The Prosperous Places workshop, held March 25-26, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah, brought together around 50 HUD Sustainable Communities grantees, experts, and capacity-builders to focus on place-based economic development strategies and scenarios planning. This event was co-sponsored by NADO and Envision Utah (http://www NULL.envisionutah NULL.org/).
Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the NADO Research Foundation and Envision Utah are two of eight teams providing capacity building and technical assistance to HUD and EPA sustainable communities award recipients. The capacity building teams are forming networks among the grantees to exchange ideas on successful strategies, lessons learned, and emerging tools for community and economic development.
Below are links to the workshop materials, including presentations, worksheets, and grantee background information. If you have any questions about this workshop, these materials, or NADO’s work as a capacity building team, please contact Brett Schwartz (bschwartz null@null nado NULL.org).
Opening Plenary: Regional Visioning Based on Shared Values
Robert Grow, President/Chief Executive Officer, Envision Utah
Finding and Leveraging Competitive Advantage
Nora Johnson, Policy Fellow, US EPA Office of Sustainable Communities
Kathy Nothstine, Associate Director, NADO
Scenarios Planning 101 and Part 2
Christie Oostema, Planning Director, Envision Utah
Jay Baker, Countywide Planner, Cache County, Utah
Lori Haddock, Economic development professional, Bear Lake County, Idaho
Mitch Poulsen, Executive Director, Bear Lake Regional Commission
Rural Poverty and Equitable Development
Danielle Bergstrom, Program Associate, PolicyLink
Bill Vanderwall, Capacity Building Manager, Minnesota Housing Partnership
Keynote Address: Progress and Challenges in Place-Based Rural Policies
Chuck Fluharty, President/CEO, Rural Policy Research Institute
Best Practices in Creating Strong Regional Economic Development Strategies
Brian Kelsey, Director of Economic Development, NADO
Implementing a Regional Plan as an Over-arching Economic Development Strategy: Focus on Implementation Strategies and Toolkit
Christie Oostema, Planning Director, Envision Utah
Dave Conine, USDA Rural Development
Additional Materials/Links
Sonoran Institute’s About Town research and report (http://www NULL.sonoraninstitute NULL.org/abouttown NULL.html)
California Financial Opportunities Roundtable (CalFOR) Guidebook (http://www NULL.rurdev NULL.usda NULL.gov/Reports/CA-CalFOR NULL.pdf)