What is a rural development hub?
A Rural Development Hub is a regionally rooted organization that brings a region together for action, doing what needs to be done to fill gaps and repair systems. In 2019, Aspen CSG (created in 1985) published a foundational report defining the concept of Rural Development Hubs. A critical recommendation from practitioners was the need to establish a consensus vision and framework for rural community and economic development.
With investments from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from 2018 to 2025, Aspen CSG deepened its work across the rural development field and created tools and frameworks to help practitioners build capacity and advance equitable development. In response to the field’s call, Aspen CSG collaborated with advisory committees, local and regional organizations, national networks, and research partners to develop the Thrive Rural Framework — building on the Rural Development Hubs report and the WealthWorks approach. The Thrive Rural Framework codifies what we mean when we say “development done differently”: holistic efforts that center well-being as the guide for success metrics.
What Do Hubs Do?
Rural Development Hubs bring regions together to fill gaps, repair systems, and help rural and Indigenous communities respond to challenges. Hubs adapt organically in response to community needs. They center local people in decision-making, and define community broadly.
Hubs allow leaders to connect within and across regions, and move knowledge and resources across boundaries. They facilitate coordination amongst organizations, enabling shared capacity, stronger collaboration, and better stewardship of limited resources. Hubs prioritize economic development strategies that build local wealth and strengthen communities, take risks, test new ideas, and share what works. They focus on transformation rather than transaction, negotiate with funders to center local priorities, and strengthen trust and capacity beyond immediate project results.
Why Do Hubs Matter?
Across the country, many kinds of organizations operate as Hubs—including foundations, financial institutions, and community groups. They adopt this approach because it fits how rural communities work and what they need. Hubs prioritize economic development strategies that build local wealth and strengthen communities. In rural areas that have experienced generations of extractive and exploitative economic models, this approach helps create more durable solutions. By centering local voices and priorities, Hubs strengthen trust and capacity in communities and regions beyond immediate project results. This makes Hubs a powerful alternative to fragmented, short-term efforts that can leave communities worse off than before.
Ultimately, Hubs support experimentation and learning by enabling leaders to share what works. They’ve encouraged new ways of working and inspired leaders to take on new challenges.
How Does Aspen CSG Support Rural Development Hubs?
Aspen CSG brings Hub leaders together to learn from each other and build connections. Aspen CSG’s 2019 report Rural Development Hubs: Strengthening America’s Rural Innovation Infrastructure identified, described, and unified Rural Development Hubs across the country. The report helped organizations connect with others within their broader movement and provided a framework to describe their work internally to community members, partners, public officials, and funders.
Aspen CSG plans to continue our work as a convener and supporter of Hubs by: further defining the Hub model and life cycle, creating tools to help rural regions build and strengthen Hubs, facilitating more peer learning opportunities for Hub leaders, and researching and communicating Hubs’ impact.
“You cannot develop the economy without also developing community and civic institutions.”
Rob Riley, Northern Forest Center
Change Labs is a Native-led organization
Rural Development Hub
rooted on the Navajo Nation, created to
help Native entrepreneurs strengthen and
grow their work. Change Labs helps Native
entrepreneurs build what their communities
need. To achieve this, the organization invests
in the ecosystem required to support and
sustain entrepreneurial activity.
Change Labs, Navajo Nation
Why Do Hubs Matter?
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