Innovators in Rural Community Economic Development

Minnesota

Yellow Wood brings a special combination of content and process expertise to our work.

We invite you to explore our work.  Recent projects and presentations are listed below.  You can explore additional work using the various tags in the right hand column.

WealthWorks Training, April 2015 - February 2016

Participants in the fourth WealthWorks training, which began in April 2015 and runs through February 2016, come from organizations and states across the country, including National Joint Powers Alliance (MN), Southern Colorado Economic Development…

WealthWorks Training, October 2014 - August 2015

Participants in the third WealthWorks training, which began in October 2014 and runs through August 2015, come from organizations and states across the country, including Agricultural Utilization Research Institute…

WealthWorks Training, April 2014 - February 2015

Participants in the second WealthWorks training, which began in April 2014 and runs through February 2015, come from organizations and states across the country, including Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group…

WealthWorks Training, December 2013 - September 2014

The WealthWorks Training provides coaches and coordinators from nonprofit, for profit, and government agencies with an introduction to the Wealth Works approach and framework and a guided six to nine month Wealth Works…

Opportunity International Nicaragua: A Model for Sharing Economic Benefits of Enterprise Development in Phases

Opportunity International Nicaragua (OIN) is a nonprofit organization working to blend community economic development strategies with microfinance strategies to benefit the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua. As part of their work, OIN has incubated…

Minnesota Campus Compact Webinar: Supporting Rural Economic Vitality through Campus-Community Partnerships

Melissa Levy gave an overview of the Wealth Creation in Rural Communities approach and discussed how higher education institutions have supported various aspects of local projects. Ms. Levy's presentation was part of a webinar that explored innovative…

Wealth Creation in Rural Communities: 2011 NCBA Annual Meeting and Cooperative Conference

In October 2011, Shanna Ratner made a presentation and delivered a workshop on the Wealth Creation approach at the 2011 National Cooperative Business Association Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN.

Central Minnesota Cultural Planning Steering Committee

Shanna Ratner and Rob Petrini of Yellow Wood Associates worked with a group of regional participants from the Central Minnesota Cultural Planning Steering Committee applying the You Get What You Measure® process to a Cultural Plan previously worked…

Central Minnesota Nonprofit Organizations

Within this session Yellow Wood Associates worked with a diverse group of eleven nonprofit organizations within Central Minnesota. Each group was asked to identify a specific goal related to their organization at which time we facilitated them through…

West Central Initiative Planning

In this workshop Yellow Wood worked with the West Central Initiative Management Team and applied the You Get What You Measure® process to the Business and Employment portion of their strategic plan. During this process they revealed the key leverage…

Superior Community Leadership Network Peer-Learning Institute II, Measuring Change

Shanna Ratner delivered a You Get What You Measure® in Use workshop to staff and board members of community foundations seeking to become leaders in their communities. The Community Leadership Network Peer-Learning Institute in Minnesota was sponsored…

Green Community Technologies®: Minnesota Communities

West Central Initiative, a regional economic development group in Minnesota, hired Yellow Wood Associates to bring our Green Community Technologies® tools and perspective to bear on water resource issues in small Minnesota communities. The cities of…

Green Community Technologies®: Minnesota Communities, City of Battle Lake

The West Central Initiative commissioned an infrastructure pilot project in three communities in west central Minnesota. The City of Battle Lake, as a community with a relatively new centralized infrastructure facing pressure from growth, was chosen…

Green Community Technologies®: Minnesota Communities, City of Brandon

The West Central Initiative commissioned an infrastructure pilot project in three communities in west central Minnesota. The City of Brandon, as a community with agricultural land being converted to housing, was chosen to be part of the pilot project.…

Green Community Technologies®: Minnesota Communities, City of Ottertail

The West Central Initiative commissioned an infrastructure pilot project in three communities in west central Minnesota. The City of Ottertail, as a community facing development pressure and pressing water system issues, was chosen to be part of the…

Byways Teleworkshops

Yellow Wood delivered an Economic Impact 101 teleworkshop to byway community members. The workshop covered the basics of economic measurement as applied to byways, with definitions of key concepts. Participants shared their experience with measuring…

University of Minnesota Extension Service Business Retention and Expansion Program

The University of Minnesota Extension Service Business Retention and Expansion Program selected Yellow Wood Associates to develop a tool to test the theory that building social capital in communities while focusing on community economic development…

University of Minnesota Extension Service Leadership and Civic Engagement Program

The Leadership and Civic Engagement Program of the University of Minnesota Extension Service selected Yellow Wood Associates to work with a team of Extension professionals to create an interactive tool to measure social capital in Minnesota communities.…

Northwest Area Foundation, Regional Center Representative’s Meeting Strategic Planning

Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. was invited by the Northwest Area Foundation of St. Paul, Minnesota to work with grantees receiving support under its Regional Center Initiative. Grantees received significant financial support to prepare…