Rural areas, especially those facing economic stagnation or slow growth, often find that essential businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee shops that provide employment plus enhance social capital are threatened by market declines. Some communities have turned to community supported business (CSE) approaches where groups of residents invest in these establishments through nonprofits, LLCs, or cooperatives in efforts to restart or retain the businesses. This webinar examines lessons learned by rural communities in Illinois, Vermont, and Wisconsin and asks whether a country store model that has been especially successful in Vermont might be in the future of rural areas, in the Midwest.
The webinar will discuss experiences with CSEs, organizational structures, and successes or limitations followed by a discussion of ways in which Extension and other groups could implement the concepts in their localities.
Presented by: Norman Walzer, Ph.D. Norman is a Senior Research Scholar in the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is a past-president of the Community Development Society and regularly contributes to the community and economic development literature. In collaboration with Michigan State University Extension and UW-Extension, he recently organized a NCRCRD project that examined how community supported enterprises (CSEs) work across the U.S. and their potential for building and enhancing social capital.
There is no registration and no fee for attending this webinar. To join the webinar(s) go to http://ncrcrd.adobeconnect.com/ncrcrd, “enter as a guest” is by default already chosen. Type your name into the text box provided, and click on “Enter Room”. You are now in the meeting room for the webinar. To facilitate Q&A’s, participants submit questions/comments via the Chat Function in Adobe Connect.
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