Innovators in Rural Community Economic Development

Resource Library

Final Report: Formulating a Sustainable Economic Development Process for Rural America

This report documents outcomes by sector of WealthWorks implementation on the ground in Central Appalachia, the South, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  It also includes lessons learned over the last year and a half of the eight year Wealth Creation…


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Yellow Wood Notes, Summer 2015

Yellow Wood in Transition; Update on Our Work; WealthWorks; Presentations; Measurement; Staffing News; Reading & Watching


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Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center Learning Journey Details

Through the support of the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center facilitated a trip to Western North Carolina to study the arts economy and creative placemaking in the region. This report provides a summary…


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Community Based Tourism (CBT) Wealth Creation Project: Sustainable Rural Regenerative Enterprises for Families (SURREF) visits Country Style Community Tourism Network (CCTN)

This report is a summary of a learning journey by Sustainable Rural Regenerative Enterprises for Families (SURREF) and six individuals representing stakeholders and partners who traveled to Jamaica from December 11 to December 16, 2011. These stakeholders…


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Opportunities for Sustainable Natural Resource-Based Development in the Dragon Run Watershed

This final report documents a study conducted by Yellow Wood to identify potential opportunities for sustainable natural resource-based economic development in the Dragon Run watershed. The Special Area Management Plan recognizes that one of the keys…


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Potential Impacts of a Renewable and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard in Kentucky

The study estimates the impacts of a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard on Kentucky’s portfolio of electricity resources, on average electric bills, and on the state’s economy. The report was produced by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. for the Mountain…


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Wealth Creation Through Sustainable Forestry: Generating Wealth Creation Models in the Appalachian Wood-products Industry

This report examines and presents wealth creation models adapted to the needs and context of sustainable forestry in Appalachia.


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Fossil-Free Investment for a Just Appalachian Transition: Obstacles and Opportunities

This paper by the Croatan Institute was commissioned by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). The paper addresses the effect that the growing movement for divestment from fossil fuels and investment in more sustainable…


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You Get What You Measure®: A Process to Determine and Measure Progress in Community Development

This CD Practice article describes You Get What You Measure®, a process that integrates participatory planning and systems thinking into the development of strategic measures so that communities can monitor progress toward community development goals.…


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Formalizing Your Business: A WealthWorks Guide for Coordinators and Coaches

This guide is one of two pieces written to assist WealthWorks value chain coordinators or coaches in working with businesses and demand partners that are part of WealthWorks value chains. This guide is designed to walk readers through one of the most…


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WealthWorks Value Chain Business Law Guide: A WealthWorks Guide for Coordinators and Coaches

This guide is one of two pieces written to assist WealthWorks value chain coordinators or coaches in working with businesses and demand partners that are part of WealthWorks value chains. This guide is written to assist WealthWorks coordinators, coaches,…


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Forestry and Wood Products Sector Survey: Summary of Findings

Vermont’s Working Lands Enterprise Board (WLEB) is engaged in a project to provide a systems analysis of the forestry and wood products industry in Vermont. Yellow Wood Associates is working with the Forestry Subcommittee (composed of both WLEB and…


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WealthWorks for Building Rural Economies

WealthWorks is an approach bridging community and economic development to build multiple forms of community wealth, resilience, and local ownership. This webinar provides a short overview for newcomers to the approach, followed by a focus on issues…


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WealthWorks for Your Region: An Introduction. Module 3: Construct a WealthWorks Value Chain

This module profiles the elements and design objectives of a WealthWorks value chain—and how to use them to build wealth that lasts.


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WealthWorks for Your Region: An Introduction. Module 2: Identify a Market Opportunity

This module offers a series of useful screens for spotting a market opportunity that has good potential to generate wealth-building results for a region.


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WealthWorks for Your Region: An Introduction. Module 1: Explore Regional Wealth Building

This module defines wealth building as a goal that reaches beyond standard community and economic development objectives, and why that difference is critical to advancing and sustaining regional economies.


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Community Development v.45, i.5, Special Issue: Rural Wealth Creation as a Sustainable Economic Development Strategy

Many rural areas in the United States find themselves struggling to build local assets and create wealth. They often struggle to hold on to the wealth that is created within their boundaries. Conventional approaches to community and economic development…


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Community Development v.44, i.5, “Shared measures to achieve shared outcomes: lessons from Central Appalachia”

This paper introduces a wealth creation approach to development, and describes how the Central Appalachian Network has used an outcome-based measurement process to define and measure progress toward shared goals for seven forms of community wealth.…


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Rural Wealth Creation

This textbook investigates the role of wealth in achieving sustainable rural economic development. Published by Routledge and edited by John L. Pender, Bruce A. Weber, Thomas G. Johnson, and J. Matthew Fannin.


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Local Economy Journal v.29, n.4-5, “Linking rural assets to market demand: Wealth creation value chains in rural America”

Rural regions across the United States have struggled to implement economic development strategies that build local assets and create wealth that contributes to sustained prosperity. This article describes a systems framework that enables rural areas…


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Hinesburg Economic Development Plan Workshop Summary

This document summarizes a community workshop coordinated by the Hinesburg Economic Development Commission. The community workshop brought together community members to identify strategic leverage points to build the foundation of the Economic Development…


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Citizen-Led Sustainable Change - Case Study: Rural Action, Ohio

In connection with the 2013 forum on Citizen-Led Sustainable Change held on the St. Francis Xavier University campus, Alison Mathie produced a case study on Rural Action, titled “From the fringe to the mainstream: Rural Action’s pursuit of a sustainable…


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Citizen-Led Sustainable Change - Case Study: The Deep South Wealth Creation Network, Mississippi and Alabama

In connection with the 2013 forum on Citizen-Led Sustainable Change held on the St. Francis Xavier University campus, Phil Davison produced a case study on the Deep South Wealth Creation Network, titled “The Deep South Wealth Creation Network,Mississippi…


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Want to Know How Wealth Works? A Training for Coaches and Coordinators

This webinar offered participants a preview of the WealthWorks Training for Coaches and Coordinators.  Training facilitators shared the approach to the training and the expected outcomes. Participants were able to ask questions and explore how this…


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Private Sector Engagement Toolkit

The Private Sector Engagement Toolkit helps users think about how they will connect with the demand side of the markets they are in. The Toolkit is designed to help WealthWorks value chain coordinators as well as individual businesses within a value…


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The Actual and Potential Economic Impact of Invasive Species on the Adirondack Park: A Preliminary Assessment

This report explores the economic impacts of invasive species on specific sectors of the Adirondack Park’s economy. This first-of-its-kind assessment for the Adirondacks analyzes actual and potential impacts of eight invasive species, summarizes expenditures…


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The Actual and Potential Economic Impact of Invasive Species on the Adirondack Park: A Preliminary Assessment: Executive Summary

The report “The Actual and Potential Economic Impact of Invasive Species on the Adirondack Park: A Preliminary Assessment: Executive Summary” explores the economic impacts of invasive species on specific sectors of the Adirondack Park’s economy. This…


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Building Rural Wealth Through Inclusive Business: a Primer on Private Sector Engagement for Community Impact

The final report from the Red Mantra Group on Building Wealth Through Inclusive Business is now available. Inclusive Business is an approach to economic development in which one or more large corporations are the primary demand partners. For corporations…


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Strategic Planning, Measurement and Evaluation Using “You Get What You Measure®”

This presentation, from the workshop titled Strategic Planning, Measurement and Evaluation Using “You Get What You Measure®,” was presented by Melissa Levy at the 2014 Connecticut Land Conservation Conference.


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Emerging Issues for Learning Communities

This paper explores the concept of learning communities and the shifts in concept and practice required to bring them about based on emerging ideas in the physical sciences, leadership training, learning theory, rural development, public work, organizational…


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Exploring Common Measures for Food Hubs: Documenting Impact, Sharing Stories, Connecting with Stakeholders

This draft report is a product of a study supported by the Wallace Center and the National Good Food Network. The study explored how a set of common measures might assist food hubs and the food hub community in telling their stories and improving their…


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Enterprise Financing for WealthWorks Value Chains: Overview and Guide

As part of WealthWorks, the Accelerating Impact project is aimed at articulating the role of finance in supporting WealthWorks value chains in rural areas.Over two years, this project of the Tellus Institute has worked with ten projects on the ground…


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Food Value Chains: Creating Shared Value to Enhance Marketing Success

The report describes how food value chains work, how to structure them for optimal performance, and what challenges they face. The report is designed to help individuals and organizations interested in exploring food value chains as a distribution…


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Case Study: Building an Agriculture Strategy

This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work with Goody Clancy and the Town of Mansfield to develop an agricultural strategy for the Town of Mansfield as part of their updated Plan of Conservation and Development.


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Innovative Strategies that Support Rural Communities

This presentation on WealthWorks and WealthWorks value chains was made as part of a panel at the National Reinvestment Coalition 2014 Annual Conference.


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Measures that Matter

Attendees learned how food hubs have used You Get What You Measure®, a systems-based analysis to identify their priority measures that will tell them if they are making progress towards their goals.  The first part of the session shared examples of…


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Finding Common Measures for the Nation's Food Hubs

In an effort to develop a  common set of metrics for food hubs to track the contributions they are making at the community level, the Wallace Center partnered with Yellow Wood Associates to research four potential common measures: 1) food access; 2)…


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Rural Research Report v.24 i.1: Connecting Community Assets with Market Demand for Lasting Livelihoods

This paper, featured in the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs’ Rural Research Report (Spring 2014, Volume 24, Issue 1), provides an overview of the WealthWorks approach and its tools, including the WealthWorks value chain construct and the wealth…


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Demand for Nature Based Tourism in the Lower Mississippi River Region

This report, prepared for the Walton Family Foundation, analyzes regional demand for nature based tourism.  The report focuses on four types of tourism: Paddling, Culture and Heritage, Non-consumptive and Consumptive Wildlife Activities.  In addition…


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Enhancing the Local Impact of Community Banks

The Wealth Creation Clinic partnered with Presidio Bank, a progressive regional bank in San Francisco, to examine a key question for community banking: In a competitive environment, how can small banks be a more positive force for local community development,…


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Branding Study for Appalachian Local Food Economies

This report, produced for the Central Appalachian Network (CAN) in partnership with the MIT “Keeping Wealth Local” Clinic, explores examples of place-based food brands and offers recommendations for CAN and other Central Appalachian organizations interested…


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Assessing Impacts of Value Chain Development on Poverty: A Case-Study Companion to the 5Capitals Tool

These case studies supplement the 5Capitals tool developed by CATIE.  Five case studies were selected, with a geographical spread and a focus on different, crops, target markets and beneficiaries: Nicaragua - certified coffee; Colombia - fresh fruits…


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5Capitals: A Tool for Assessing the Poverty Impacts of Value Chain Development

5Capitals is tool for understanding critical development issues, designed for users including funding agencies, NGOs, consultants, government agencies, businesses, and certification bodies.  The tool is built on the belief that greater access to livelihood…


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Financing the Evolving Role of the Value Chain Coordinator: Guiding Questions, Participant Insights

This report explores what we have learned about the roles value chain coordinators play in WealthWorks, how those roles may evolve, and various options for financing the coordinator role which is so essential to exploring and constructing WealthWorks…


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Guide to Crowdfunding for WealthWorks Value Chains: Understanding Options, Getting Started

This report was produced as part of a project to explore financing options for WealthWorks value chains. It describes crowdfunding and how it works, gives examples of different platforms and successful campaigns, and provides a step by step guide to…


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Case Study: Outcome Funding Evaluation for NESARE

This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work with the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NESARE) to assess the impact of an outcome funding framework on principal investigators and beneficiaries of projects funded by NESARE.


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Case Study: Sustainable Water Management

This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work with the West Central Initiative to help small Minnesota communities meet their water-related needs in a cost effective manner while protecting water resource quality.


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Case Study: Value-Added Agriculture Feasibility Study

This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work with Suri Paco LLC to assess the feasibility of an alpaca fiber mid-tier value chain to aggregate and process alpaca fiber into a range of value-added products that make use of all grades of fiber produced…


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Case Study: Increasing the Use of Sustainable Wood Energy

This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work with the US Forest Service Wood Education Resource Center to increase the use of sustainable wood energy.  Yellow Wood worked with Richmond Energy Associates to provide independent, third party biomas feasibility…


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You Get What You Measure®

This video describes You Get What You Measure®, Yellow Wood's trademarked approach to strategic planning that incorporates measurement and can be used as a framework for evaluation. The video also shares…


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Case Study: Assessing Impacts of Liquefied Natural Gas Terminals

This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work for Save Passamaquoddy Bay on an economic and fiscal impact analysis of proposed liquefied natural gas terminals.  Save Passamaquoddy Bay (www.savepassamaquoddybay.org)…


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You Get What You Measure: Public Workshops

Join us for public workshops that provide an introduction to Yellow Wood’s unique approach to strategic planning and measurement, You Get What You Measure®. The approach integrates systems thinking to identify key leverage indicators, and aligns actions…


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Becoming a Measurement Guide: Training Brochure

Twice a year, Yellow Wood Associates, Inc., of St. Albans, VT, offers professionals with facilitation skills the opportunity to learn how to deliver You Get What You Measure®. In development and use for over fifteen years, You Get What You Measure®…


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WealthWorks Training for Coaches and Coordinators: Application

WealthWorks is a 21st-century approach that belongs in every community and economic development toolkit. WealthWorks is inclusive, bringing together and connecting community assets to meet market demand in ways that build lasting livelihoods and upward…


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WealthWorks Training for Coaches and Coordinators: Brochure

This brochure provides an overview of the WealthWorks Training for Coaches and Coordinators. WealthWorks is a 21st-century approach that belongs in every community and economic development toolkit. WealthWorks is inclusive, bringing together and connecting…


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You Get What You Measure: An Alternative Strategic Planning and Evaluation Tool for Progress You Can See

This workbook was shared with participants at a 7-hour training presented by Melissa Levy and Barbara Wyckoff presented on You Get What You Measure at the 2011 Community Involvement Training Conference.

 


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3rd Rural Issues Community Leadership Conference, April 6 2011, Keynote

Shanna Ratner's keynote presentation to the 3rd RURAL ISSUES: Community Leadership Conference on April 6, 2011 focused on why agriculture matters to regional economies and what municipal and public officials can do to grow the agricultural sector.


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Wealth Creation in Rural Communities – Building Sustainable Livelihoods: Cross Regional Convening

Place-based grantees from three regions (Central Appalachia, the Alabama Black Belt and Mid-South Delta, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas), resource team members, researchers, and Ford Foundation staff met at the Ford Foundation office in New…


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Case Study: Addressing threatened water resources (Ottertail)

The City of Ottertail faced development pressure and pressing water system issues. Yellow Wood developed a suite of recommendations to provide Ottertail with an action plan for addressing threats to the city’s water quality in a systematic way. This work…
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Why did Yellow Wood create Green Community Technologies?

Provides an overview of the need for communities to assess their infrastructure needs and make sustainable, systemic decisions about how to address infrastructure and wastewater challenges.
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Getting Smart: Smart Growth, energy efficiency, and public facilities.

This article by Ann Ruzow Holland profiles Yellow Wood’s Green Community Technologies© work in Minnesota, New York, and Vermont in the context of sustainable approaches to rural community infrastructure. Analyzing alternative approaches was in each community’s…
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Yellow Wood: Charting a Path to Durable Communities

Profiles Yellow Wood's work with the Town of Richmond and the Green Community Technologies approach, which emphasizes using a combination of a municipal inventory, green alternatives research, and life cycle costing to select the most cost effective and…
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Innovation Economy Comes to Eight Towns: The GCT Process and the Triple Bottom Line

Profiles the experience of eight local governments in five states with Green Community Technologies©, an innovative inventory, analysis, and planning process that helps organize and identify the most pressing problems local governments are facing.
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Case Study: Municipal Asset Inventory to Meet Sustainability Goals

Barnstable County identified facility, fleet and infrastructure inventory as a key action item in their County Sustainability Project and used Yellow Wood Associates’ Green Community Technologies© to gain a clear understanding of the assets held in these…
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Case Study: Helping small communities meet their water-related needs

An overview of Yellow Wood's work with the West Central Initiative and three Minnesota communities around water systems and water infrastructure. Yellow Wood used the Green Community Technologies© process to assess needs and make recommendations for…


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APA MN: Planning Minnesota, v.28 n.2, "WCI infrastructure study seeks green solutions"

In 2007, the West Central Initiative in Minnesota contracted Yellow Wood to work with three cities with varying water system infrastructure needs and challenges. This article by Wayne Hurley reviews the context for this work, provides an overview of…
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Case Study: Water resource stewardship (Battle Lake)

Yellow Wood worked with Battle Lake to identify stormwater issues that, if addressed, would effectively preserve the quality of streams and watersheds. This work was part of Yellow Wood's Green Community Technologies© work in Minnesota, funded by the…
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Case Study: Water resource stewardship (Brandon)

Yellow Wood looked systematically at the City of Brandon’s water resources. Yellow Wood's recommendations addressed water conservation, efficiency of water treatment equipment, wastewater infiltration and stormwater. This work was part of Yellow Wood's…
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Case Study: Exploring Green Technologies to Meet Municipal Building Needs

In working with the Town of Franklin, Yellow Wood’s goal was to help maximize the use of existing assets and minimize the amount of new construction required to meet Town goals. This case study highlights the town of Franklin's needs and the alternative…
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Green Community Technologies Phase 2 Franklin

Mary Ellen Keith, Supervisor of the Town of Franklin, and Shanna Ratner, Principal of Yellow Wood Associates narrate this film highlighting the results of Yellow Wood's Green Community Technologies© work with the Town of Franklin.


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Case Study: Exploring alternative wastewater technologies to meet small town growth

The Town of Hinesburg asked Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. to research alternative ways of increasing their wastewater capacity beyond expanding their wasterwater treatment plant, using their Green Community Technologies© process.
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Your Role in Healthy Food Systems

Shanna Ratner's plenary presentation at the Growing Health 2012 conference in New York addressed the benefits of a fully-realized food system, discussed food systems in context of a wealth creation approach, and engaged participants in exercises around…


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Mansfield Agriculture Workshop Summary

This report summarizes an interactive workshop hosted by the Town of Mansfield on the Town’s Agriculture Strategy as part of their Mansfield Tomorrow initiative. Yellow Wood Associates facilitated the workshop in their role as the consultant responsible…


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Parks and Beaches: Common Cents for the Common Wealth

Parks and Beaches: Common Cents for the Common Wealth quantifies the value of the park system as an engine of Massachusetts economic development. This value includes recreational tourism spending, recreational equipment spending, the timber industry,…


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Case Study: Community Forestry Workshop

This case study profiles Yellow Wood's work for the Quebec Labrador Foundation on a Community Forestry Workshop in Gorham, New Hampshire. This workshop was undertaken as part of our work with the National Community Forestry Center - Northern Forest…


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Practicing Community Forestry in the Northern Forest of the United States

This paper describes preliminary learning from a project designed to test new ways of providing services to rural forested communities in the United States.


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Community Forestry Made Real: Case Studies in Landowner Cooperation

This report describes the efforts of several Vermont forest landowners who developed cooperative relationships with their neighbors in order to provide habitat for wildlife.


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So, You're Thinking of Starting a Forest Landowner Co-Op?: An Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography describing materials and resources available in the Northern Forest for those interested in finding out more about how, why, and when cooperative action forest landowners makes-sense ecologically, economically, and socially.


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Forest Ownership & Forest Management in the Northern Forest

A selectively annotated bibliography containing materials collected between March, 2000 and November, 2001 while reviewing the literature connecting forest ownership and forest management in the Northern Forest region.


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Engaging Residents in Planning for Municipal Forests: A Case Study of Lincoln, Vermont

Town forests are a unique aspect of forestry in New England. Originally intended as a source of wood supply for the town, these forests now provide a means for educating the community about the value of working forests. This case study of Lincoln,…


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Finding Middle Ground Through the Arts: Using the Arts to Articulate a Balance between "Wood" and "Woods"

This report chronicles the Middle Ground Collaborative and its development of an interactive exhibit to tour the state of Maine in an attempt to generate dialogue about the history and future of Maine's forest resources. This report compiles the research…


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Changing from Industrial to Non-Industrial Ownership in the Northern Forest: A Case Study

This report serves dual purposes: it reports on the findings of a research project and also explores the process of participatory research using a case study approach. This is a story of a volatile industry looking for answers. This report contains…


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What is Participatory Research and Why Does it Matter?

A compilation of six readings chosen to provide examples of participatory research in the United States and Canada.


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Meeting the Needs of Communities and Forests: The Development of a Biomass Energy System in Richford, Vermont

Summarizes the learnings and insights of a group of citizens from Richford, Vermont as they have explored the issues relating to the supply and harvesting of biomass from local lands. The Richford Wood Initiative (RWI) has been meeting regularly since…


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School-Based Forest Education in the Northern Forest

A description of several school-based forest education programs in the Northern Forest Region- Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.


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The Story of the East Branch of Fish Creek Working Group in Tug Hill, New York

This report demonstrates how a grassroots effort to protect forest values can succeed where top-down federal and state efforts failed.


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Choices and Challenges in Town Forest Management

A report summarizing a workshop on town forest management held in Gorham, New Hampshire in September of 2003. This workshop, sponsored by the National Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region and the Quebec-Labrador Foundation/Atlantic Center…


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Waiting and Seeing in Coos County: The Promise and Promises of Lake Umbagog

This report describes the experience and responses of several communities in northern New Hampshire when their local forestland became the object of broad public interest. Author Thomas Brendler tells the story of how the Umbagog National Wildlife…


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What is Community Forestry and Why Does It Matter?

This report provides an overview for all those interested in learning more about community forestry, combining original material with articles by several well known community forestry practitioners to create a concise introduction to this fascinating…


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Who's Planning for Forests?: Results from a Region-Wide Contest

This report summarizes results of the 2001 Town Plans contest, with excerpts from most of the submissions.


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Wealth Creation in Rural Communities - Verde Valley, May 1, 2012

This introductory webinar introduced wealth creation concepts and vocabulary, including wealth creation value chains and multiple forms of wealth, to Walton Family Foundation grantees in the Verde Valley area of Arizona.


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Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy

A civic decision making tool for evaluating the viability of wood biomass district heating systems for New Hampshire communities.


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Community Resilience and Wealth: The Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Communities in a Rapidly Changing World

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities sponsored this report, which is intended to better define resiliency in the community context and to aid understanding of how resiliency applies to communities. In addition to an extensive literature review,…
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A New Way Forward for Rural America

In a changing global environment, the potential contributions of rural America are significant. Rural leaders need new ways of thinking about economic development. This brief introductory paper outlines seven guiding principles for a wealth creation…


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Assessment of Triple Bottom Line Financing Interventions

Ten financing interventions are profiled in this paper, which looks at how capital investment in combination with other strategies is used to achieve triple-bottom-line outcomes.


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2010 Rural Lisc Seminar: Asset Building and Economic Development Strategies: A Workshop for Community Development Practitioners

This file contains presentations by participants in a session highlighting three emerging practices in community development: financial education and coaching, developing entrepreneurial ecosystems, and a wealth creation approach to development in…


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Local and Regional Wealth-Building Strategies.

Wealth Creation in Rural Communities presentation made to the 8th Annual BALLE Business Conference and Member Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. May 21-23, 2010.


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Building a Regional Food System: A Case Study of Market Umbrella in the New Orleans Region

This case study looks at the role of Market Umbrella in helping to develop a regional food system around New Orleans. Interviews throughout the case study highlight the importance of building multiple forms of wealth to create community resilience…


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Building a Sustainable Network: A Toolkit

This toolkit is a set of worksheets designed to help groups build strong, effective, sustainable networks. It includes worksheets for organizations that are considering forming or joining a network, emerging networks that have already organized and…


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Case Studies of Wealth Creation and Rural-Urban Linkages

This report contains four case studies about rural-urban linkages in Oregon, the New Orleans region, Texas, and Nebraska, as well as introductory material and a concluding commentary that looks at each case study in context of the core principles of…


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