Aspen CSG partners with Rural Development Hubs across the country to strengthen local leadership, align funding, and build regional capacity. Through research and peer learning, we support Hub leaders to refine strategies and apply what works across regions.
In California, we work with Hub partners that coordinate across sectors, align resources, and connect communities to advance long-term regional strategies.
California FarmLink
Service area: California.
California FarmLink creates equitable access to opportunity in support of healthy, local food systems. They help farmers, ranchers, and fishers to access affordable financing, learn how to create business resilience, and secure land for farming and ranching.
Visit organization: californiafarmlink.org
California Center for Rural Policy at Cal Poly Humboldt
Service area: California.
Cal Poly Humboldt’s California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) is dedicated to improving the lives of rural people in California. Using methods tailored to the study of rural populations, environments, and their interactions, the CCRP researches a wide range of issues to inform policies and planning.
Visit organization: ccrp.humboldt.edu
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Making Broadband Work for Rural Communities and Native Nations and The Power of Connection: Rural Development Hubs in Action.
Chicanos Por La Causa
Service area: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and California.
Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) began with a group of student and community activists who pushed back against racial discrimination. Today, they provide services to people of all backgrounds while honoring their Mexican American roots. Their programs give individuals and families a seat at the table.
Visit organization: cplc.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Building Power Towards an Equitable Rural Economy and Rural Development Hubs: Strengthening America’s Rural Innovation Infrastructure.
El Pajaro Community Development Corporation
Service area: California.
Founded 45 years ago, El Pájaro CDC has successfully helped thousands of people start, maintain and expand their small business by offering technical assistance, help in acquiring loans, developing business plans and crafting marketing and promotion campaigns, managing employees, navigating the legal system, and more.
Visit organization: elpajarocdc.org
Ford Family Foundation
Service area: Oregon and California.
The Ford Family Foundation is a nonprofit, private foundation headquartered in Roseburg, Oregon, serving rural Oregon and Siskiyou County, California. Their investments through grants, scholarships, and community building create the conditions for children to have the family, educational, and community supports they need to succeed in life.
Visit organization: tfff.org
Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission
Service area: California.
Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (Fresno EOC) is one of the largest Community Action Agencies in the country. They employ over 1,200 full and part-time staff members committed to transforming lives. With over 30 programs to serve the community, they bridge gaps with almost every aspect of the underserved population.
Visit organization: fresnoeoc.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Rural Development Hubs: Strengthening America’s Rural Innovation Infrastructure.
Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation
Service area: Curry County, Oregon; Trinity, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties, California.
Thriving, Healthy, Just, Equitable. That’s the vision Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation have for their region. This vision is implemented through four decade-long goals of increasing racial equality, supporting thriving youth and families, growing healthy ecosystems and environments, and bolstering a just economy.
Visit organization: hafoundation.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Four Principles for Fostering Community Well-Being with Asset-Based Development.
Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation
Service area: California.
Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation (IVWF) is a grantmaker and serves as a Rural Development Hub in Imperial County by mobilizing resources into the region. As a grantmaker, IVWF funds in the areas of health and wellness, community engagement, and nonprofit capacity building. As a Rural Development Hub, IVWF hosts Learning Exchanges, where individuals and organizations gather to learn, share, and discover ways to work together, building civic infrastructure to make the Imperial Valley “A Better Place to Live for All.”
Visit organization: ivwf.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Building Funder Capacity to Work with Communities, Building Regional Strength: A Call to Action, The Power of Connection: Rural Development Hubs in Action, and more.
Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC)
Service area: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
The Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1978, dedicated to supporting underserved rural and Indigenous communities across the Western U.S. through technical assistance, training, financial resources, and advocacy. RCAC’s work spans environmental infrastructure, affordable housing, community resilience and disaster planning, economic and leadership development, and community finance. Serving communities across the western United States, RCAC acts as the Western hub for the national Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) network.
Visit organization: rcac.org
Santa Cruz Community Ventures
Service area: California.
Santa Cruz Community Ventures partners with rural working-class families in California’s Central Coast to ensure a shared and equitable economic future for all. Their transformational programs make certain that individuals understand and use their economic and political power. From building their savings to advocating for a living wage, their approach builds community and connects financial stability, wealth building, and self-determination.
Visit organization: sccvonline.org
Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation
Service area: California.
The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) is a place-rooted organization working to strengthen communities in California’s North Tahoe-Truckee region. Focusing on housing, mental health, and regional resilience, TTCF brings together public, private, and philanthropic partners to take on big, long-term challenges.
Visit organization: ttcf.net
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Community-Centered Takeaways from Aspen Ideas, Stacy Caldwell on Representing Rural Interests in Tahoe-Truckee, Rural Development Hubs: Strengthening America’s Rural Innovation Infrastructure, and more.
