Economic
Development
This page
provides links to assist in reporting on economic development. Please click here to access older blog items that may be of interest to those reporting on economic development. The blog items are
divided into two categories: general economic
development and broadband.
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.
TOPIC: Small daily takes a frank look at a troubled local bank
For most of the time since the banking crisis hit, more than a year ago, the Institute has encouraged community newspapers to report on the health of their community banks, using easily available public information gathered by federal regulators and public-interest organizations. We have no idea how good the coverage has been nationwide, but we think it would be hard to beat what we've seen in The State Journal of Frankfort, Ky. To read about it, click here.
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
Bureau of Economic
Analysis
BEA produces economic accounts statistics that enable government
and business decision-makers, researchers, and the American
public to follow and understand the performance of the Nation's
economy: http://www.bea.gov/index.htm
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND ENTERPRISE
Association for
Enterprise Opportunity,
http://www.microenterpriseworks.org
404-581-1727 Natalie Keiser aeonk@earthlink.net
AEO is the national association of organizations committed
to microenterprise development.
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
847-491-8711 John McKnight and John“Jody” Kretzmann,
co-dirs. abcd@northwestern.edu
The ABCD Institute conducts research on capacity-building community
development.
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
http://www.ncced.org
NCCED is is the trade association for community development
corporations (CDCs) and the community economic development (CED)
industry.
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
Site for business research
Congressional
Budget Office, http://www.cbo.gov/
Lots of publications and reports.
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/
"This interactive tutorial provides students with hands-on,
self-paced instruction on where and how to find the best, most
accurate information via the Web when conducting business research."
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.
Consumer Price
Index, measure of inflation: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/;
also a site on the limits of the CPI and other measures of inflation:
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpifaq.htm
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 Community Foundation, http://www.nebcommfound.org
402-323-7330 Jeff Yost, president jeffyost@nebcommfound.org
317 S 12th St., Suite 200, Lincoln NE 68508
(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
505-989-8004 cmcandless@rdcnm.org
428 Sandoval St, Suite 201, Santa Fe NM 87501
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
919-956-8889 Cynthia Clemons clemonsc@ncimed.com
114 W Parrish, Durham NC 27701
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
304-428-4438 Judy Sjostedt judys@pacfwv.com
c/o PACF, Bx 1762, Parkersburg 26102-1762
(W. Va.) Center
for Economic Options, http://www.centerforeconomicoptions.org
304-345-1298 Pam Curry pcurry@economicoptions.org
214 Capitol, Charleston WV 25301
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. It has academic collaborators at Appalachian State University,
East Tennessee State University, Eastern Kentucky University,
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Marshall University, Middle
Tennessee State University, Ohio University, Southeast Missouri
State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,
the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Washington and Lee University,
West Virginia University and the Knight Community Journalism
Fellows Program at the University of Alabama. It is funded by
the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the University
of Kentucky, with additional financial support from the Ford
Foundation. To get notices of Rural Blog postings and
other Institute news, click here.
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