Associations, Organizations, Government Agencies
State Extension Programs
Michigan State University
The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) works with extension professionals, researchers, and their partners to enhance rural development outcomes in the twelve state north-central region.
Kansas State University
The Kansas PRIDE Program is a partnership of K-State Research and Extension, the Kansas Department of Commerce, and Kansas PRIDE, Inc. and is dedicated to serving communities across the state to encourage and assist local government and volunteers in making their community a better place to live and work by helping local communities identify what they would like to preserve, create, or improve for their future.
Great Lakes Leadership Academy presents leadership concepts in the context of current issues and brings together current leaders in government, non-profits, and industry to broaden their perspectives about key sustainability issues and consider how leadership for the common good can influence a state's future.
University of Minnesota
Business Retention & Expansion program helps community leaders and communities work together to identify barriers local businesses face as they try to survive, grow and remain in the area; through surveying small businesses to extract valuable information and ideas that invigorate the local economy.
University of Mississippi
Connecting Rural Communities is a guide to enhancing the use and adoption of information technology tools and infrastructure in rural communities by helping communities understand their potential, conducting community capital and technology assessments, and engaging the community in a visioning process to identify goals for the adoption and use of technology.
University of Missouri
EXCEL- Experience in Community Enterprise and Leadership -approaches leadership development with a high degree of flexibility, local control, inclusiveness, and focus on the future of community governance.
University of Montana Community Development Links
Leadership and Government Development strengthens the capacities of Montana's local governmental units to deliver essential services efficiently and to provide training, technical assistance, and research to local officials. (Site includes PDFs on interpersonal, group and cultural communication).
UMT: Small Business Start-up Plan
Small Business Resources is a guide for small business in planning, marketing, self-analysis, financing, and customer relations.
University of Pennsylvania
E-Non-Profits helps non-profits used the web to their advantage by making smart business choices that meet the needs of clients, patrons, or members even with limited budgets.
University of Nevada Community Development Programs
Engaged Leadership program assists chairpersons in their efforts to create and sustain effective boards. This program is a custom-designed, six-session training and support to provide members with relevant information, hands-on practice, homework assignments and personal coaching.
- Small Business Development in Rural Nevada offers entrepreneur classes to residents of seven rural counties in the state.
- Risk Management consists of five separate one or two-day programs in the areas of financial, production, and market risk based upon programming needs as indicated in producer program evaluations and surveys conducted in the academic year.
- Community Business Matching program has research teams develop programs, which includes both community economic development processes and technical assistance that match community with business/industry needs.
Non-Profit Organizations
Center for Civic Leadership
The Center creates new knowledge that advances our field and that positively transforms the way leaders, their organizations and their societies confront the most difficult challenges of the 21st century.
Center for Rural Affairs
CRA is a nationally recognized non-profit focused on policy analysis and advocacy organization for the upper Midwest and Great Plains.
Ford Foundation
Leadership in a Changing World seeks to recognize, strengthen and support leaders and to highlight the importance of community leadership in improving people-TMs lives.
Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership
Greenleaf Center promotes the understanding and practice of servant leadership by holding conferences, publishing books and materials, sponsoring speakers and seminars, and providing information and services for its members.
Insight Center for Economic and Community Development
ICECD is a national research, consulting, and legal organization dedicated to building economic health in vulnerable communities.
Kettering Foundation
Kettering studies the nature of the work citizens do when they join together to take responsibility for both community problems and the way the community makes decisions about those problems.
National Civic League
NCL is a non-profit, non-partisan, membership organization dedicated to strengthening citizen democracy by transforming democratic institutions by fostering innovative community building and political reform, assisting local governments, and recognizing collaborative community achievement.
Rural Community Assistance Program
RCAP specialists provide technical assistance, training, and financial resources to more than 2,000 small rural communities in all 50 states.
The Enterprise Institute
The Enterprise Institute is a non-profit corporation that helps researchers, inventors and entrepreneurs commercialize their ideas.
Prairie Family Business Association
To build relationships and offer quality educational programs that promote successful businesses and healthy families in South Dakota and surrounding areas
Dakota Resources
Dakota Resources helps rural communities help themselves through innovative processes, tools, training, and resources. Our ambitious initiatives are designed to enhance rural entrepreneur and business development, rural housing development, community and leadership development, and financial development!!
SDSU Entrepreneurial Opportunities
The entrepreneurship program at SDSU is the foundation for economic development and research in South Dakota through quality educational experiences and entrepreneurial opportunities for students, faculty and staff.
Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network
WREN inspires possibilities, creates opportunities and builds connections through community. Our network is alive with people who have a knack for survival and a passion for independence.
Government Agencies
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
This online catalog gives access to a database of all Federal programs available to State and local governments, federally -recognized Indian tribal governments, domestic public, quasi-public, and private profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions, specialized groups; and individuals.
Federal Grant Guide
Grants.gov is a search engine used to find and apply for federal government grants (U.S. Health and Human Service Department).
Housing and Urban Development
The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs.
United States Department of Agriculture
USDA Rural Development
Offers Rural Development Grants for utilities, electric, water, telecommunications, distance learning, and medicine.
U.S. Department of Commerce
Economic Development Administration awards different investment grants in Public Works and Economic Development, Economic Adjustment Assistance, Research and National Technical Assistance, Local Technical Assistance, Planning Program, University Center Economic Development, and Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms.
SARE
Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped advance farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program.
U.S. Department of Treasury
Community Development Financial Institutions promotes economic revitalization and community development through investment in and assistance to community development financial institutions.
U.S. Census Bureau
FactFinder is the source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data
Sandhills RC&D
Area consists of eight counties in west central Nebraska. These counties are Arthur, Grant, Hooker, Lincoln, Logan, Keith, McPherson, and Thomas. The mission of the Sandhills RC&D is to create an environment where all the citizens of the regions work together to revitalize the rural economy, enhance and protect the natural resources, improve community infrastructure, and improve and increase tourism opportunities.