Employee Ownership: The Key to Rural Business Survival
Wednesday, May 8 | 2:00-3:00 PM ET Too many business owners don’t have a realistic plan for how to exit their business, earn a decent retirement income, and preserve the legacy they’ve built and the jobs they’ve created. They don’t understand their options and don’t have time to figure it out on their own. Because of this, they wait until they are ready to retire before they think about how to exit their business, and liquidation and closure becomes the default option. Unfortunately, this option shortchanges the owner and results in lost jobs and economic assets for our communities.
At this roundtable with the Cooperative Development Institute, we will discuss the options available to business owners and how we can support employee ownership in our rural communities to sustain our local economies and support entrepreneurs.
Join a Club This year at Radically Rural, we will dive into rural regeneration with Join or Die, a documentary that follows Robert Putnam's research into America's decades-long decline in community connections. We'll discuss why building community in neighborhoods across the country is essential to our democracy. This month, Radically Rural challenges you to join a club in your community. Whether it's a working group or a purely social endeavor, get involved!
What's Working
@310 An old paintbrush factory in Keene, NH has been converted into a mixed use building. Over the past few years, several small businesses have moved into the space. The building is currently undergoing construction to add 57 apartments on three levels. Learn more here.
Other Events and Resources
Tapping the Untapped: Practical Strategies for Getting Untapped Entrepreneurial Talent off the Sidelines
Thursday, May 16 | 2:00 PM ET In this workshop, Andrew Button, Founder & CEO of Mashup Lab, will share some of the practical strategies they have used to get 800+ entrepreneurs in 300+ communities “off the sidelines” to start and grow 400+ businesses in just the last three years… well over 80% of whom had never signed up for a business or entrepreneurship program before, despite having dozens of things available to them right in their backyard. Register here.
Placemaking Your Parks, Trails, and Waters Do you have some underutilized public spaces like parks, trails or waters in your community? What's stopping you from getting more people into those spaces? Buy the video here.
On the Front Porch with Tony Pipa and Brent Orrell
Friday, May 3 | 1:00-2:30 PM ET In this conversation, Pipa and Orrell will be “on the front porch” with Steven Conn, whose recent book “The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is—and Isn’t” demystifies rural America, inviting us to dispense with the lies and half-truths many believe about it and to pursue better solutions to the challenges shared across the nation. Register here.
Register for Radically Rural 2024 Today!
Radically Rural builds powerful networks of passionate, engaged, innovative people willing to share ideas and resources and take action to strengthen their rural communities across the country.
