Fibersheds & Community: Building a Community Movement for Local Fiber and Beyond

May 22.2022

Regional leader’s discussion about Fibersheds at Stonewall Farm.

This event was organized by Mary Ewell of Locally Dressed and sponsored by the Monadnock Food Co-op, Radically Rural, and Stonewall Farm. Speakers will include local and sustainable clothing experts from Western Massachusetts Fibershed, Bobolinks Yarns, Nothern New England Fibershedm and Vermont Fibershed. 

PitchFork: A fun, friendly, free pitch model that builds a path between wealth in your community and the entrepreneurs that need it

On Zoom: May 11.2022

Are you interested in expanding your community’s support of local entrepreneurs? Come learn more about the Hannah Grimes Center’s PitchFork Program. Hannah Grimes is an entrepreneurial hub for businesses to learn and advance their skills and make meaningful connections in the community. PitchFork was established in 2016 when it became abundantly clear that rural areas were not recovering in the same way as their urban counterparts and startup rates were abysmally low. PitchFork has grown and changed over the years to meet the need for diverse types of funding for startup and growth.

In this friendly, rural pitch competition, local businesses are chosen to pitch their plans and ideas in front of the community in order to earn investments, loans, networking opportunities, and other resources. Hannah Grimes has iterated the PitchFork platform many times to meet their needs, the needs of its entrepreneurs, and the needs of the community. 

Watch and learn how the Hannah Grimes Center has made this event a success for years and how you can replicate this model in your own rural community. 

As the BONUS of this roundtable, there were breakout groups for participants to come up with a one-minute idea pitch of their own to compete for the grand prizes of glory, fame, and some free Radically Rural tickets. 

Welcoming and Supporting Newcomers to America in your Rural Community

On Zoom: April 13.2022

Individuals, organizations, businesses, and municipalities from all over the country who are intentionally working to support Newcomers to America will be discussing what has worked in creating a welcoming environment and solid infrastructure in their communities. In true Roundtable format, we will be having open conversation as we hear from folks like Veronica Reyes, a Latino Loan Specialist in Nebraska with the Center for Rural Affairs, from Project Home, a grassroots nonprofit supporting asylum-seekers in Keene, and from Karla Castillo, a Latino Business Consultant who specializes in supporting Hispanic Entrepreneurs in Western NC.

This work isn’t just a good idea, it is absolutely necessary. We must welcome and support migrant workers, immigrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees. Doing so helps us too; these folks bring innovation, creativity, and diversity of experience that will help our communities thrive.

Rural Childcare: We can do so much!

On Zoom: March 10.2022

Are you, like so many others, overwhelmed with the many difficulties in the rural childcare system?  Come hear about some models of partnerships and projects happening in west central MN that are WORKING to recruit and retain family and center child care programs. Afterward we will have discussion and invite attendees to share models that are working in their rural community.  While we have many challenges to overcome, there is so much we can do. Let’s bring our collective efforts together and multiply our impact!

Presenter: As the Director of Early Childhood at West Central Initiative for the past 18 years, Nancy Jost is a champion for advocating the best possible start for children toward a healthy life of learning, achieving, and succeeding.

Through those Early Childhood Initiative efforts, Nancy helps lead 10 advocacy groups, one from each county of West Central Initiative’s service area and the White Earth Nation. She leads regional and statewide advocacy efforts, including supervision of the Early Childhood Dental Network and the Early Childhood Mental Health Network. When the legislature is in session, Nancy can be found testifying on behalf of the state’s early childhood education and child care efforts.

With a sociology degree and licensure in Parent/Child Education, Nancy has been a licensed family child care provider, a child care center teacher, worked in Early Childhood Special Education, Early Childhood Family Education, School Readiness, and Child Care Aware. For more than 45 years, this has been her work, her life, and her passion. She has been active on many early childhood boards, committees, and regional and state work groups. She was appointed by former Governor Dayton to be the Chairperson for his Early Learning Council.

Nancy is married with two children and eight grandchildren. She is an avid reader of novels and anything to do with early childhood, brain development, and equity. She loves to bake, garden, and hunt for treasures at garage sales and thrift stores.

Engaging Everyone: Accessibility as Sustainability

On Zoom: February 09.2022

Jules Good, Founder and Consulting Lead at Neighborhood Access, discusses how and why to include the disabled community in your entrepreneurial ecosystem. Creating accessible spaces and processes not only makes your community more inclusive; it also helps you develop flexible development and implementation methods to keep your business agile in the face of adversity. They will provide concrete strategies for making your business accessible.

Presenter: Jules Good (they/them) is the founder and consulting lead at Neighborhood Access. Jules is a late-deaf, multiply-disabled entrepreneur with a passion for leveraging design, community, and talent to create more accessible communities.

Growing Rural Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Lessons from Tupelo MS to Ord NE

On Zoom: January 12.2022

One of the most powerful stories of rural community transformation in the last 50 years is Tupelo, Mississippi (38,271 in 2019).  One of the most compelling emerging stories of rural community transformation is Ord, Nebraska (2,310 residents in 2019 anchoring a rural region of 10,000).  Don Macke, curator of the Ord Story, will share lessons learned in rural entrepreneurial ecosystem building through the lens of Ord’s 50-year transformation from deep and hopeless decline to a thriving community today.

Presenter: Don Macke leads e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (formerly the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship), an initiative with NetWork Kansas to build sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems across North America. Don has over 40 years of community economic development and policy experience. He was most recently the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the National Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. Through this work, Don helps communities and regions throughout North America grow entrepreneur-focused economic development strategies and ecosystems. Don calls Nebraska home and he is a proud resident of America’s Great Plains Region.