By Ronald J. Hustedde, Ron Shaffer, and Glen C. Pulver This manual addresses three key questions at the local level: 1) What are the current economic conditions in the community? 2) What components of the community have been growing or what components have been declining? 3). What are the community’s…

The purpose of this curriculum is to build an understanding of community development, its significance, and how Extension professionals and other community development practitioners can utilize community development to support community resilience. The curriculum is intended to build a theoretical understanding with applied examples. This content is also presented in…

Great questions can powerfully move people to act, to get unstuck, and to see potential. They help us shift perspective — a critical component for solution-finding, meaningful communication, and daily living. This 1-page outline provides 20 anytime mentoring questions that supplement the 40 conversation-starter questions found in The Encouraging Mentor,…

CREATE BRIDGES is a program designed for multi-county regions to raise awareness of the role retail, accommodations, tourism, and entertainment businesses play in the local economy; determine challenges and opportunities related to those businesses; and develop and implement strategies strengthening those sectors. CREATE BRIDGES was developed through a collaborative partnership…

One Block at Time addresses flooding through green infrastructure projects at the city block scale that center on equitable, community-driven engagement and planning. The toolkit is organized based on project phases of background assessment, community visioning, and implementation. The online resources include process agendas, education and visualization resources, outcomes, lessons…

A Small Business Banking Guide is intended for new and established business owners and Extension Educators that work with entrepreneurs. The guide will help small business owners navigate the process of creating, maintaining, and enhancing a personal relationship with a bank representative. The guide also provides helpful information so that…

The Rural Grocery Transition Specialist Program trains and deploys resource professionals across the country to better serve rural grocers through business transitions. This course contains seven online modules that include homework assignments and interactive discussion boards, paired with guided learning through several synchronous virtual meetings. This course is designed for…

The program supports a collaborative community planning approach to evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of existing community policies and to identify goals, motivations, and barriers for hazard mitigation planning, focusing on water resources, flooding, and green infrastructure. The program includes: Discussions of local community resiliency; Reviewing existing plans and ordinances…

Taking Action to Address Substance Use in Communities: A Protocol for Communities has been developed by a team of health professionals and Extension professionals from Purdue University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and The Ohio State University to provide a theoretical framework for Extension professionals as they work with communities…

Future Opportunities for Rural Workforce and Rural Development (FORWARD) Sponsored by Ascendium Education Group, the FORWARD curriculum is designed to support Cooperative Extension Professionals (CEPs) working to address workforce development issues in rural communities. This project expands upon Cooperative Extension’s experience with youth engagement and career development to target non-traditional…