Cultivating Successful Rural Economies

Benchmark Practices for Local Economies is a project funded by the USDA’s Fund for Rural America that has identified, through a competitive process, 43 dynamic and effective programs at rural community colleges, both in the U.S. and other countries, that are helping rural businesses and labor forces adapt to the challenges of the new economy.

A panel of economists, community college executives, policy makers, and rural development specialists selected the practices profiled in this database from 122 nominations from countries as far-flung as Iceland and New Zealand.

The ultimate value of this project lies in the ability of other colleges and communities to learn from and replicate, in part if not in whole, elements of what these colleges have accomplished.