Aspen CSG partners with Rural Development Hubs across the country to strengthen local leadership, align resources, and grow regional opportunity. By combining research with peer learning networks, we help Hub leaders sharpen strategies and spread what works.
In Alabama, Rural Development Hubs strengthen communities by building local leadership, coordinating partners, attracting investment, and creating long-term regional opportunity.
Appalachian Community Capital
Service area: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Appalachian Community Capital is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that is focused on attracting new sources of capital for small businesses, including minority- and women-owned business owners, in underserved places in Appalachia and similar energy communities nationally.
Visit organization: appalachiancommunitycapitalcdfi.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Resources for Rural Communities, Aspen CSG in Action, How Can We Secure Enduring Capital for Equitable Rural Prosperity?, and more.
Black Belt Community Foundation
Service area: Alabama.
The mission of the Black Belt Community Foundation is to forge a collective stream of giving from the community and other sources so we, the people of the Black Belt, can enhance our continuing efforts to lift ourselves by “taking what we have to make what we need.” Founded in 2004 with the idea that those living and working in the Black Belt best knew the area’s challenges and opportunities, the Black Belt Community Foundation actively puts needed resources into the region that make a lasting impact.
Visit organization: blackbeltfound.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Measure Up: Call to Action and The Power of Connection: Rural Development Hubs in Action.
Communities Unlimited
Service area: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
Communities Unlimited connects rural Americans to solutions that sustain healthy businesses, healthy communities, and healthy lives. They believe that access to opportunities should not depend on where you live, how much you have in the bank, or what you look like.
Visit organization: communitiesu.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Measure Up: A Call to Action, Rural Development Hubs Report, Ten Podcasts Focused on Rural Community and Economic Development, Four Principles for Fostering Community Well-Being with Asset-Based Development, and more.
Fahe
Service area: Alabama, Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Fahe is a purpose-oriented network of more than 50 diverse community-based nonprofits serving the Appalachian states of Alabama, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. With a focus on leadership, housing, education, health and social services, and economic opportunity, Fahe empowers the people and communities of Appalachia with the resources, opportunities, and tools needed to build a better life.
Visit organization: fahe.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Support Local Hurricane Recovery Efforts, Support Local Efforts for Eastern Kentucky, Funding Rural Futures: A Call to Action, and more.
Hope Enterprise Corporation
Service area: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Hope Enterprise Corporation (HEC) is a community development financial institution (CDFI) dedicated to strengthening communities, building assets, and improving lives in under-resourced communities throughout Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Visit organization: hope-ec.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Funding Rural Futures: A Call to Action and Thrive Rural Theory of Change Working Group (2019-2021).
MDC
Service area: West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.
MDC equips leaders, institutions, and communities with the necessary tools and strategies to advance equity, particularly racial and gender equity, and economic mobility. For over 50 years, MDC has shared deep knowledge and proven tools to design, demonstrate, and sustain what works to boost everyone, particularly those who’ve been left behind, to higher rungs on the economic ladder.
Visit organization: mdcinc.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Q&A with MDC’s Brandy Bynum Dawson, The Power of Connection: Rural Development Hubs in Action, Funding Rural Futures: A Call to Action, and more.
Sustainable Forestry & African American Land Retention Network
Service area: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.
The Sustainable Forestry & African American Land Retention Network (SFLR Network) creates a system of support for African American and rural forest owners that significantly increases the value of forests, land retention, and asset development for rural families in the U.S. South. The SFLR Network has improved forest management and forest retention by connecting African American landowners with established networks of local forestry support. This includes federal and state government programs, businesses, nonprofit conservation, legal, and community development organizations.
Visit organization: sflrnetwork.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Using Relational Leadership to Build Power Together, and more.
