On March 22, 2021, 40 members of the rural wealth creation network attended a peer learning event to discuss economic development and workforce development, forestry, and energy. 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 moderated by NADO Associate Director Carrie Kissel, and also 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 22, 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
3/22/2021

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

9. Organizing Partners: WealthWorks Value Chain
9

10. What does WealthWorks look like?
• Energy, forestry
• Understanding available resources
• Feasibility studies, R&D
• Addressing demand
• Connecting to consumers
• 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

11. What does WealthWorks look like?
• Workforce development
• Broad-based advisory group
• Sector-focused 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

12. 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

13. Addressing Equity: Understanding Compliance
• Environmental Justice:
• Avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health
and environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority
populations and low-income populations (FTA Circular:
www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/FTA_EJ_Circular_7.14-
12_FINAL.pdf)
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act:
• Prohibits discrimination by recipients of Federal financial assistance on the basis of
race, color, and national origin, including the denial of meaningful access for
limited English proficient (LEP) persons (FTA Circular:
www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/FTA_Title_VI_FINAL.pdf)
• Americans with Disabilities Act:
• Prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity and access for persons with
disabilities (FTA Circular:
www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/Final_FTA_ADA_Circular_C_4710.
1.pdf)
13

14. Beyond Compliance
• Equity & justice work
• Doesn’t discriminate, avoids disproportionate effects, but also…
• Has a broad lens on fair treatment, meaningful participation, and removing
barriers, beyond those identified in Title VI, EJ, ADA
• Internal organizational policies and processes
• Hiring, dress codes, leave policies, communications, workplace evaluations,
procurement, board/committee recruitment
• External programming
• Public outreach/input gathering, information sharing, participation in programs/services
or benefit from outcomes of programs
14

15. Concepts in equity & justice work
• Everyone benefits from support or removal of barriers at least some
of the time; who benefits from what kinds of support might change
over time
• Individual characteristics such as race, class, gender, sexuality, age,
health & disability status, educational attainment, English language
proficiency, religion, immigration status intersect and shape people’s
lives
• Intersectionality: experience differs based on individual, characteristics and
identity, and context (Crenshaw)
15

16. Concepts in equity & justice work
• Agency: capacity of individuals/groups to act independently
• Look for ways to engage people as:
• Producers
• Consumers
• Investors
• Entrepreneurs
• Planners
• Beneficiaries
• All of whom have a role and a stake in the programs you work with
and can contribute to its success
16

17. Concepts in equity & justice work
• Implicit bias, explicit bias, and stereotyping about others (and what
others need) affect our work
• Intent vs. Impact
• Sometimes we offend without meaning to
• But it still causes harm
• It’s a learning process
• We can mitigate biases
17

18. Doing equity & justice work
• Build relationships with people/organizations already working in
communities
• Plan for authentic engagement
• Make it easy to provide input
• Be open about what happens with that input
• Acknowledge agency: offer opportunities to shape the future
• Make sure there is a value proposition for them to work with you…
The perspectives of diverse participants will improve your work. How
are you improving theirs?
18

19. Breakout Groups
• In breakout groups:
• Share who you are, where you work, what you’re working on that relates to
energy, forestry, and/or workforce development
• Who or what are your major assets in this work?
• What are your challenges?
• Facilitators:
• Erica Bjelland, Region Five Development Commission
• Carol Cohen, Rural Community Assistance Corporation
• Amy Hause, Rural Development Initiatives

20. Resources
• www.WealthWorks.org
• “Success Stories” section of site includes several case studies on various sectors,
including energy and forestry.
• Find a WealthWorks Hub: https://www.wealthworks.org/connect/hubs
• Aspen Institute videos: All Land is Not Creating Equal: Unleashing
Community and Family Wealth through Landownership
• https://www.aspeninstitute.org/videos/all-land-is-not-creating-equal-unleashing-
family-and-community-wealth-through-land-ownership/
• Measurement resources:
• https://www.nado.org/wealthworks-evaluation-framework/
• https://www.nado.org/measuring-rural-wealth-creation-a-guide-for-regional-
development-organizations/
3/22/2021

21. Contact Information
• Carrie Kissel, National Association of Development Organizations
(NADO) Research Foundation
• ckissel@nado.org
3/22/2021