats: researcher, analyst, communicator, and community liaison all in one.
The technical skills I developed were equally diverse. Creating an itemized budget spreadsheet for a large-scale redevelopment project required attention to detail and financial analysis capabilities I hadn’t previously applied in a professional setting. Meanwhile, conducting a return on investment analysis for the Empowered Worker Program pushed me to collaborate across departments, synthesize complex data, and translate economic assistance program outcomes into measurable impacts. Each project demanded different analytical approaches, from quantitative research methods to qualitative interview techniques.
What struck me most was how interconnected these seemingly disparate tasks actually were. Updating the county’s child care locator app and collecting property values for tax rebate programs both serve the broader goal of supporting county residents and businesses. The way-finding survey I created and analyzed directly improves how citizens access government services, while my research on liquor market impacts may inform policy decisions that affect local economic conditions. Even attending the SBDC conference on AI connected to multiple ongoing projects, as emerging technologies increasingly influence how counties deliver services and support development.
This experience fundamentally shifted my understanding of local government work. Rather than bureaucratic silos, I witnessed dynamic collaboration where housing initiatives, business development, technology implementation, and community engagement all reinforce each other. The department’s ability to simultaneously manage long-term strategic projects like redevelopment projects while responding to immediate needs like updating business development resources demonstrated the agility required in public sector economic development.
Most importantly, this internship revealed how economic development professionals serve as connectors – linking data to decisions, communities to resources, and challenges to solutions. Whether writing memoranda for county board presentations or participating in content development for tourism promotion, every task contributed to Otter Tail County’s broader economic vitality. This holistic perspective on community development will undoubtedly influence my future career approach, emphasizing adaptability, collaboration, and the recognition that meaningful economic development requires both analytical rigor and genuine community engagement.