Promoting Rural Development

There are a number of nonprofit organization, publi-private partnerships, and community development agencies promoting sustainable economic development, smart growth and nature-based and cultural heritage tourism. These groups share a number of characteristics, including:

• A focus on developing partnerships,
• Support local businesses and cultural heritage,
• Protection of the environmental and conservation of “working landscapes,”
• Serving as a catalyst for community and business investments, and
• Capacity building through partnerships, publications, and educational programs

Among the more successful organizations are the Sierra Business Council and the Jefferson Economic Development Institute in California and the North Carolina-based Handmade in America.
Sierra Business Council is a nonprofit association of more than seven hundred local businesses, agencies, and individuals working to secure the social, natural, and financial health of the Sierra Nevada region for this and future generations. Founded in 1994 the council:

“Supports a place-based community investment strategy for built and natural landscapes that simultaneously improves economic and environmental health. We view environmental quality as key to the Sierra Nevada’s economic prosperity, and natural resource conservation as essential to building regional wealth. The group provides consultation, research, policy analysis, public education, leadership development, sustainable business practices, and collaborative initiatives with local partners.”

Among other projects, the council has:

• Formed a coalition to promote cultural heritage tourism and co-sponsored a conference in 2006 on Developing Tourism Opportunities: Celebrating Arts, Agriculture, and Nature in the Central Sierra Nevada;
• Worked with the City of Truckee to develop the Truckee Railyard project “a compact, walkable and mixed-use development that brings investment into the historic downtown district, strengthen’s the local economy, and creates a “sustainable plan for the future;” and
• Published a series of studies from Building Vibrant Sierra Communities to the State of Sierra Agriculture.

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Jefferson Economic Development Institute, located in Siskiyou County, is dedicated to “building prosperity on business at a time.” The institute offers classes for entrepreneurs seeking to prepare or modify their business plans, start or expand biz, provides an online workbook that used in the training, and individual businesses on creative financing and capital management, marketing strategies and tech advice.

• The Institute works with Cascade Small Business Development Center and the Siskiyou Arts Council on the Business of Art Program, which is designed to provide business assistance and resources for visual artists, musicians, writers and arts-associated businesses in Siskiyou County.
• Travel Green promotes adventure tourism and related businesses, all of which donate to a portion of their fees to the Stewardship Fund.
• The Stweardship Fund “seeks to develop and maintain a more sustainable and rural economy through its grant giving and public awareness efforts.”

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Handmade in America began in mid-1990s to support the artists and artisans of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, through “environmentally sustainable economic solutions that emphasize the craft industry, enhance opportunities in the marketplace, and develop entrepreneurial strategies.”

• Working with the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, HandMade in America created HomegrownHandmade to develop “sustainable tourism” focusing on the area’s agriculture and cultural heritage. They now promote a dozen different weekend “Getaways,” and itineraries along the “Art Roads and Farm Trails” in the Blue Ridge.
• The HandMade Institute for the Creative Economies offers education programs on business and community development, based on their ten years of experience.
• The organization’s publications include The Craft Heritage Trails of Western North Carolina and AgriCultural Tourism: Asset Building and Marketing, among other titles.
• Its Craft Registry helps members market their work.