On March 8, 2021, 50 members of the rural wealth creation network attended a peer learning event to discuss economic development and broadband, infrastructure and services, and regional planning. Rural wealth creation, or WealthWorks, is a framework for doing economic development that focuses on building upon assets in the community and connecting to real market demand to create lasting livelihoods in rural communities. This video captures the introductory general session and reporting out from breakout groups, but not the individual breakout group discussions.

1. Welcome! WealthWorks Network Peer Learning Event
While we’re waiting to
begin:
1. In the chat box,
introduce yourself
(name, organization,
region).
2. Use Zoom’s
Annotation Tools to
draw your location
on this map.
March 8, 2021, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time

2. Zoom Sector/Topic Events
• February 16: Local Foods, Recreation and Tourism, Entrepreneurship
• March 8: Broadband, Infrastructure & Services, Regional Planning
• March 22: Workforce Development, Energy, and Forestry
• All events Noon – 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Zoom

3. Goals for Today
• Introduction about rural wealth creation
• Breakout groups for discussion and networking
• Formatted as a Zoom meeting, not a webinar: Ask questions via chat
or aloud, interact with peers
• Recording the main session only, not group discussions
• Audio problems? Try dialing in by phone
• Any issues, check https://support.zoom.us/ or chat to Brittany Salazar
for tips
3/11/2021

4. Community
Assets
Market
Demand
Lasting
Livelihood
Weaves self-interest of people,
places, firms and organizations
in a region for mutual benefit.
WealthWorks is about economic development
that takes the best next step from ANY starting place.
© 2019, Rural Community Assistance Corporation. All rights reserved.

5. Multiple Forms of
Wealth
Improved Livelihoods
for Everyone
Local Ownership
WealthWorks: Doing Economic Development
Differently
Demand-driven community and economic development

6. Slide credit: Rural Wealth: Eight Capital Stocks/illustration by B. Newman in “A wealth creation approach to economic development” M. Rahe, Rural Connections, Vol 10 Issue 2, 2016
Eight Forms of Community Capital

7. Making Wealth Stick: Local Ownership and Control
Buy Local Campaigns
Cooperatives
Resident Owned
Communities
Regional branding

8. Increasing Rural Diversity
• Rural minorities are 22% of the population in 2017 (compared to
42% in urban areas), but diversity is increasing. USDA ERS: Rural
America At-a-Glance 2018
8

9. Inclusion – What Does it Mean?
9/23/2020
Explorers and planners Producers or suppliers
Employees Owners of assets
Consumers Beneficiaries

10. Organizing Partners: WealthWorks Value Chain
10
Slide credit: Appalachian Center for Economic Networks

11. Supporting Functions
Coordinator
Rules & Regulations
Suppliers Producers Processors Distributors
Demand:
Consumers
Welcome to the Chain!
Slide credit: Appalachian Center for Economic Networks

12. What does WealthWorks look like?
• Broadband, Infrastructure, Services
• Mapping access and gaps
• Investing in expanded infrastructure/services
• Connecting to consumers: subscription rates
• Marketing and branding: regional needs, regional identity
• While doing intentional inclusion—intended beneficiaries should be involved
• While building multiple assets within the community
• While focusing on local ownership and control
• While meeting real market demand

13. What does WealthWorks look like?
• Regional Planning
• Broad-based advisory group and public involvement effort
• Asset-based community and economic development, building blocks of
development
• Sector-focused development activities
• Metrics, milestones, indicators of success
• While doing intentional inclusion—intended beneficiaries should be involved
• While building multiple assets within the community
• While focusing on local ownership and control
• While meeting real market demand

14. Confluence: Drawing on Many Fields of Expertise
• Asset Based Community Development
• Michael Porter’s Value Chains
• Collective Impact/Backbone
Organizations
• BALLE: Business Alliance for Livable Local
Economies
• Business clusters and networks
• Economic Justice: Inclusion of people on
economic margins
• Cooperatives
• Triple Bottom line Investment
Slide credit: Barbara Wyckoff, Creative Disruptors

15. Breakout Groups
• In breakout groups:
• Share who you are, where you work, what you’re working on that relates to
broadband, infrastructure & services, and/or regional planning
• Who or what are your major assets in this work?
• What are your challenges?
• Facilitators:
• Debbie Luther, Communities Unlimited
• Ted Stiger, Rural Community Assistance Partnership
• Bret Allphin, Sixmo City Services

16. Resources
• www.WealthWorks.org
• “Success Stories” section of site includes several case studies on various
sectors, including local foods and recreation and tourism.
• Find a WealthWorks Hub: https://www.wealthworks.org/connect/hubs
• https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/rural-development-hubs-
report
• Measurement resources:
• https://www.nado.org/wealthworks-evaluation-framework/
• https://www.nado.org/measuring-rural-wealth-creation-a-guide-for-regional-
development-organizations/
3/11/2021

17. Contact Information
• Carrie Kissel, National Association of Development Organizations
(NADO) Research Foundation
• ckissel@nado.org
3/11/2021