MEETING LEADERS WHERE THEY ARE

This chapter from the St. Louis Fed underscores that durable economic growth in rural and regional economies depends not only on capital inflows, but also on how communities organize assets, institutions, and networks to create long-term opportunity. It highlights that without intentional strategies, rural regions risk leakage of wealth and underinvestment in human capacity. This resonates strongly with Aspen CSG’s approach, which emphasizes that rural prosperity is built when communities recognize and mobilize their own assets—whether financial, social, or institutional—and connect them through inclusive systems that keep value local. In both perspectives, resilient development emerges from aligning policy, business, and community action around the shared goal of wealth that lasts across generations.