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Building Communities
Practical Tools and Information
Kathy Tweeten, Director, NDSU Center for Community
Vitality
NDSU Extension Service, Community
Economic Development Specialist
This newsletter is meant to share practical tools and information to assist you in your important role in community and economic development work. We welcome comments on current letters plus encourage your advice for future articles.
Kathy
Content
► Editorial – Planning is Boring!
► Rural American Competing in the New Economy
►
Buying and Selling a Small Business
►
Certificate in Festival and Event Management
►
Loan Policy Changes at the Bank of North Dakota
Editorial – "Planning is Boring!"
Okay, now that I have your attention, allow me tell you what I really think. Planning is NOT boring! It can be fun and is a valuable process to help move communities, businesses, families and individuals into the future they desire. You’ve heard the old adage that if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. That future may not be the one that you would have chosen for you or your community.
I have a good friend at USDA Rural Development who reminds me that the planning process actually is more important than the end result. If you think about what that means, it makes perfect sense because if planning is done correctly, with goals and strategies for implementation and follow-up, you don’t have to worry about the end results because they will happen ... as planned.
Planning in communities has many side benefits, as well. As people work together on a shared vision, they build individual human capital, but they also build social capital by creating a network of people and resources that are internal and external to the community.
There are many agencies and other resources in North Dakota that can help you with your planning efforts. Regional Planning Councils, NDSU Extension, USDA Rural Development, Forest Service, Division of Community Service, Entrepreneur Centers of North Dakota and Small Business Development Centers are a few of the agencies that have resources that can help you in your planning efforts.
Sincerely,
Kathy Tweeten
NDSU Center for Community Vitality director and
community economic development Extension specialist
Rural America Competing in the New Economy
"A North Dakota Community Development Conference"
“Rural America Competing in the New Economy,” is the theme for this year’s statewide community development conference to be held November 10, 2005 at the International Inn in Minot.
Rebecca Ryan, founder of Next Generation Consulting and recipient of the 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year by the US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship will deliver the opening keynote address. Rebecca Ryan is well known in North Dakota’s workforce and chamber circles. Other featured keynote speakers include Dr. Cornelia Flora, co-author of Rural Communities: Legacy and Change and director of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, and Dan Gorin, senior community affairs analyst with the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.
The conference will highlight tools and knowledge in communities that will help North Dakota compete in the growing global economy; create networking opportunities; create a “can-do” spirit among attendees; and share “best practices.”
Workshop sessions will feature two North Dakota communities that recently went through an in-depth research analysis; the North Dakota State University Extension Service’s Rural Leadership North Dakota program; the Federal Reserve Bank’s fiscal analysis software; the Entrepreneurial Centers of North Dakota; and Dr. Cole Gustafson will discuss the transfer of wealth in communities.
This conference is open to economic and community developers, community leaders,
local officials, bankers and others interested in North Dakota’s future.
Conference sponsors include: the Federal Home Loan Bank of Kansas City, NDSU
Extension Service’s Center for Community Vitality, North Dakota Bankers
Association, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Economic Development
Association of North Dakota.
For More Information contact the ND Bankers Association at 701-223-5303, or
email
kathleen.tweeten@ndsu.nodak.edu
or
marie.hvidsten@ndsu.nodak.edu . Early registration is due to the ND Bankers
Association by October 26, 2005.
Discounted rooms at the International Inn in Minot are available before October
26 for conference attendees. Contact the International Inn by calling (800)
735-4493.
Buying and Selling a Small Business
Source: Entrepreneur Centers of North Dakota
The Entrepreneur Centers of
North Dakota has a new publication titled “Buying & Selling a Small Business.”
This is a wonderful, easy-to-read-and-understand document that outlines in
detail what you need to know to buy or sell a small business. It includes how to
read financial statements and the questions you should ask. It also provides
information on financing a business if you’re buying, pricing a business if
you’re selling and the transfer of the business.
Copies of the publication are available by calling (701) 328-5850 or (800) 544-4674. The group’s Web site is at www.ecnd.org
Learn How Fun is Done Right - Attention Event Planners
Certificate in Festival and Event Management
This is your chance to participate in a comprehensive program designed especially for event planners. It will provide you with the essential knowledge and organizational tools to run special community events successfully.
The Festivals and Events Management course is a comprehensive, 36-hour program. Its content is divided into three, easy-to-master classes that complement one another, creating a complete festival management package. The author of the curriculum is the University of Minnesota Tourism Center.
The first session is scheduled for Nov. 16-18, 2005, and the second and third sessions will be held Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2005, at the North Dakota State University Alumni Center in Fargo, N.D. The topics will include discussions on job descriptions and responsibilities, leadership skills, volunteer management techniques, event action plans, basic event budgets, financial checklists, risk management, food safety, site logistics, communication and marketing strategies, and sponsorship development. The third session, held the afternoon of Dec. 2, will focus on the economic impact of festivals and events on the local economy.
Participants who complete all coursework, submit a written event analysis, prepare a staff development plan and complete a program evaluation will be awarded certificates.
This normally is a $700 course. Funding made available by the Northwest Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnership and North Dakota Festival and Events Association means the three sessions can be offered for $145 per person. The course is being sponsored locally by the NDSU Extension Service’s Center for Community Vitality and the NDSU Cass County Extension Service.
Registration materials are available electronically by contacting me at kathleen.tweeten@ndsu.edu or Rita Ussatis of the NDSU Cass County Extension office at russatis@ndsuext.nodak.edu or calling Rita at (701) 241-5700.
Loan Policy Changes at the Bank of North Dakota
Source: Bank of North Dakota, Eric Hardmeyer, president, and Bob Humann, SVP of lending
Commercial Loan Programs
Expanded the PACE loan program to include two new components:
Other Programs
For detailed information on all of the Bank of North Dakota’s lending programs, see its Web site at www.banknd.com.
