Rural Entrepreneurship Newsletter July

Creativity in Rural America

Regional Technology Strategies recently released a final repot on the creative economy in Arkansas. For interesting insights into the role creative enterprises can play in rural economies, read Dan Broun's (RTS) piece in The Daily Yonder -http://www.dailyyonder.com/creativity-rural-america/2009/05/07/2108. Go to the RTS website to learn more about their work in Arkansas and other places throughout the country - www.rtsinc.org.

E-Commerce for Artists Curriculum

CraftNet is pleased to announce the public beta release of Ecommerce for Artists, a fully integrated, modular curriculum that introduces artists to the fundamentals of using the Internet to strengthen their arts-related businesses. It primarily is a tool to help teachers working with artists who want to develop their business skills, but it also seeks to support individual artists who want to explore these strategies on their own. To learn more about this new resource, go to http://craftnetglobal.com/.

From the Daily Yonder

Finally, something harder to say than entrepreneurship! In this Daily Yonder article, Timothy Collins introduces the concept of Earthtrepreneurship - rural community growth opportunities associated with the green economy. To read the article, go to http://www.dailyyonder.com/earthtrepreneurship/2009/05/14/2118. And, Bill Bishop reflects on a recent report from the FCC entitled "Bringing Broadband to Rural America - http://www.dailyyonder.com/first-interstate-highways-now-broadband/2009/06/01/2145. To read the FCC report, go to http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-291012A1.pdf.

Microenterprise Leaders Devise Vision, Action to Move the Field

Seizing the opportunity presented by a new administration in Washington, and reacting to the impact of a changing economy, a group of leading microenterprise thinkers, funders, practitioners and intermediaries (including the Center's Karen Dabson and Deb Markley) came together in early 2009 to suggest a vision and an action plan for the field. Their input is summarized in a new report from FIELD, Moving the Microenterprise Field Forward: Priorities, Strategies and Roles. To read this report, go to http://fieldus.org/Publications/MovingMicroForward.pdf. To follow the online Wiki discussion that preceded the meeting, read the supplemental document prepared by FIELD at http://fieldus.org/MeetingWiki.pdf.

Health Care Debate

We all know the obstacle that health insurance (or lack thereof) can play for people starting and growing their own businesses. The Center for Rural Affairs offers some thoughts on both the causes and consequences of the rural uninsured and underinsured - http://files.cfra.org/pdf/Causes-and-Consequences-of-Rural-Uninsured.pdf.

New Electronic Newsletter on the Innovation Economy

The Lipper Current is a new electronic newsletter brought to you by George Lipper. George has years of economic development experience at the state level (Iowa) and with the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds. His new endeavor is focused on providing you with links to the latest news and insights on the innovation economy. To subscribe to this free newsletter, go to http://www.lippercurrent.com/dcn/lc.nsf/subscribe.html.

From SSTI Weekly Digest

The May 13, 2009 issue of SSTI's Weekly Digest provides an excellent overview of President Obama's first budget. To view this issue, go to

http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2009/fy10budget.pdf.

Materials Available from CFED's Asset Building Webinar

CFED recently held a webinar on asset building programs and the President's budget request, including discussions about microenterprise development. The materials from that webinar are now available online by going to http://capwiz.com/idanetwork/issues/alert/?alertid=13350566&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id].

Southern Entrepreneurship Program

It was recently announced that all of Mississippi community/junior colleges have had at least one staff member (academic, career technical, and/or workforce development) trained in the Southern Entrepreneurship Program (SEP). SEP is a standardized and comprehensive entrepreneurship training program that is capable of introducing entrepreneurship at high schools then building to deliver for-credit and not-for-credit offerings across all community/junior colleges. To learn more about this innovative program, contact Christian Reed, Director of Entrepreneurship Development Programs at the Montgomery Institute (601-483-2661).

From the Southern Rural Development Center

The National e-Commerce Extension Initiative is excited to announce the release of its latest curriculum, A Beginner's™ Guide to e-Commerce: Easy Tools for Profit by Kimball P. Marshall. Designed to prepare and encourage entrepreneurs to start small-scale online selling opportunities, the curriculum first stimulates belief and confidence in the ability to use e-commerce techniques to achieve personal goals and then provides simple approaches to e-commerce such as using online auction sites. To view this new curriculum, http://srdc.msstate.edu/ecommerce/curricula/beginners_guide.

New Mexico Ecosystem Report

New Mexico Community Capital recently released the 2009 New Mexico Ecosystem Report. The purpose of the report was to objectively examine the New Mexico ecosystem from an economic and entrepreneurial perspective and determine existing strengths and persistent gaps. It was funded and published by the McCune Charitable Foundation and New Mexico Community Capital. The report can be downloaded at www.nmccap.org.