Rural Leaders Invited to Help “Chart a New Course for Rural Communities”
The Initiative Foundation is sponsoring this day-long workshop featuring Don Macke from the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship in Lincoln, Nebraska and several panels on entrepreneurship training and community assistance opportunities.
Saint Paul, MN (PRWEB) April 15, 2006
Rural communities are beginning to rethink the premises upon which their economic development strategies are based. “They are reassessing their economic opportunities and redefining themselves. They are building on their assets and their entrepreneurial capacity,” says Chuck Fluharty, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) and a leading national rural research expert. “Community leaders are embracing new economic development models that emphasize entrepreneurship.”
Learn more about these models, and begin to construct strategies for your own communities at Energizing Entrepreneurs - Charting a Course for Rural Communities, April 27, 2006, Kelly Inn, St. Cloud MN. The Initiative Foundation and Minnesota Rural Partners present this day-long conference on how to grow entrepreneurs in your own community and how to support and encourage those you have already. It is a statewide event, open to all – and a great bargain! Event will feature keynote speaker Don Macke, a national rural entrepreneurship expert and co-director of the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. Here’s an excerpt from RUPRI’s work in this arena:
Just what rural America needs—another resource on “how to do economic development.” So many resources have been produced over the years and still so many rural communities are struggling and lacking economic opportunity.
We all know well that our world is changing rapidly. What made sense yesterday may not make sense today and clearly will be irrelevant tomorrow. Think about this reality for just one minute. The lifespan on the Fortune 500 (list of the United States largest corporations) is constantly shortening. Erik Pages with EntreWorks Consulting shares the numbers:
In 1960 it took 35 years to replace 35% of the Fortune 500.
In 1999 it took 3 to 4 years to do so!
If the largest corporations can’t figure out how to stay on top, how can small rural communities even begin to compete? Ensuring our communities’ success into the future is challenging. The alternative is failure and decline. Understanding economic development today is critically important. For rural communities to compete, they must adopt a development strategy that is in tune with economic and social realities that are driving change in the early part of the 21st century. (From www. energizingentrepreneurs. org)
At the April 27 meeting, Don Macke will provide a half-day training session on the entrepreneurship strategies emerging across the United States that are replicable right now in communities across Minnesota. Panel presentations will showcase Minnesota entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial training, and how communities are getting engaged, including representatives of Minnesota Entrepreneurial Gateway Pilot Communities who will talk about their initial efforts to build entrepreneurial support mechanisms.
Also on hand, the Anderson Entrepreneurial Center of St. Cloud State University and its community-based education partnerships will discuss their resources. All participants in the April 27 meeting will receive a copy of the RUPRI Center's new book, Energizing Entrepreneurs - Charting a Course for Rural Communities, chock full of ideas, examples, assessments, methods and resources to use entrepreneurship as an economic development strategy.
This event is open to everyone. Registration, including lunch and all materials and book is $50. The cost is $25 for Initiative Foundation Healthy Community Partnership participants. On-line registration and agenda information is available at www. minnesotaruralpartners. org. For more information, contact Denise Pfeifer at: dpfeifer@minnesotaruralpartners. org or call 507.828.5559.
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