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Reporting Resources Economic Development Economic development issues in the this guide include, but are not limited to, municipal broadband, urban sprawl, entrepreneurship, business reports, state economics, and the job market. COVERING BUSINESS IN SMALL MARKETS Ethics of Business News, Here's a link to a column written by Jim Pumarlo, a newspaper consultant with Community Newsroom Success Strategies in Red Wing, Minn. RESEARCHING BUSINESSES Library of Congress indexes, bibliographies and guides to business research, both general and specific industries: http://www.loc.gov/rr/business/index1.html ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ENTERPRISE Association
for Enterprise Opportunity,
http://www.microenterpriseworks.org Boomtown USA, http://boomtownusa.blogspot.com, is a Web log by Jack Schultz of Agracel Inc., of Effingham, Ill., who posts comments as he travels the country helping rural communites recruit high-tech and manufacturing jobs. Schultz has coined (and trademarked) a term for "propsering rural towns with a tie to agriculture." They're "agurbs." Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, http://www.ruraleship.org 402-323-7339 Donald Macke don@ruraleship.org North Carolina: 919-932-7762 Deborah Markley dmarkley@nc.rr.com The Center supports rural entrepreneurship development through research and outreach. Corporation for Enterprise Development, http://www.cfed.org 202-408-9788 415-495-7025 Jennifer Malkin Jennifer@cfed.org CFED works with communities to help them envision, define and build their own economic strategies, while preserving cultural values and respecting natural resources. Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, Berea, Ky. 859-986-2373 Justin Maxson x217 jmaxson@maced.org MACED works to create economic alternatives in Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia, and says, “We invest in good ideas and help others move their good ideas forward.” REGIONAL RURAL DEVELOPMENT CENTERS These centers coordinate rural-development research and education throughout the U.S. Each center links the research and extension capacity of regional land-grant universities with local decision-makers to address a wide range of rural development issues, so they can be important connections to story ideas, sources and reliable economic information. North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, Iowa State Univ., 515-294-8321 www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/RuralDev.html Cornelia Flora,dir. cflora@ia state.edu The center says it “provides leadership in rural development regionally and nationally by identifying, developing and supporting programs on the vanguard of emerging issues.” Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, Penn State University, 814-863-4656 www.cas.nercrd.psu.edu (Send e-mail to nercrd@psu.edu) The center says small towns and rural places “are becoming increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, resulting in an ever-increasing number of public issues needing resolution.” Southern Rural Development Center, http://srdc.msstate.edu 662-325-3207 Lionel “Bo” Beaulieu, director ljb@srdc.msstate.edu SRDC says it seeks to strengthen the capacity of the region's 29 land-grant institutions to address critical contemporary rural-development issues affecting communities in the rural South. Western Rural Development Center, http://extension.usu.edu/wrdc 435-797-9732 John Allen, director johna@ext.usu.edu The center offers a long list of sources on economic and rural development at http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ruralres/economic.htm. DEVELOPMENT Asset Based
Community Development Institute, www.northwestern.edu/ipr/abcd.html
Electric Utility Database, http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/eia861.html Housing Tracker, http://www.benengebreth.org/housingtracker/ National Congress
For Community Economic Development, 202-289-9020 Renewing the Countryside has "stories of everyday people making a difference in their rural communities" with "sustainable and innovative initiatives, businesses, and projects." http://www.renewingthecountryside.org Rural Studies program, University of Kentucky, www.rural.org Conducts research into the economic opportunities and problems of rural areas. USDA Rural Development, http://www.rurdev.usda.gov This group of agencies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture heldp finance water and sewer systems, housing, health clinics, emergency-service facilities and, through the Rural Utulities Service, electric and telephone service. It makes loans to businesses through banks and community-managed lending pools, offers technical assistance and information to help start and improve cooperatives get started and improve the effectiveness of their member services. It also provide technical assistance for community empowerment programs. U.S. Economic Development Administration, http://www.eda.gov EDA helps rural and urban areas with high unemployment, low income, or other severe economic distress. ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY (high-speed or broadband Internet, etc.) Federal Communications Commission pages on rural service, www.fcc.gov/cgb/rural Rural Broadband Coalition, http://www.ruralbroadbandcoalition.net/ iTown, http://www.itowncom.net/news.html National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, http://www.nrtc.coop/us/main/index NATIONAL JOB MARKET/ECONOMIC SECURITY JupiterResearch,
http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/home Congressional
Budget Office, http://www.cbo.gov/ Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, http://www.cbpp.org Yahoo! Finance Search, http://finance.yahoo.com/search Beginner's Guide
to Business Research, http://www.kognito.net/infolit/ Liber8, from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ,says it is an "economic information portal for librarians and students." It has much non-technical, easy-to-understand data. STATE-SPECIFIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GROUPS Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy, http://www.me3.org 651-726-7561 Dee Long long@me3.org 46 E. 4th St., Suite 600, St. Paul MN 55101 Montana Community
Development Corp., http://www.mtcdc.org
406-728-9234, ext. 205 Rosalie Cates rcates@mtcdc.org
110 East Broadway, #200, Missoula MT 59802 (Nebraska) Center for Rural Affairs, http://www.cfra.org 402-687-2103 Chuck Hassebrook chuckh@cfra.org 136 Main, Lyons NE 68038 (New Mexico) Regional
Development Corp., http://www.rdcnm.org North Carolina Rural Economic Developement Center, www.ncruralcenter.org 919-250-4314 Billy Ray Hall brhall@ncruralcenter.org Leslie Scott lscott@ncruralcenter.org 4021 Carya, Raleigh NC 27610 North Carolina
Institute of Minority & Economic Development, http://www.ncimed.com South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations, 843-579-9855 www.communitydevelopmentsc.org Julia Dawson jd@scacdc.net 658 Rutledge, Charleston SC 29403 West Virginia
Grantmakers Inc., http://www.givetowestvirginia.org/index.html
(W. Va.) Center
for Economic Options, http://www.centerforeconomicoptions.org The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues helps non-metropolitan media define the public agenda in their communities, through strong reporting and commentary on local issues and on broader issues that have local impact. Its initial focus area is Central Appalachia, but as an arm of the University of Kentucky it has a statewide mission, and it has national scope. Cooperating institutions include Appalachian State University, East Tennesee State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Marshall University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and West Virginia University. To get notices of Rural Blog postings and other Institute news, click here. |
Institute for
Rural Journalism & Community Issues
University of Kentucky College
of Communications & Information Studies
122 Grehan Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0042
Phone: (859) 257-3744, Fax: (859) 323-9879
Questions about the web site: Contact Al Cross, Director, al.cross@uky.edu
Last
Updated: Dec. 8, 2005