ECD

Strengthening Rural and Regional Economies

Many innovative policies and programs for strenthening rural and regional economies are underway in Canada, Europe and the U. S. The most successful ones focus on four elements: innovation and technology development; community economic development and the social economy; and, community development and capacity building. A Review of Rural and Regional Development Policies and Programs provide many interesting insights and analysis http://www.cprn.com/doc.cfm?doc=1845&l=en

Survey Results Refect the Huge Diversity within Rural America

The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire recently surveyed 8,000 residents in four very different rural settings: amenity rich; chronically poor; declining resource dependent; and transitional. Areas of inquiry included: economic changes and challenges; migration and demographic changes;  religion, trust and civil institutions; environment, natural resources and energy; and infrastructure and changing populations.

The variation in views, attitudes and opinions across these four different types of rural areas is very striking and most interesting. See the full report here http://www.knowledgeplex.org/showdoc.html?id=2013871

Rural Economies are as Dynamic as Suburban and Urban

A study by the Small Business Administration revealed some unexpected results that bode well for rural America. The authors' central finding is that the differences in the rate of
establishment births and closures between rural, suburban, and urban areas,
while statistically significant, is in fact quite small.  That is, general
business dynamics are not a function of geographic area.  http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/wkpapers.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS183765+12-Feb-2008+PRN20080212

Great Economic & Community Development Articles in the Journal of Extension

Submitted by Laura Hoelscher, Editor, Journal of Extension

During his presentation at the ECD Retreat last week, Chuck Hibberd referred Nebraska's Red Carpet Service program. You can read all about, "Red Carpet Service--Linking Rural Communities to Travelers and Tourists" in the December 2007 issue of the Journal of Extension (JOE).

And the April issue of JOE also has a few articles that may interest you, including another article on rural tourism and one on building entrepreneurship and leadership in rural communities. Check it out here.

Rural Self Employment

A new report on self-employment published by the Rural Sociological Society includes some fascinating findings. For example, since 1969 the number of self-employes rural workers has expanded by 240%.....and during this same time period the number of rural wage and salary workers increased by only 61%. The full report can be found here.

Rural Population Myth

There is a common misconception that the population of rural America is declining. That has not been the case for a long time....and that trend continues. The most recent data indicate that non-metro population growth is due almost entirely to more people moving from metro to nonmetro counties. More information is available here.

Rural Philanthropy

The National Center for Responsive Philathropy has released a report titled Rural Philanthropy: Building Dialogue from Within. This W.K. Kellogg Foundation report suggests grantmaking behavior and trends are skewed heavily toward support for urban-based or urban-focused programs. The report explores both real and perceived barriers between rural nonprofits and foundations in urban areas, as well as strategies for overcoming those obstacles. The complete report can be found here.