IEDC and Entrepreneurial Development
Nathan Ohle is the President and CEO of the International Economic Development Council or IEDC for short. IEDC is the world’s largest economic development professional organization. IEDC is now offering a wider range of resources, including professional training and certification focusing on entrepreneur-led economic development. This month, Nathan is Don’s guest on Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast (https://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/podcast/iedc-and-entrepreneurial-development.html). This podcast explores Nathan’s development journey, IEDC’s mission and resources and its growing commitment to all communities, including rural communities, and entrepreneurship.

e2 is partnering with IEDC on a new initiative to (1) strengthen its reach into rural America and (2) expand entrepreneurship resources for both urban and rural America. e2 is committed to partnering with IEDC to increase rural economic developers, their boards and communities in using IEDC’s resources. Key to reducing crisis-level economic developer turnover in rural America is a commitment to entrepreneurship, better compensation and IEDC-provided training and certification. Working with rural communities and their economic development organizations on professional career tracking is foundational to higher-impact development across the diversity of what is rural America, today.

Stay tuned for more news on these new IEDC entrepreneurship initiatives supported with funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (https://www.kauffman.org/). 
For more information about IEDC check out www.iedc.org.  
Other e2 News
A New Book: Strategies for Rural Prosperity

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new e2 book, Strategies for Rural Prosperity. This book is now available in both print and eBook versions on Amazon, and explores 11 likely entrepreneurial development opportunities with stories and strategies. To purchase, visit: https://www.amazon.com/Strategies-Rural-Prosperity-Don-Macke/dp/B0BSXZZ5J8
 
Additional e2 selections curated by Dr. Deborah Markley:
  •  Energizing Entrepreneurial Communities, A Pathway to Prosperity (2014)
  •  Transfer of Wealth in Rural America; Understanding the Potential, Realizing the Opportunity, and Creating Wealth for the Future (2011)
  •  Energizing Entrepreneurs, Charting a Course for Rural Communities (2005)
 
News Shorts
Loss of Another Friend and Colleague – Steve Buttress. In 2023, we lost another remarkable economic developer and friend. Steve Buttress was an entrepreneur and innovative economic developer leading local and state economic development agencies like Enterprise Florida and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. He was deeply committed to entrepreneur-led economic development at a time when anything beyond attraction was challenged. Goodbye, Steve, and thanks for your decades of contributions to our field.
 
Driving U.S. Job Creation.  Our friend, Chris Gibbons, of Economic Gardening (https://economicgardening.org/), recently shared a story from the Wall Street Journal (https://www.wsj.com/) titled Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey 01.23.2023). In this story, Chris shared to his network the following remarkable statistics:
 
  • Establishments with less than 250 employees hired a net of 3.67 million workers.
  • Conversely, establishments with more than 250 employed cut a net of 800,000 workers.
 
Bottom line, entrepreneurial growth ventures continue to drive the American economy based on net (e.g., new jobs create less jobs laid off) job creation. Revisit our e2 podcast with Gibbons, here: https://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/podcast/episode-19.html
 
 
NetWork Kansas News Item. 
NetWork Kansas’ 2nd Annual NetWorked for Change Conference is gathering change-makers who have created or are overseeing the distribution of innovative resources that are boldly solving challenges across Kansas communities. With a powerhouse line-up of speakers and facilitators, the conference aims to spark greater collaboration among organizations looking for sustainable solutions to improve the heartland. The conference is scheduled for May 25, 2023 from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Wichita. For conference information, sponsorship opportunities and additional information, please visit: https://www.networkedforchange.com/conference.
Future Use Resources
The following are reminders to our e2 readers of some of the best go to entrepreneurship resources
 
Headwaters Economics. Headwaters Economic(https://headwaterseconomics.org/) based in Bozeman, Montana is a go to resource for county and economic sector specific data. Their “Profile” resource is amazing. 
 
YourEconomy. Your Economy (https://youreconomy.org/) was created by the Edward Lowe Foundation (https://edwardlowe.org/) and is now led by Mark Lange at the University of Wisconsin. It is a premiere venture data resource used by e2 on a daily basis.
 
Esri. Esri (https://www.esri.com/en-us/home) is a for-profit national market research firm with particular capabilities with GIS or Geographic Information Systems. At e2 we purchase Esri data to help communities discover their entrepreneurial potentials.
 
SourceLink. SourceLink (https://www.joinsourcelink.com/), based in Kansas City where it started with KC SourceLink (https://www.kcsourcelink.com/), is the leading resource helping entrepreneurial ecosystems create resource access, transparency, and accountability, and so much more. 
 
Economic Gardening.   Founded by Chris Gibbons in Littleton, Colorado, Economic Gardening (https://economicgardening.org/) provides both a framework for and resource to advanced market intelligence research. This is an amazing resource and access to market intelligence research and analysis is as important as access to capital for entrepreneurs.