It took over three decades, but the “Heart of the Rockies” today shines as an example of how to create a strong, lasting economy. Salida, Colo. morphed its struggling business climate into a popular outdoor destination and diversified its economy in the process. As the Chaffee County seat created a vibrant tourism base, it expanded other industry sectors as well, and the … [Read more...]
Obamacare repeal may hurt rural economies most
Rural Americans played a big part in sending Donald Trump to the White House, with 64 percent of those voters pulling the lever for the billionaire real estate developer. Yet the president’s and Republican leaders’ efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would be “very harmful to rural America,” according to a rural healthcare expert. Dr. … [Read more...]
Rural business leaders getting ahead of change
In a small Kentucky county with a population of just under 5,000 people, a community is coming together to build something beautiful. Hickman County, Kentucky was deeded a piece of land for “one whole dollar,” according to county judge/executive Kenny Wilson. The three-acre property features an acre-and-half lake, and when the property was handed over to the county, Wilson … [Read more...]
Rural business leader points to rural-urban interdependence
The rugged independence of rural life provides a fertile environment for entrepreneurship, but rural economies depend on more than just sheer grit and determination to succeed. Rural areas make extensive use of government programs. Rural broadband is partly made possible by a federal subsidy. More healthcare services are available thanks to a $400 million per year rural … [Read more...]
Rural, and making it: Bringing manufacturing to small towns
He charged companies whatever he wanted as a freelance industrial designer, but he left it all to become part of a rural manufacturing renaissance. It started five years ago, when after 15 years of designing, Jonathan Baker said goodbye to his comfortable career in New England and moved to the Pacific Northwest to design and manufacture his own product in a town of under … [Read more...]