Innovators in Rural Community Economic Development
This report documents outcomes by sector of WealthWorks implementation on the ground in Central Appalachia, the South, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. It also includes lessons learned over the last year and a half of the eight year Wealth Creation…
Yellow Wood in Transition; Update on Our Work; WealthWorks; Presentations; Measurement; Staffing News; Reading & Watching
Through the support of the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center facilitated a trip to Western North Carolina to study the arts economy and creative placemaking in the region. This report provides a summary…
This report is a summary of a learning journey by Sustainable Rural Regenerative Enterprises for Families (SURREF) and six individuals representing stakeholders and partners who traveled to Jamaica from December 11 to December 16, 2011. These stakeholders…
The study estimates the impacts of a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard on Kentucky’s portfolio of electricity resources, on average electric bills, and on the state’s economy. The report was produced by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. for the Mountain…
This report examines and presents wealth creation models adapted to the needs and context of sustainable forestry in Appalachia.
This paper by the Croatan Institute was commissioned by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). The paper addresses the effect that the growing movement for divestment from fossil fuels and investment in more sustainable…
This guide is one of two pieces written to assist WealthWorks value chain coordinators or coaches in working with businesses and demand partners that are part of WealthWorks value chains. This guide is designed to walk readers through one of the most…
This guide is one of two pieces written to assist WealthWorks value chain coordinators or coaches in working with businesses and demand partners that are part of WealthWorks value chains. This guide is written to assist WealthWorks coordinators, coaches,…
WealthWorks is an approach bridging community and economic development to build multiple forms of community wealth, resilience, and local ownership. This webinar provides a short overview for newcomers to the approach, followed by a focus on issues…
This module profiles the elements and design objectives of a WealthWorks value chain—and how to use them to build wealth that lasts.
This module offers a series of useful screens for spotting a market opportunity that has good potential to generate wealth-building results for a region.
This module defines wealth building as a goal that reaches beyond standard community and economic development objectives, and why that difference is critical to advancing and sustaining regional economies.
Many rural areas in the United States find themselves struggling to build local assets and create wealth. They often struggle to hold on to the wealth that is created within their boundaries. Conventional approaches to community and economic development…
This paper introduces a wealth creation approach to development, and describes how the Central Appalachian Network has used an outcome-based measurement process to define and measure progress toward shared goals for seven forms of community wealth.…
This textbook investigates the role of wealth in achieving sustainable rural economic development. Published by Routledge and edited by John L. Pender, Bruce A. Weber, Thomas G. Johnson, and J. Matthew Fannin.
Rural regions across the United States have struggled to implement economic development strategies that build local assets and create wealth that contributes to sustained prosperity. This article describes a systems framework that enables rural areas…
In connection with the 2013 forum on Citizen-Led Sustainable Change held on the St. Francis Xavier University campus, Alison Mathie produced a case study on Rural Action, titled “From the fringe to the mainstream: Rural Action’s pursuit of a sustainable…
In connection with the 2013 forum on Citizen-Led Sustainable Change held on the St. Francis Xavier University campus, Phil Davison produced a case study on the Deep South Wealth Creation Network, titled “The Deep South Wealth Creation Network,Mississippi…
This webinar offered participants a preview of the WealthWorks Training for Coaches and Coordinators. Training facilitators shared the approach to the training and the expected outcomes. Participants were able to ask questions and explore how this…
The Private Sector Engagement Toolkit helps users think about how they will connect with the demand side of the markets they are in. The Toolkit is designed to help WealthWorks value chain coordinators as well as individual businesses within a value…
The final report from the Red Mantra Group on Building Wealth Through Inclusive Business is now available. Inclusive Business is an approach to economic development in which one or more large corporations are the primary demand partners. For corporations…
As part of WealthWorks, the Accelerating Impact project is aimed at articulating the role of finance in supporting WealthWorks value chains in rural areas.Over two years, this project of the Tellus Institute has worked with ten projects on the ground…
This presentation on WealthWorks and WealthWorks value chains was made as part of a panel at the National Reinvestment Coalition 2014 Annual Conference.
This paper, featured in the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs’ Rural Research Report (Spring 2014, Volume 24, Issue 1), provides an overview of the WealthWorks approach and its tools, including the WealthWorks value chain construct and the wealth…
The Wealth Creation Clinic partnered with Presidio Bank, a progressive regional bank in San Francisco, to examine a key question for community banking: In a competitive environment, how can small banks be a more positive force for local community development,…
This report, produced for the Central Appalachian Network (CAN) in partnership with the MIT “Keeping Wealth Local” Clinic, explores examples of place-based food brands and offers recommendations for CAN and other Central Appalachian organizations interested…
These case studies supplement the 5Capitals tool developed by CATIE. Five case studies were selected, with a geographical spread and a focus on different, crops, target markets and beneficiaries: Nicaragua - certified coffee; Colombia - fresh fruits…
5Capitals is tool for understanding critical development issues, designed for users including funding agencies, NGOs, consultants, government agencies, businesses, and certification bodies. The tool is built on the belief that greater access to livelihood…
This report explores what we have learned about the roles value chain coordinators play in WealthWorks, how those roles may evolve, and various options for financing the coordinator role which is so essential to exploring and constructing WealthWorks…
This report was produced as part of a project to explore financing options for WealthWorks value chains. It describes crowdfunding and how it works, gives examples of different platforms and successful campaigns, and provides a step by step guide to…
WealthWorks is a 21st-century approach that belongs in every community and economic development toolkit. WealthWorks is inclusive, bringing together and connecting community assets to meet market demand in ways that build lasting livelihoods and upward…
This brochure provides an overview of the WealthWorks Training for Coaches and Coordinators. WealthWorks is a 21st-century approach that belongs in every community and economic development toolkit. WealthWorks is inclusive, bringing together and connecting…
Place-based grantees from three regions (Central Appalachia, the Alabama Black Belt and Mid-South Delta, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas), resource team members, researchers, and Ford Foundation staff met at the Ford Foundation office in New…
Shanna Ratner's plenary presentation at the Growing Health 2012 conference in New York addressed the benefits of a fully-realized food system, discussed food systems in context of a wealth creation approach, and engaged participants in exercises around…
This introductory webinar introduced wealth creation concepts and vocabulary, including wealth creation value chains and multiple forms of wealth, to Walton Family Foundation grantees in the Verde Valley area of Arizona.
In a changing global environment, the potential contributions of rural America are significant. Rural leaders need new ways of thinking about economic development. This brief introductory paper outlines seven guiding principles for a wealth creation…
Ten financing interventions are profiled in this paper, which looks at how capital investment in combination with other strategies is used to achieve triple-bottom-line outcomes.
This file contains presentations by participants in a session highlighting three emerging practices in community development: financial education and coaching, developing entrepreneurial ecosystems, and a wealth creation approach to development in…
Wealth Creation in Rural Communities presentation made to the 8th Annual BALLE Business Conference and Member Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. May 21-23, 2010.
This case study looks at the role of Market Umbrella in helping to develop a regional food system around New Orleans. Interviews throughout the case study highlight the importance of building multiple forms of wealth to create community resilience…
This toolkit is a set of worksheets designed to help groups build strong, effective, sustainable networks. It includes worksheets for organizations that are considering forming or joining a network, emerging networks that have already organized and…
This report contains four case studies about rural-urban linkages in Oregon, the New Orleans region, Texas, and Nebraska, as well as introductory material and a concluding commentary that looks at each case study in context of the core principles of…
This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work, in collaboration with the National Cooperative Business Association, to document the impacts cooperatives have on multiple forms of wealth in their communities. This work was undertaken as part of Yellow…
This case study profiles Yellow Wood's project management work with the Wealth Creation in Rural Communities - Building Sustainable Livelihoods (WealthWorks) initiative.
Why and to what extent do companies clustering in rural areas pursue – intentionally or unintentionally – triple-bottom-line outcomes? This document discusses the kinds of interventions, cluster strategies, and local policies that can most effectively…
This paper describes opportunities for and barriers to managing electricity production and consumption at the community level via micro-grid systems.
What are the opportunities and challenges for sustainable rural development in the forests and wood products sector of Appalachian Kentucky? The participants in the Ford Foundation Regional Learning Project Team engaged in a discovery project, interviewing…
A balanced approach to development takes account of the triple bottom line, benefiting the economy, the environment, and social inclusion simultaneously, while considering the impacts on seven forms of wealth (individual, social, intellectual, natural,…
A balanced approach to development takes account of the triple bottom line, benefiting the economy, the environment, and social inclusion simultaneously, while considering the impacts on seven forms of wealth (individual, social, intellectual, natural,…
A balanced approach to development takes account of the triple bottom line, benefiting the economy, the environment, and social inclusion simultaneously, while considering the impacts on seven forms of wealth (individual, social, intellectual, natural,…
A balanced approach to development takes account of the triple bottom line, benefiting the economy, the environment, and social inclusion simultaneously. This Interim Report on the progress of the project assesses lessons learned so far.
As a companion paper to the more theoretical paper (A Compendium of Clusters in Less Populated Places: Circumstances, Interventions and Outcomes), this second clusters report – over 100 pages in length – offers a series of 50 case studies of rural…
Interviews with community leaders at high-performing organizations in Central Appalachia, the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and the Delta Region provide insight into connections between organizations engaged primarily in individual asset building, entrepreneur-focused…
Before we can measure rural economic activity in an area, we need a clear picture and understanding of how geographic areas are defined as rural. This paper explores several methods for measuring the rural character of a region and uses each method…
This article by Marjorie Kelly and Shanna Ratner was posted to the Yes! Magazine website on August 3, 2010.
This webinar shares the principles and key tools of the Wealth Creation in Rural Communities – Building Sustainable Livelihoods framework, while also telling a story of this work on the ground. It uses the example of a biofuels value chain being constructed…
How do we connect impact investors and rural enterprise, encouraging investment that develops multiple forms of wealth? This paper outlines key features of impact investment and shares examples of successful investment models that provide both financial…
Resources do not represent community wealth unless communities own and control them. This report introduces the concept of shared ownership, then describes and explores various models, looking at strengths, weaknesses, the range of applications, expertise…
This paper examines opportunities and issues related to wind energy development in rural America, with case studies illustrating a range of wind energy projects.
This paper identifies rural counties in Appalachia which have sustained or attained relatively strong levels of prosperity over the course of the decades from 1980-2000. Statistical analysis of these counties lays the groundwork for future detailed…
Based on a year-long exploration of many effective interventions in rural entrepreneurship development, this report shares insights on what is needed to move forward in working for greater triple-bottom-line impacts.
This research report presents qualitative data from interviews with 24 practitioners at six networks that are working to create wealth in rural areas across the United States. The report presents findings related to network results, network management,…
This research focuses on the impact that venture or patient capital has on rural economies, how patient capital funds can promote a triple bottom line (TBL) in their rural investments, and how practices with positive impact can be scaled and or replicated…
This case study explores a developing restoration forest economy and its positive impacts along the forest products value chain; these impacts can be seen both in terms of wealth retention and creation and of forging linkages between rural and urban…
This Wealth Creation in Rural Communities presentation, "Expanding Livelihoods Opportunities for Low-Income and Poor Households," was presented by Wayne Fawbush to the 2010 Northeast Rural Summit in Burlington, Vermont
Place-based grantees from three regions (Central Appalachia, the Alabama Black Belt and Mid-South Delta, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas), resource team members, researchers, and Ford Foundation staff met at the Ford Foundation office in New…
Jason Saul is the CEO of Mission Measurement, a strategy consulting firm that helps nonprofits, companies and government agencies to create value through social change. Jason’s approaches–using the power of markets and the engine of business to solve…
FAHE is, arguably, the strongest example of network approaches to increasing impact and strengthening financial performance in the domestic community development field. The purpose of this case study is to extract the lessons from the FAHE experience…
This paper assesses the prosperity of Central Appalachian counties. The assessment compares the prosperity levels of Central Appalachian counties to each other, to themselves over time, and to the region and the country as a whole, using measures that…
This paper identifies the place- and history-based context for a regional approach to wealth creation; assesses varying prosperity rates across the counties of Central Appalachia; analyzes the trade flows between Economic Areas in Central Appalachia;…
This webinar presentation was made as part of Yellow Wood's work with the National Cooperative Business Association and individual cooperatives on measuring the impacts cooperatives have on multiple forms of wealth.
