Asset-Based Economic Development and Building Sustainable Rural Communities

Asset-based economic development and building sustainable rural communities is the focus of a three part series of briefing papers recently published by ICMA and written by former ICMA project manner and subject matter expert Anna Read. (Anna now heads up the outreach efforts for the state of Missouri’s rural broadband initiative). ICMA is often asked to provide more resources and support for small towns and rural places and one look at the number of these communities in the United States alone suggests why.

There are more than 6,000 municipal governments in the US with a population between 2,500 and 25,000 and thousands more with a population of less than 2,500. And as the briefing papers note, nearly 75% of America’s land can be considered rural and this area is home to more than 51 million residents making up more than 16% of the nation’s population.

Full Report: http://icma.org/en/results/sustainable_communities/resources/blogpost/901/AssetBased_Economic_Development_and_Building_Sustainable_Rural_Communities#.UJvonygo6v0.gmail