Innovators in Rural Community Economic Development

Best Practices

Yellow Wood brings a special combination of content and process expertise to our work.

We invite you to explore our work.  Recent projects and presentations are listed below.  You can explore additional work using the various tags in the right hand column.

Verde River Valley Nature Organization, Strategic Planning, Measurement, and Coaching

Yellow Wood is working with the Verde River Valley Nature Organization (VRVNO) as they transition from a volunteer-led nonprofit organization to an executive director-led nonprofit. We will be facilitating an on-site strategic planning workshop with…

Land Trust Alliance Rally 2014, Board Summit: “Increasing Your Land Trust’s Impact through Collaboration”

Melissa Levy presented the Board Member Summit, “Increasing Your Land Trust’s Impact through Collaboration” with Judy Anderson, Principal of Community Consultants. The session shared examples of how land trusts have collaborated and conserved more…

Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center Learning Journey

Yellow Wood worked with the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center to plan and facilitate a learning journey around arts tourism. Representatives from the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center traveled to Western North Carolina for an itinerary…

Profit Squared and Heifer International, Development of Heifer Nepal Case Study

Profit Squared sought Yellow Wood’s assistance in developing a case study of a goat meat value chain project supported by Heifer International in Nepal, for use in training Heifer International staff on a wealth creation approach to development. Yellow…

Ecological Services Research Coordination for the Audubon Society

Yellow Wood worked with the National Audubon Society to coordinate research work related to the demand for and economic impact of ecological services. Yellow Wood’s role included conducting coaching calls related to demand studies, participating on…

Best Practices Research on Food Enterprise Options for Local Food Value Chain Exploration in Northern Mississippi

Yellow Wood Associates worked with One Voice and NAACP Mississippi to identify best practices for developing a food systems value chain with a focus on four models (Institutional Sales through the Farm to School model; Targeted Distribution of Produce…

Opportunity International Nicaragua: A Model for Sharing Economic Benefits of Enterprise Development in Phases

Opportunity International Nicaragua (OIN) is a nonprofit organization working to blend community economic development strategies with microfinance strategies to benefit the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua. As part of their work, OIN has incubated…

Review of Highly Successful NESARE Projects

Yellow Wood compiled a list of highly successful projects funded by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, along with a review of some of the best practices that made these projects successful.

Rural Brownfields Research

On behalf of the National Association of Development Organizations, Yellow Wood conducted research on EPA brownfields grants awarded to regional development organizations. As part of this research, Yellow Wood developed an online questionnaire and…

Feasibility Study for a Farmer-Owned Dairy Processing Facility in Frederick County, Maryland

Yellow Wood worked with the Frederick County Dairy Processing Task Force to determine the feasibility of a venture focused on selling Maryland dairy products to Maryland consumers. Work included trend analysis of dairy consumption, regional demand…

USDA Rural Development Best Practices Net Meeting Facilitation

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. facilitated nine net meetings with USDA State Rural Development staff to share stories about projects/activities that have contributed to community capacity building, leveraging, and partnerships, and that represent a new…

Fund for Rural America Forest Project Planning Grant

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc., in collaboration with the Forest Trust of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the National Network of Forest Practitioners, received a Planning Grant from the Fund for Rural America to develop a national center to create and support…

Preliminary Analysis of the Economic Viability of the Essex County Fair and Revitalization Strategy for the Fair

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with the Essex County, New York Planning Department and the Essex County Fair Board to analyze the economic viability of the Essex County Fair. Analysis included best practices at a number of fairs in terms of activities,…

Moriah Neighborhood Based Alliance and Economic Development Zone

Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. worked with the Neighborhood Based Alliance and the Economic Development Zone in Moriah, New York to provide assistance in community economic development. Tasks included a survey of retail spending by high school and resident…