Reviving small towns – Resources for your town.

This week’s Economist includes a good article on how small towns are reviving themselves. Read more.http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8450132

(Thanks to Ed Morrison for posting this listing of experts and resources on small town economic development. His site is also an excellent resource for small town development. http://edpro.blogspot.com/ )

If you are interested in this trend in economic development, I recommend that you read Jack Schultz’s BoomTown USA: The 7-1/2 Keys to Big Success in Small Towns http://www.amazon.com/Boomtown-USA-Success-Small-Towns/dp/097189552X
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Jack writes a helpful blog here http://boomtownusa.blogspot.com/ . You can read more background here http://www.eda.gov/EDAmerica/winter2006/schultz.html .

You can also explore economic gardening, a strategy developed by Chris Gibbons in Littleton, CO.
http://www.littletongov.org/bia/economicgardening/ The latest SBA annual report includes a chapter on economic gardening. You can download it here http://homepage.mac.com/edmorrison/FileSharing2.html .

Also check out what Burt Chojnowski is doing in Fairfield, IA. We recently held a gathering in Fairfiled to explore how newe models of rural entrepreneurship can be expanded. http://www.brainbelt.com/

Them, of course, you need to follow the work of the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. They have developed an excellent web site, called Energizing Entrepreneurs.
http://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/index.php

You can subscribe to the Center’s newsletter here http://team.energizingentrepreneurs.org/news2/public_html/lists//?p=subscribe . This excellent newsletter can keep you up on what is happening in the field.

Rural entrepreneurship has become on of the most exciting areas of the New Economic Development.