Natural Resources are the center of major entrepreneurialopportunities. Is this the next wave of action for small townentrepreneurs? The broad topic of natural resources was our assignment for a “worldcafe” discussion session at the Midwest Rural Assembly yesterday. Itgot me thinking about just how much of a central role naturalresources play in our opportunities, our…
Last week, I listened in on the National Rural Assembly Webinar Series: Exploring Rural Policy Opportunities. Speaker Anita Brown-Graham, Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University, lead us through some of the opportunities for rural issues in the current policy environment. Tuesday, we covered the tourism opportunities. Today, I want to…
Early childhood education is an economic development issue, not just because we’ve been quoting Ed Morrison about it for years, but also because the research is here to support it. The latest piece is a potential blockbuster. Excellent early childhood education makes a lasting difference through the elementary years, based on standardized testing results. But it…
Onshore Technologies office CNN Money published a feature on rural sourcing, “Forget India, outsource to Arkansas.” Dubbed “ruralsourcing,” “rural outsourcing” and “onshoring,” the practice relies on two simple premises: Smaller towns need jobs, and they offer a cheaper cost of living than urban centers. So businesses that outsource work to these areas can expect to…
This is the last of the reports from the Making Place Matter in Northwest Oklahoma Rural Community Economic Development Summit held in Alva on June 3, 2010. Dr. Glenda Humiston is the director of California Rural Development at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). She sees the USDA, especially Rural Development, as more than just agriculture. Rather than…
This week, I have a tip to help you promote entrepreneurship. Use a social bookmarking site to collect the websites of businesses in your area. This idea is one way of recognizing your existing entrepreneurs, presented by Dave Shideler in a webinar called “Building Entrepreneurial Communities.” Why use social bookmarking? 1. As you bookmark those businesses,…
This is the second of several reports from the Making Place Matter in Northwest Oklahoma Rural Community Economic Development Summit held in Alva on June 3, 2010. A session on community building covered a wide range of topics, from the Main Street approach, to supporting local businesses, rural tourism, rural grocery stores, the participation of young people,…
Encouraging and supporting entrepreneurs is a hot topic in economic development, and I’d like to start a series on it here at Small Biz Survival. Most of you are involved either in a small business, or in economic development in one form or another, so I’d like to start with you. Do you have an opinion…
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