What's New?
Brian Dabson and Christiana K. McFarland (2021) Collaborative Rural Development and Regional Economic Connectivity IN Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Investing in Rural Prosperity.
Investing in Rural Prosperity is a major publication intended to outline a framework for conducting community and economic development that can help more communities achieve shared prosperity. This framework proposes a development strategy that is tailored to the local context and resilient to short-term shocks and long-term structural shifts, is intentionally inclusive of all memebers of the community and is designed and carried out through a collaborative process that includes stakeholders from different sectors and from across the region. This chapter discusses rural development in a regional context and shows how industry clusters that connect economies along the urban-rural continuum can bridge the urban-rural divide.
Brian Dabson and Victoria Faust (October 2021) Rural Development and Rural Health Practices: Trends and Opportunities for Alignment
The first in a series of five Field Perspectives published by the Aspen Institute's Community Strategies Group. These papers are designed to propel and deepen understanding about rural issues and realities, shine a light on rural innovation and investment opportunities, connect and align fields of practice and interest, and call for constructive changes in the design and implementation of key public and private systems. This paper draws from two research projects, one with Chitra Kumar (below) and the other from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (2021) Rural Public Health and Health Care: A Scan of Field Practice and Trends.
Brian Dabson (October 2021) Rural Economic Development With A Purpose: Shifting Expectations and Opportunities
This is one of ten papers commissioned by the NADO Research Foundation for its Stronger CEDS, Stronger Regions Economic Development Writing Series. The focus is on the Rural Well-Being framework developed by the OECD and how shifts in the practice of rural economic development in the US reflects and supports this framework. A video presentation can be seen here.
Brian Dabson and Chitra Kumar (August 2021) Rural Development: A Scan of Field Practice and Trends
"This scan of field practice begins with an overview of the main economic theories and policy frameworks that guide and influence the practice of economic development, particularly in a rural context. This leads to a presentation of the results of qualitative research on economic development practice and how it is evolving, based on a series of interviews with over 40 experts representing a range of perspectives on economic development. It concludes with a commentary on how economic development can foster a more prosperous, healthier, equitable and environmentally sustainable rural America." Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group