The Measurement of Community Capitals through Research

Rural communities, in the United States and internationally, invest in their community resources in a number of diverse ways to achieve community economic development (CED). These investments yield diverse impacts and outputs. In 2003, the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) was contacted by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to conduct a review of community and economic development (CED) efforts in rural communities with populations of less than 10,000 people. Together these organizations reviewed rural communities both domestically and abroad to see how external financial investments impact CED. The overriding purpose was to learn how the Foundation could make better use of limited funds to elicit positive outcomes for rural communities in West Virginia. Since rural communities in general have different kinds of assets, the Benedum Foundation and NCRCRD agreed the study should focus on ways these rural communities can use external financial investments to build upon social, cultural, human, political, economic, and environmental assets or capital to improve their overall well-being. Ultimately, the Benedum Foundation wanted to know how financial investments in rural communities could be maximized to bring about the greatest positive CED outcomes. Thus, all 57 communities reviewed in this study used external funding to engage in successful CED. The communities were located in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States; former British colonies were chosen so that the communities could be compared more easily. The methodology for our research involved the Community Capitals Framework and the measurement of community capitals (natural, human, social, cultural, political, financial, and built) throughout the CED process in each community. It is our belief that when strong consideration is given to how to invest well in a community’s capitals (assets) and when CED efforts are participatory and inclusive, CED proves to have greater, more far-reaching impacts on a community

Collecting Data for Collective Impact: A Guide for Coordinators in the Regional Food Systems Working Group

This manual outlines a shared measurement system for collecting economic data for coordinators of 17 Regional Food Groups that are part of the Regional Food Systems Working Group (RFSWG). The manual includes a sample farmer survey [PDF] to report local food sales and a sample institution survey [PDF] to report local food purchases, as well as instructions for coordinators to submit data [PDF]

Economic Development in Indian Country: Redefining Success

In this paper we draw from lessons learned in four research projects to suggest effective strategies for building successful economies in Indian Country. Current thinking about economic development in Indian Country often focuses on the challenges of implementing successful models from outside Indian Country in a location considered deficient in the cultural, social, financial, and human preconditions necessary for successfully growing jobs and businesses. Recent research from the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, Heartland Center for Leadership Development, and United Tribes Technical College counters this perception in three ways. First, despite some reports to the contrary, many successful entrepreneurs live in Indian Country. Second, while reservation communities do experience higher levels of poverty and unemployment than their non-reservation counterparts, Indian country abounds in unacknowledged and often uninvested natural, cultural, human, and social capital assets. Traditional mainstream approaches to job and business development typically overlook these assets. Third, our data indicates that many Native people define wealth in non monetary ways suggesting that successful economic development in Indian Country must be measured by the indicators that matter most to the people involved

Leopold Center Marketing and Food Systems Initiative Competitive Grants, 2011-2014

This is an evaluation of nine projects funded by competitive grants from the Leopold Center's Marketing and Food Systems Initiative between 2011 and 2014. For every dollar invested, another $1.20 was leveraged by project leaders and partners to create jobs, increase local foods commerce and access to healthy food, also improved food safety practices, with implications for new and young farmers as well as food processors.</p

Guest Editorial: Evaluation and the Local Foods Data Void

First paragraphs: Local and regional food system professionals are obliged to rely on imperfect, incomplete, and evolving measures to track economic changes in the local food industry. These data are critical for informing decisions on how to invest limited resources to create optimal impacts. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census of Agriculture figures indicate that direct food sales in the U.S. appeared to have increased from US$1.2 billion in 2007 to US$1.3 billion in 2012 — but when adjusted for inflation, sales actually remained steady. These figures, however, do not account for local food sales to institutions, restaurants, and retailers. The 2008 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) partially addressed this gap by tracking local food sales from farmers to both individuals and "intermediated" markets such as restaurants and grocery stores. But the ARMS data did not include local food sales to institutions such as schools or hospitals, thus leaving another gap in the data. Data derived from various national sources indicate that local food systems may be growing, but the data collection methods are inconsistent and the results piecemeal (Hunt & Matteson, 2012). Moreover, the information is presented at a scale that often is irrelevant to local professionals serving constituents within a specific geographic region. The absence of locally relevant pre-existing data on local foods means that entities like local governments, community foundations, school administrators, and others are creating policies, programs, and investments that affect the local food sector without having basic information about its scope...

Women, Land, and Legacy: Change Agents and Agency Change in Iowa: Evaluation Results

WLL sm is a locally-led, interagency collaboration between FSA, NRCS, ISU Extension and other key non-profits designed to provide Iowa's farm women a risk mana gement tool that brings them together at the local level to empower them to act on their landscapes and within their communities. The collaboration has emphasized two primary processes to accomplish this goal: the first is to listen and learn from Iowa's wo men farmland owners about their vision and goals for the land in facilitated Listening Sessions at the county or county cl uster level. The second is to use information from the Listening Sessions to create opportuni ties through facilitated Learning Sessions . In accordance with women's values , the local Learning Sessions address topics local women identify as important, and ad dress topics in ways that improve women's abilities to make deci sions about their land.</p

Collecting Data for Collective Impact: A Guide for Coordinators in the Regional Food Systems Working Group

This manual outlines a shared measurement system for collecting economic data for coordinators of 17 Regional Food Groups that are part of the Regional Food Systems Working Group (RFSWG). The manual includes a sample farmer survey [PDF] to report local food sales and a sample institution survey [PDF] to report local food purchases, as well as instructions for coordinators to submit data [PDF].</p