Rural communities across the country are taking an entrepreneurial approach to economic revival. And it’s working.

Rural North America is a remarkably diverse collection of regions and communities. Each region and community has unique assets, development histories and preferences for community economic development. Entrepreneur-led development is the foundation for all community economic development for all communities and particularly rural communities. In the United States, unlike other developed economies such as Canada, the European Union and Japan, the primary responsibility for a community’s development and success is rooted with local communities, and their leaders and community builders.

For rural communities beginning their entrepreneurial journey, Strategies for Rural Prosperity provides a framework for rural relevant community economic development, and 11 likely entrepreneurial development opportunities. The 11 entrepreneurial development opportunity strategies are anchored in over 40 years of field experience from across the North American continent. These strategies are practical and innovated by rural people and communities. Strategies for Rural Prosperity captures these insights and provides both development frameworks that can be customized to your community, and guides for crafting and executing high impact entrepreneurial game plans.

Author Don Macke shares his nearly 50 years of rural community economic development experience, working in nearly every rural region in North America including providences in Canada and the Caribbean. Don is a regional economist, rural development practitioner and chronicler of rural development innovation. Don was a founder and co-director of the national Center for Rural Entrepreneurship and now lead’s e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems by NetWork Kansas. Kate Pope Hodel has worked in entrepreneurship for about 35 years and, along with Maria Meyers, co-authored Beyond Collisions: How to Build Your Entrepreneurial Infrastructure (2017).

Maria E. Meyers and Kate Pope Hodel are remarkable entrepreneurship thought leaders. In 2017 they released their book… Beyond Collisions: How to Build Your Entrepreneurial Infrastructure. This book informed by field work associated with SourceLink (and even deeper work in the Greater Kansas City Region). They know how to energize entrepreneurs. Kate edited our most recent e2 book… Strategies for Rural Prosperity. We recommend Beyond Collisions as a must for your entrepreneurship library.

For more information about these books, please click here.

Reimagine Rural - Tony Pipa and Brookings Rural Podcast Series.  Tony Pipa with the Brookings Institution is now producing rural focused podcasts. e2 has listened to those podcasts now available. We recommend these podcasts and they can be found: https://www.brookings.edu/series/reimagine-rural/.

New Rural Development Book. Norm Walzer (and Christopher Merrett) have produced another remarkable book essential for any rural developer’s shelf.  Rural Areas in Transition, Meeting Challenges and Making Opportunities published by Rutledge Publishing is now available. This collection of short papers includes some of our favorite rural thought leaders including Norm Walzer, Christopher Merrett, Tony Pipa, Steven Deller, Jennifer Hawkins, Ben Winchester, Don Macke and others. For more information:  https://www.routledge.com/Rural-Areas-in-Transition-Meeting-Challenges--Making-Opportunities/Walzer-Merrett/p/book/9781032249001.

NetWork Kanas has released its fiscal year 2022 annual report: Scaling to New Heights. The report looks at the organization’s increased capacity and strategic growth that fueled support for urban and rural entrepreneurs. Among its impact highlights: receiving a $3 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to accelerate entrepreneurial ecosystems, increasing investment in underrepresented businesses and growing its Entrepreneurship (E-) Community Partnership from 69 communities to 80. Read the report in its entirety: https://www.networkkansas.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2023/02/NetWork-Kansas-Annual-Report-fy-2022_FINAL-Digital-1.pdf