The Center for Rural Affairs’ new Community Development Resource Guide is now available. It was created to help communities achieve their goals. After all, rural community development begins with the people living in the community.

That sounds logical, but too often a community is offered a prescribed “fix,” usually at a cost and from outside. Instead, communities should engage in a thorough evaluation of what they already have, what they need, and what positive vision for the future they can support.

A lot of factors contribute to developing a sustainable rural community, and economic development is right there at the top. Yet it can be challenging to identify and locate the resources that are available to help.

That’s where the resource guide comes in. It is organized as an easy reference document, and it contains leads to grants, foundations, even low-interest loans and other key resources

We designed the new guide to be useful in many situations. We recommend you combine it with strong visioning and strategic planning to help determine exactly what resources your community needs.

The guide primarily lists resources available in Nebraska, but we can also connect you to similar information for other locations. We are available to assist your community in setting a vision, determining priorities, creating a strategic plan, and assisting you in accomplishing your goals.

Contact: Kathie Starkweather, kathies@cfra.org or 402.438.8496 for more information on rural community development. The author of the Community Development Resource Guide is Kim Preston. You can download a copy here. That page also links to resources for community visioning from University of Nebraska Extension.