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.
Yellow Wood Associates is the managing grantee and thought leader for Wealth Creation in Rural Communities - Building Sustainable Livelihoods (now WealthWorks), an initiative of the Ford Foundation that seeks to improve rural livelihoods with a systems…
In connection with our work on the Wallace Center Nourishing Networks – Improving the Food Environment Project, Yellow Wood provided consulting services to Wallace under the Nourishing Networks: Capacity Building for Food Hubs and Regional Food Systems…
Morse Marketing, a consulting firm working in multi-sector partnerships across a variety of food-related initiatives, turned to Yellow Wood to provide guidance in evaluating the effectiveness of a Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program Educational…
Yellow Wood Associates is working with the Natural Capital Investment Fund and partners to develop outcome measures for the Rural Jobs Accelerator that capture effects on the seven forms of wealth as well as on jobs and income. We will work with NCIF…
Yellow Wood Associates worked for the Wallace Center at Winrock International on the Nourishing Networks – Improving the Food Environment project, funded by The Kresge Foundation. Yellow Wood served on the Food Hub Collaboration Core Team; provided…
Yellow Wood Associates worked with the Verde River Valley Nature Organization (VRVNO), a Walton Family Foundation grantee. Yellow Wood provided VRVNO with coaching and analysis to review their birding value chain, identify metrics/measurement that…
In the second phase of their work with the Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission / Black Belt Treasures, Yellow Wood is working with Black Belt Treasures to strengthen their value chain through expanded connections to the greater arts, culture and…
The team of Goody Clancy & Associates, of which Yellow Wood Associates is a part, was selected by the Town of Mansfield, CT to assist in preparing an updated Plan of Conservation and Development as part of their commitment to the federal Sustainable…
Shanna Ratner was selected as a member of the 2012 Mel King Community Fellows cohort. The 2012 Mel King Community Fellows Program is devoted to convening leading economic development and community development practitioners from across the United States…
The Center for Rural Entrepreneurship funded Yellow Wood Associates to work with mini-grantees of the National Association of Development Organizations. Melissa has been working with a NADO mini-grantee, the Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission,…
Beginning in fall 2011, Yellow Wood Associates has worked with four Walton Family Foundation grantees along the Lower Mississippi River around nature based tourism. Focus areas for this group have included paddling tourism, non-consumptive wildlife…
Under the direction of Peg Elmer of Community-Resilience.org, Yellow Wood engaged in targeted strengthening of municipal hazard mitigation planning in the state of Vermont. Yellow Wood assisted in guiding and augmenting national research related to…
Members of the November 2012 Measurement Guide class included Jeff Farbman, Wallace Center at Winrock International, Virginia; Katie Enterline, Wallace Center at Winrock International, Virginia; Stacia Kiraly, Wallace Center at Winrock International,…
Members of the April 2012 Measurement Guide class included Ben Lesser, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.; Greg Hessel, ReGeneration Resources, Vermont; Jackie LeBlanc, Yellow Wood Associates, Vermont; and Michael Hancox, Skeo Solutions,…
Yellow Wood collaborated with the Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group to develop a knowledge transfer platform for development practitioners who want to use the wealth creation approach developed through the Ford Foundation’s Wealth Creation…
Yellow Wood worked with the Blueberry East Food Ventures (BEFV), a cooperative of blueberry growers in Maine, to evaluate the feasibility of establishing a fruit processing facility for conventional and organic blueberries in Washington County, Maine.…
Melissa Levy presented an overview of the Ford Foundation’s Wealth Creation in Rural Communities initiative, which uses a systems approach to wealth creation, linking together the whole system of assets, producers and consumers in ways that benefit…
The eXtension Evaluation PDCoP is charged with providing assistance, resources, and expertise in evaluation to colleagues throughout the Cooperative Extension Service of USDA and across all Extension content areas using electronic media. The eXtension…
Shanna Ratner gave a plenary presentation on “Your Role in Healthy Food Systems” at the Growing Health 2012 conference, highlighting how healthy food systems contribute to multiple forms of wealth in the community, and workshopping ways in which members…
Yellow Wood conducted a market study to determine if there was a sufficient market for a commercial/light industrial park in the Town of Johnson, including the types of sectors/clusters that might be most interested. The study shed light on whether…
Melissa Levy co-presented a workshop session titled "Visioning and Beyond: Developing Plans and Measuring Implementation" with Peggy Reichert of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The workshop walked participants through the process of connecting…
Shanna Ratner was an invited participant in National Climate Assessment Rural Communities workshop, which provided input for the Rural Communities chapter of the 2013 Synthesis of the National Climate Assessment.
Yellow Wood provided coaching in wealth creation value chain development and conducting demand-related research for four nature-based tourism pilot projects in the Lower Mississippi Delta. We also provided coaching services for a team working with…
Yellow Wood worked with twelve Walton Family Foundation grantees in the Verde Valley area of Arizona. The intent of this work was to introduce the wealth creation approach as a way to strengthen the individual projects and begin thinking about the…
Yellow Wood was invited to collaborate with the National Cooperative Business Association to develop the introductory workshop and framework for subsequent workshops in a conference track for community economic development practitioners. The initial…
Shanna Ratner was an invited participant at the Rural Futures Conference, hosted by the University of Nebraska in May 2012. This conference was held as part of the process of creating the Rural Futures Institute at the University of Nebraska.
Yellow Wood worked with Suri Paco to evaluate the costs and benefits of an expanded wholesale production program, including demand, supply and processing of domestic alpaca fiber for a range of value-added products, including bales, non-woven felt,…
Shanna Ratner facilitated the NGFN Food Hub Collaboration Spring 2012 Conference. During the conference, she moderated a panel on "Supply Side Success: Logistics for Quality and Consistency;" facilitated region-based breakout groups and developed an…
The Wallace Center invited Yellow Wood to participate as evaluator and core team member in the National Good Food Network Food Hub Collaboration, an initiative funded by the Kresge Foundation to strengthen regional food hubs and their contributions…
Yellow Wood worked with the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) to conduct a pilot study on the unique contribution cooperatives make to the creation and retention of wealth in the communities and regions in which they operate. We worked…
Melissa Levy spoke about Wealth Creation in Rural Communities during a session titled "Working Lunch: Rural Wealth Creation."
ActionAid is an international organization, working with over 15 million people in 45 countries for a world free from poverty and injustice. After hearing about the wealth creation approach, ActionAid approached the Ford Foundation to learn more. In…
Melissa Levy facilitated "Social Equity in Rural Communities: Setting Goals and Tracking Progress" with Wayne Fawbush of the Ford Foundation and Noah Dorius of HUD Region 1.
Melissa Levy presented an interactive demonstration of tools designed to help practitioners identify and measure the impacts of project and policy actions on different forms of community wealth. Participants worked through two exercises to analyze…
In an effort to help the Northeast and Midwest meet their needs for renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction through the sustainable utilization of woody biomass, the U.S. Forest Service engaged Yellow Wood Associates in conducting third party…
Melissa Levy and Ruth Feldman co-presented a full-day public workshop on the You Get What You Measure® process in Portland, ME. Attendees came from the Maine Association of Nonprofits, the Maine Community Foundation, the University of Southern Maine,…
Melissa Levy and Jackie LeBlanc co-presented a full-day public workshop on the You Get What You Measure® process in Montpelier, VT. Attendees came from the Orange County Parent and Child Center, the Chittenden Regional Planning Commission, and Skeo…
