Rural Knowledge Center

Rural Resources, Insights, and Collaborations by Aspen CSG and Partners

Four Principles for Fostering Community Well-Being with Asset-Based Development

Insights and recommendations to foster rural & Indigenous well-being with asset based development.

Community and Economic Development Topics

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Innovation and Challenges for State Rural Councils

Document serves a conceptual tool to help define, guide, and measure the process of organizational change into the State Rural Development Councils (SRDC).

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Gilpin County Regional Planning Commission Report

Report details findings of survey that assess the recreation and park needs of residents of the three governmental entities (Black Hawk, Central City and Gilpin County).

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NAFTA: An Assesment

Document summarizes the central provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and evaluates the economic impact of the agreement.

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New Businesses, Entrepreneurship, and Rural Development: State Policies and Generating Rural Growth from Within

Explore strategies for fostering rural growth through entrepreneurship and state policies in this comprehensive report by Aspen CSG.

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Representing Rural America: Development Needs and Policy

This report summarizes the survey over thirty experts in the rural economic development sphere (directors of grassroots rural organizations, policy institutes, rural advocates, state and federal government officials, congressional aides, academics, and general policy experts.)

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Greater Expectations: The South’s Workforce is The South’s Future

Paper states Southern workforce should direct policy focus on skill training to keep up with changing economic tides and industries.

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Small Stakes Gambling in Rural Communities: Policy Implications for State Government

Report seeks to examine experiences of Deadwood, SD and Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek, CO communities in regards to gambling presences in order to foster and promote thoughtful state government policy on small stakes gambling.

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Business Finance as a Tool for Development (final book)

This file, titled "BUSINESS FINANCE AS A TOOL FOR DEVELOPMENT," is a 1992 publication by The Aspen Institute's State Policy Program. Authored by Deborah Markley with Katharine McKee, it examines the evolution and best practices of state development finance programs. The document highlights the shift in state economic development strategies from "smokestack-chasing" (subsidized relocation) in the 1960s-70s to fostering homegrown businesses in the 1980s.

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Utilities and Industries: New Partnerships for Rural Development

The file discusses new partnerships between utilities and industries for rural development. It emphasizes the importance of utilities in stimulating economic development activities, particularly in small towns and rural areas that lack resources to cope with economic change. The document proposes a state-based program where utilities actively partner to encourage modernization of industrial process technologies.

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Exploding Myths about Rural Entrepeneurship

This file is a research paper titled "Exploding Myths About Rural Entrepreneurship" by Terry F. Buss and Mark Popovich. It challenges common misconceptions about rural entrepreneurship using survey data from 1,428 start-up entrepreneurs and employment tax files from five states: Iowa, North Dakota, Michigan, Maine, and Arkansas.

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Unprecedented Disparities, Unparalleled Adjustment Needs: Winners and Losers on the NAFTA ‘Fast Track’

This paper, "Unprecedented Disparities, Unparalleled Adjustment Needs: Winners and Losers on the NAFTA 'Fast Track'," by Michael E. Conroy and Amy K. Glasmeier (August 15, 1992), raises concerns about the distribution of benefits and the magnitude of adjustment costs associated with the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

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Leadership Through Partnerships: The National Trust’s Main Street Program as a Community Economic Development Tool

This article, "Leadership Through Partnerships: The National Trust's Main Street Program as a Community Economic Development Tool" by John C. Shepard (1992), examines the Main Street Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The program uses a "grassroots and bootstraps" approach, combining historic preservation with economic development to revitalize historic commercial districts.