Join Kevin and Erin from The Ecosystem Trust Project as they give you hands-on tools to increase harmony (and trust) amongst your ecosystem members, based on their trust-building playbook. Learn actions to take, questions to ask, and how to intentionally build trust at this fun and informative session.
The pandemic shone a light on the importance of small businesses to our communities. With record numbers of applications, especially by women and minorities, local economic development teams can boost their outcomes and tackle the wealth gap at the same time by investing in and supporting a local entrepreneurial ecosystem. In this session, we’ll discuss the components of an entrepreneurial ecosystem and hear about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of two economic development projects that focus on entrepreneurship in rural areas: a community fish market and a loan fund to boost rural businesses.
Of the 28 million households in the U.S. that lack broadband internet in their home, 18 million say it is because they cannot afford an
Understand the context of the rural philanthropy, and how it is working together with intermediaries
(technical assistant providers), to help address rural capacity issues to secure more funding.
Rural business people are trying a variety of different business models today, including pop-ups, shared buildings, businesses inside of other businesses, and more. Entrepreneurs are using these smaller-scale experiments and tests to learn what works before making a huge investment. Learn these smaller-scale business models being used right now in small towns.