Stronger Economies Together

An exciting new initiative has been launched by USDA Rural Development in partnership with the nation’s Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDCs). The purpose of Stronger Economies Together (SET) is to encourage communities and counties in rural America to work collaboratively on a multi-county regional basis in strengthening their regional economies.

Here are some of the important elements of the Stronger Economies Together initiative:

• Pilot efforts are located in 23 multi-county regions in eight target states: Arkansas, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia
• State Partner Teams bring the talents and resources of key state and federal agencies, land-grant university Extension programs, and other organizations together to provide training and technical assistance to each of the 23 regions;
• Twenty hours of Stronger Economies Together training will guide each region through a process of developing a practical regional economic development strategy. Much of this training will be participatory;
• Economic analysis tailored for each of the 23 regions will delineate the region’s comparative economic advantages and its current and emerging economic clusters;
• Technical assistance will be provided to the 23 regions over several months following the training;
• Experiences and insights will be shared among the 23 regions and the eight State Partner Teams;
• Over the coming months, SET will expand to cover 40+ additional multi-county regions.

Module Materials

MODULE 1

• Module 1 Presentation
• Module 1 Evaluation

MODULE 2

• Module 2 Presentation
• Module 2 Handout 01
• Module 2 Handout 02
• Module 2 Handout 03
• Module 2 Evaluation

MODULE 3

• Module 3 Presentation
• Module 3 Handout
• Module 3 Evaluation

MODULE 4

• Module 4 Presentation
• Module 4 Handout
• Module 4 Evaluation

MODULE 5

• Module 6 Presentation
• Module 5 Handout 01
• Module 5 Handout 02
• Module 5 Handout 03
• Module 5 Handout 04
• Module 5 Handout 05
• Module 5 Handout 06
• Module 5 Evaluation

MODULE 6

• Module 6 Presentation
• Module 6 Handout
• Module 6 Evaluation

MODULE 7

• Module 7 Presentation
• Module 7 Handout
• Module 7 Evaluation

MODULE 8

• Module 8 Presentation
• Module 8 Handout
• Module 8 Evaluation

MODULE 9

• Module 9 Presentation
• Module 9 Handout 01
• Module 9 Handout 02 and 03
• Module 9 Evaluation