UW Madison Community Economic Development Program

Welcome to the Community Economic Development Program Weekly Update; your guide to the latest events, resources, and funding. The CED Weekly update is meant to keep you connected and informed about what’s happening in community economic development and provide information to help better serve Wisconsin communities.

Events

Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference | May 30-31 (Platteville, WI) – Come to Platteville this spring and explore how local entrepreneurship drives the Driftless Region’s development. The CEC Conference is coming to Wisconsin for the first time in 2024. Business leaders, economic development professionals, local leaders, and community champions will gather in Platteville for two days of programming about strategies for supporting entrepreneurship in Wisconsin’s small towns.

Business Owners of Color in Wisconsin: Strategies for Growth | June 11, 12-1 pm (Virtual) – Business owners of color face challenges due to access to capital, sectoral distribution, physical location, as well as the size and maturity of their businesses, among other factors. Research suggests that business owners of color can be supported through strategies that address funding and financing, supply chain diversification, as well as education and mentorship. These strategies are among those discussed in a new report “Business Owners of Color in Wisconsin: Strategies to Strengthen Businesses and the Economy”. Join us to learn more about strategies for growth for business owners of color in Wisconsin. This event is virtual and free to the public.

National Rural Grocery Summit 2024 | June 24-25 (Montgomery, AL) – A premiere networking and resource-sharing venue for independent grocers and rural food access stakeholders. Co-hosted by the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University and the Hunger Solutions Institute at Auburn University.

ECONOMY

Rural Partners Network: Progress Through Action Workshop | June 13 (Rothschild, WI) – Join us on the banks of the Wisconsin River for a free, all-day workshop centered around some of the top needs in your Community Networks. Community leaders like you are especially encouraged to participate and come prepared to share projects and initiatives vital to your community’s future.

2024 Best Practices Conference | September 25-27 (Eau Claire, WI) – WEDA’s annual Best Practices Conference is our educational forum that seeks to give attendees tactical/practical tools and ideas they can take home and put into practice immediately.

2024 Rural Renewal Symposium | October 8-10 (Ardmore, OK) – This interdisciplinary symposium is organized by the Rural Renewal Initiative at Oklahoma State University. The Symposium provides a unique opportunity to share research and connect with faculty, students, and rural community members from across the U.S. and around the world. The symposium is a place to share the latest discoveries, trends, and approaches to rural renewal.

GENERAL INFORMATION

NACDEP 2024 Conference | June 17-20 (Houston, TX) – Theme: The Power of Together. The 2024 NACDEP conference aims to provide a space for extension professionals from land-grant universities to exchange ideas, explore collaborative projects, and strengthen partnerships.

2024 Community Development Society Annual Conference | July 14-17 (Omaha, NE) – Theme: Creating Capacity for Resilient Communities. The conference offers participants an exciting opportunity to explore the broader impact of our work on communities and the steps they are taking to secure their futures.

Resources

BROADBAND

Broadband Toolkit – This Broadband Toolkit prepares Wisconsin communities to increase broadband access for all by engaging local stakeholders in the planning process and developing a comprehensive implementation strategy. The Toolkit is designed to provide maximum flexibility to users – it can be utilized either sequentially, by starting at the beginning and working through each module in order, or selectively, by choosing individual modules based on specific needs and interests.

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurial Policy Recommendations – As part of a grant with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation we have worked with entrepreneurs in the heartland to better understand the policy barriers they faced when starting and scaling their businesses. As part of these efforts, we hosted short conversations with small groups of entrepreneurs, midsize city mayors, gubernatorial offices and local elected officials working on small business and entrepreneurial issues.

Business Owners of Color in Wisconsin: Representation, Profitability, and Growth Report and Policy Brief – Wisconsin follows the nationwide trend of a relatively small yet growing number of diverse business owners. This recent growth suggests a promising and economically important future for diverse business owners despite evidence that they face significant challenges. This report and supporting policy brief outline data and trends within the state of Wisconsin and chart out strategies for entrepreneurial growth.

COMMUNITY & PLACEMAKING

Hmong in Wisconsin Chartbook – In partnership with the Hmong Institute and the APL just released an updated Hmong in Wisconsin chartbook showing current demographic attributes and historic changes in the Hmong people in Wisconsin. The report covers a wide range of topics.

Neighborhood Atlas –The Neighborhood Atlas website was created in order to freely share measures of neighborhood disadvantage with the public, including educational institutions, health systems, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies, in order to make these metrics available for use in research, program planning, and policy development.

Native Community Data Profiles Tool – This data tool connects information on Native places and people. An innovative new resource expands access to community-level data on a variety of topics, helping to bridge data gaps in Indian Country. Explore the Native Community Data Profiles resource.

ECONOMY

The Rural Aperture Project – The Rural Aperture Project is intended to provide all those advancing rural prosperity – from practitioners to journalists, researchers, philanthropists, and government officials – with accessible data, graphics, and narratives to inform how they can better tell stories, conduct research, distribute resources, make investments, or develop policy that is backed by up-to-date data.

Wisconsin Farming: Insights from the 2022 Census OF Agriculture – Every five years the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) undertakes a detailed inventory of farming operations across the country. The most recent, the 2022 Census of Agriculture, aims to provide a detailed snapshot of the nation’s farming economy, including information on farm demographics, production practices, land use, and economic trends. The intent of this issue of WIndicator is to provide an overview of recent trends in Wisconsin farming using the Census of Agriculture.

ENERGY

Inflation Reduction Act Guidebook – Need help finding funding via Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs for climate related activities? The White House has issued this Guide Book to give a one-stop overview of the clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investment IRA programs, including who is eligible to apply for funding and for what activities.

Charging Forward: A Toolkit for Planning and Funding Rural Electric Mobility Infrastructure – The U.S. Department of Transportation designed this resource tool for all communities, including Tribal, to create equal access to the economic opportunities and improved mobility and air quality that Electronic Vehicles offer.

HOUSING

Rent Smart – Rent Smart focuses on the knowledge and skills essential for a successful renting experience. It challenges participants to know and understand their rights and responsibilities as a tenant, as well as know and understand the rights and responsibilities of their landlord. Emphasis is on forming a strong partnership between the tenant and landlord. Establishing a positive rental history is much like having a positive credit report and Rent Smart starts participants on the right path for success.

WORKFORCE

The Role of Childcare in the Labor Market: A Long-Run Perspective – The report emphasizes Wisconsin’s severe labor shortage due to aging demographics and suggests boosting women’s workforce participation by improving childcare affordability, quality, and availability as a key solution.

The Wisconsin Risk and Reach Project – The Wisconsin Risk and Reach Project provides information about community risk factors and the reach of publicly funded programs designed to support children and families. The information and tools available here can be used to assess potential gaps in services by county and across the state.

Geographic Access to Child Care in Wisconsin – The Applied Population Lab has created this story map looking at access to child care. This mapping is part of the PDG comprehensive Needs Assessment to further understand the impact physical access to care might have on families with young children. This analysis only shows the geographic dimension of access to child care and does not indicate whether a family can afford to pay for child care.

Funding

BROADBAND

Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program – The purpose of the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program is to create the conditions where individuals and communities have the information technology capacity that is needed for full participation in the society and economy of the United States.

ReConnect Loan and Grant Program – USDA Rural Development program that furnishes funding for the costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas.

Capital Projects Digital Connectivity and Navigators Program – The Commission will award up to $33 million from the U.S. Department of Treasury under the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) Digital Connectivity and Navigators Program to deploy computing devices, install Wi-Fi equipment in targeted apartment buildings, and provide digital navigation services to make use of the devices for work, education, and health monitoring.

BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) – These working capital loans are available to eligible farm-related and nonfarm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of these declarations. Examples of eligible businesses include, but are not limited to hotels, restaurants, ski and snowmobile rentals, sleigh rides, snowboard manufacturers, and snow removal services.

Entrepreneurship Partner Grant – The goal of the Entrepreneurship Partner Grant is to encourage the formation of entrepreneurship support programs and to develop startup and emerging growth companies in the state of Wisconsin.

Intermediary Relending Program – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development provides funds to local lenders or “intermediaries” that re-lend to businesses to improve economic conditions and create new opportunities in rural communities.

COMMUNITY & PLACEMAKING

Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program – This program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings.

Building Vibrant Communities in Wisconsin – The livelihood of our communities is directly linked to quality services and infrastructure that support economic competitiveness. Wisconsin communities that mobilize people and resources inspire positive and substantive local development. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s (WEDC’s) Community Development Investment (CDI) Grant Program helps transform communities by supporting local development that is as unique as the communities in Wisconsin.

ECONOMY

Socially-Disadvantaged Groups Grant – USDA Rural Development program to provide help to new and existing cooperatives to strengthen their hands-on assistance, like leadership training and strategic planning, to small business owners and agricultural producers.

Strategic Economic and Community Development – Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD) funding is authorized through a Farm Bill provision that supports regional economic and community development planning. SECD supports projects that promote and implement strategic community investment plans. These plans use the unique strengths of rural communities to advance prosperity. USDA Rural Development helps finance these projects to build community prosperity by using community assets, identifying resources, convening partners and leveraging federal, state, local or private funding.

Bringing New Life to Idle Sites – Redeveloped idle industrial and commercial sites can again become generators for economic development and an improved quality of life for the cities and communities where they are located. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s (WEDC’s) Idle Sites Redevelopment Program helps communities pursue this opportunity.

ENERGY

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