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 Tennessee, we work with Hub partners that coordinate across sectors, align resources, and connect communities to advance long-term regional strategies.
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) focused on attracting new sources of capital for small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses, in underserved places across 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.
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 community-based nonprofits serving Appalachia. With a focus on leadership, housing, education, health and social services, and economic opportunity, Fahe empowers people and communities 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).
Invest Appalachia
Service area: Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Invest Appalachia is a collaborative impact investment platform created by and for the people of Central Appalachia to make the region’s collective potential greater than the sum of its parts. It leverages deep relationships and investments from partners in philanthropy, community finance, and community economic development.
Visit organization: investappalachia.org
MDC
Service area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
MDC equips leaders, institutions, and communities with the tools and strategies to advance equity, particularly racial and gender equity, and economic mobility. For more than 50 years, MDC has shared research, technical assistance, and proven approaches to help communities build opportunity.
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.
