Business Development

Programs designed to improve business performance through new knowledge, tools, and processes. Program topics include marketing, accounting and bookkeeping, development of market opportunities, managing business contracts, financial planning, and compliance with local, state and federal requirements. Audiences include business owners and managers, or those thinking about starting or expanding a business, including entrepreneurs.

Example program topics: e-commerce; business development/management; entrepreneurism; customer service

CREATE BRIDGES – Celebrating Retail, Accommodations, Tourism, and Entertainment by Building Rural Innovations and Developing Growth Economies

Topic: Business Development, Community Planning, Resilience, and Sustainability, Community-Based Economic Development, Tourism | Phase: Initiating & Scoping, Organizing, Assessing, Visioning & Planning, Implementing | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Presentation, Process Guide, Program

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…

Building Bank Relationships – A Small Business Banking Guide

Topic: Business Development, Community-Based Economic Development | Phase: Initiating & Scoping, Organizing | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Process Guide

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…

Rural Grocery Transition Specialist

Topic: Business Development, Community Health, Community-Based Economic Development | Phase: Initiating & Scoping, Organizing, Assessing, Visioning & Planning, Implementing | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Program, Web-based Tool

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…

FORWARD Curriculum

Topic: Business Development, Workforce Development | Phase: Initiating & Scoping, Organizing, Assessing, Visioning & Planning, Implementing, Evaluating & Reflecting | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Presentation, Process Guide, Program

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…

What is Community Development

Topic: Business Development, Community Planning, Resilience, and Sustainability, Community-Based Economic Development | Phase: Initiating & Scoping, Organizing | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Fact Sheet, Process Guide

Community development is an essential component of county Extension education. To successfully incorporate community development into their programs, county agents and their supervisors need to recognize and define what is— and what is not—encompassed in community and economic development. This document provides a brief review.

Economic Opportunity Maps

Topic: Business Development, Community Planning, Resilience, and Sustainability, Community-Based Economic Development | Phase: Initiating & Scoping, Organizing, Assessing, Visioning & Planning | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Presentation, Program, Tool, Web-based Tool

The Economic Opportunity Mapping (EOM) Tool provides interactive online maps that allow users to visualize potential county-level economic opportunities for businesses in different industries across the United States. In addition to county summary statistics, the EOM tool provides a visual representation of results of a model producing expected industrial predicted…

Business Sustainability: Moving from Thought to Action

Topic: Business Development, Community Planning, Resilience, and Sustainability | Phase: Initiating & Scoping, Organizing, Assessing, Visioning & Planning | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Fact Sheet

This fact sheet describes what a sustainable business is and will help businesses develop a sustainability goal, understand the behavior changes necessary to meet that goal, provide techniques to achieve those behavior changes, and outline the implementation of a successful plan.

On the Front Line – Skills for Excellent Customer Service in Your Community

Topic: Business Development | Phase: Implementing | Resource Use: , | Resource Format: Program

The health of any organization is directly related to the skills of that organization’s employees. Further, community developers understand that healthy organizations are necessary for a vital community. University of Illinois Extension Educators developed an educational program aimed at improving the customer service skills of staff people in local businesses,…