• • Home
  • Events
  • Emergency Preparedness
  •     Fair & BBQ
  •     Fair Organizing
  •     Personal Readiness
  •     Neighborhoods
  •     Resources
  • Economic Security
  •     Rural Development
  •     Local Opportunities
  •     Purchasing Survey
  • Food Security
  • Energy Security
  • [Water Security]
  • Who We Are
  • Director's Update
  • Join Our E-Mail List
  • Support CPC

 

RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

One model successfully employing best-practices research on rural economic development is Team Jefferson and the Local Investment Opportunity Network (LION), located in the Port Townsend Area.  Team Jefferson partners with the WSU extension office in Jefferson County to offer business courses and training while local business people provide a team of business mentoring and networking support to local entrepreneurs.  In addition, LION is a group of local investors that provide start up capital, lines of credit, and small business loans to promising local entrepreneurs in the Port Townsend area. 

Earning a return of 5-7% LION has successfully created or expanded 20 different businesses in the Port Townsend area in the last 2 years using approximately $1.3 million dollars in local investment capital.  This model is proven, researched, and working well in communities similar to ours.  Two examples of local/regional businesses successfully employing this model of rural economic development can be seen in the following videos produced by Washington State University:

Business Success: Carlos 1800 Cantina (Winthrop, WA)
With Help from SBDC, Mexican Grill and Cantina finds a Home in Winthrop
http://www.wsunews.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=24263&TypeID=1

Business Success: American Produce (Okanogan, WA)     
Cutting it to Pieces: Orchardist Found Market Niche in Sliced Fruit Processing
http://www.wsunews.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=24441&TypeID=1

 

Other Resources:

Entrepreneurship in rural communities: An emerging strategy presents opportunities and challenges by Nikki Foster, Community Affairs Analyst at http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=2724

Keeping Wealth Local: Shared Ownership and Wealth Control For Rural Communities by Marjorie Kelly, Tellus Institute with Shanna Ratner, Yellow Wood Associates. See http://www.community-wealth.org/_pdfs/news/recent-articles/04-10/report-kelly-ratner09.pdf

The Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at http://www.ruraleship.org

The Kaufmann Foundation of Entrepreneurship at http://www.kauffman.org