Rural Prosperity Nebraska: Recent Episodes
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How concerned are rural Nebraskans about various economic issues? What impacts do rural Nebraskans believe international trade has on the state as well as their own household? What items do they think are important to consider when determining US trade policy? After a brief discussion of the report highlights by Brad Lubben, Jill O'Donnell from the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance will give her interpretations and possible implications. The session will end with time for questions from the audience.
In this Session, participants had the opportunity to explore leadership beyond community boundaries. Together the participants and hosting educators explored how regional partnerships can be linked and leveraged to support growing community leadership capacities. Watch the recording to learn more about how regional partnerships are a focus of Rural Prosperity Nebraska.
Join us for a webinar discussion on the recent findings of the 2024 Rural Poll report on well-being in rural Nebraska. This insightful discussion will explore how rural Nebraskans are navigating challenges like inflation, labor shortages, housing costs, and declining farm income, as well as how these issues affect their mental health and overall satisfaction with life. We’ll also examine changes in well-being over the past 29 years and look at what this the report’s data means for the future of rural residents. Joining us will be experts in this field, Hannah Guenther and Beth Nacke, sharing their perspectives along with university faculty and staff, and Nebraska community members.
The second session of the Lead and Succeed Lunchbox webinar series focuses on addressing the "Who's missing?" question in community leadership development. The conversation begins with understanding why some Nebraskans are missing from the community leadership table and shifts into a rich conversation on what strategies might be best deployed to get new individuals involved in community leadership roles and tasks. The conversation continues to address the importance of being intentional with the invitation to leadership roles or tasks and on strategies to better build communities. The session wraps up with an invite for more conversation at the third session on Aug. 29, 12:30-1:30 p.m. CT.
The “Lead & Succeed Lunchbox Series” webinar is a summer-long series focused on revamping community leadership development in rural communities. With topics addressing leadership roles as well as leadership systems within communities, the webinars’ audiences include current community leaders, those who wish to take on leadership roles within their communities, and those simply interested in engaging more in their towns.
It’s a good problem to have when your business outgrows your retail space. But it’s still a problem. Jessalyn and Dustin Crawford, owners of Hey Honey Boutique in Ord recently overcame this challenge with the help from business coaches from Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s eCommunities program, setting a benchmark for how collaboration among businesses benefits Nebraska’s communities.
While the majority of Nebraska’s communities revolve around agriculture, many students in the Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas do not feel a connection to the land or their food sources. But for Nebraska’s Native tribal members, not only is that connection a tradition, it’s part of their culture. This is why dozens of Native American middle and high school students gather each Saturday to work a community farm on East Campus part of Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s Indigenous Youth Food Sovereignty Program. Learn more about the program at ruralprosperityne.unl.edu
The 6th Annual Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference will be held May 1-2, 2024, in Sidney, Neb.The CEC Conference empowers community members by showcasing tools and resources designed to fuel community growth and prosperity. Engage with local, regional, and national presenters as they share their successful strategies in building entrepreneurial ecosystems. Join in dynamic discussions covering vital aspects of community development, including placemaking, people attraction, regional food systems, leadership development and transition, entrepreneurship, childcare, housing, and more.Say goodbye to boring meeting rooms — CEC sessions take place in vibrant locally-owned businesses, offering participants an immersive experience of the downtown area as they seamlessly transition between sessions. This innovative approach not only ensures an enjoyable experience, but also creates ample opportunities for networking and witnessing the entrepreneurial community in action.Registration is $175 per person. If 3 or more members of your community are attending, contact Jason at jason.tuller@unl.edu for a discount code of $25 off per person.The Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference is more than just a conference. It’s an experience.For more information, please visit https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/connecting-entrepreneurial-communities-2024-sidneyWelcome to the connection.Music: "Touching Indie Folk Inspirational Build," by Jeff Hanley
Nebraska is home to more than 3,000 licensed childcare and daycare centers. But Our Place After School Care in Hastings is unique among its peers. While many Nebraska communities have found solutions to the burgeoning need for quality childcare through grant funds or contracts with licensed locals, Our Place serves a different and often overlooked demographic—teens with special needs. Learn more about how Rural Prosperity Nebraska can help your community at ruralprosperityne.unl.edu
Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s eCommunities program helps entrepreneurs start their own businesses, from coming up with ideas to cutting the red ribbon. One business that has benefited from the expertise of the program’s eCoaches is 1to1 Techologies in Central City. Doris Lux, an eCoach from the eCommunities program, has helped owner Cody Lawson along his 15-year journey. To date, the eCommunities program has helped 129 businesses in 20 communities and 12 counties. Learn more about the program at ruralprosperityne.unl.edu
It’s an uncommon experience to walk into a grocery store and feel at home. But that’s exactly the atmosphere Amparito’s Market, owned by Raul Sarmiento, Sr., is striving for. On the outside, the market looks like any other grocery store. But when you walk down the aisles, you notice very few of the products originate in the United States. The import store opened in May with help from Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s Latino Small Business Program.
Across Nebraska school districts are sowing the seeds of healthy living by connecting students to their food through farm-to-school programs. These programs go beyond traditional chalk-and-talk education. Instead they give students hands-on experiences that teach them about nutrition, where their food comes from, and what it tastes like. The mantra that many schools use for their programs is: cafeteria, classroom and community.
Cooperative businesses are not new to Nebraska. Dozens of cooperatives are spread across the state, from grocery stores to farm and ranch suppliers. And yet, most cooperatives are created because a community or region is missing that type of business. That is what has made the Centennial Marketplace Cooperative, in Utica, a little bit different. Learn more about business and co-op transitions at https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/nebraska-cooperative-development-center-helps-utica-keep-its-grocery-store
Zoom meeting recording of the USDA roundtable discussion with Vice Chancellor Mike Boehm, RPN Director Mary Emery, Under Secretary Jennifer Moffitt, and additional partners of the $25M Regional Food Business Center grant.
The Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference is hosted by Rural Prosperity Nebraska and takes place over two days in a different Nebraska community each year. While focused on economic and entrepreneurial development, what sets this conference apart is the format. Instead of being in a single auditorium, each CEC session takes place inside different locally-owned businesses of the hosting community. So attendees get to not only see the city, but network with like-minded business owners, and experience the community’s culture and entrepreneurial spirit.
There’s an old saying that you don’t know your own backyard. Referring to tourist attractions, the adage conveys a common belief that New Yorkers never go to Times Square, and Arizonans never visit the Grand Canyon. Whether that’s true or not, hometowns often feel so familiar that residents don’t consider what impressions they give to outsiders. First Impressions Online, Rural Prosperity Nebraska’s newest community development program, gives people a view of their own backyard.
Finding childcare that is high in quality and low in cost is a struggle for many parents. Particularly in Nebraska. The Cornhusker State is the ninth most expensive state for childcare for married couples, and fourth most expensive for single parents. To help close this growing gap, many communities across Nebraska are getting creative in how they’re making childcare more accessible and more affordable for their residents. And Rural Prosperity Nebraska is helping.
“Hometown.” The word often evokes a sense of nostalgia, when life was simpler, safer, better. But there’s nothing to say that the town you live in now can’t feel the same way. Marketing Hometown America is a program where Rural Prosperity Nebraska Extension educators help make your community a home. Not just for you, but for the long-time residents, the newcomers, and even those looking to move there.
Rural Nebraska communities are no strangers to cooperatives. Between the panhandle and the Missouri, you can find any number of cooperative grocery stores in Nebraska. But foods and markets aren’t the only kinds of cooperatives in the Cornhusker state. In Beatrice, Michael Sothan, the executive director of Main Street Beatrice, is establishing a real estate cooperative to stimulate economic growth and community pride in the town.
Jordan Rasmussen promotes the Rural Fellows program for Summer 2023, originally scripted for KRBX.
A common saying is the dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. That’s especially true when it comes to eating healthy. But the Hometown Market in Red Cloud is the newest grocery store in Nebraska to make it a little easier to bring fresher, healthier foods to your table, by implementing the Double Up Food Bucks program.
Students from the 2022 Rural Fellows program share their reasons why other university students should apply to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Rural Fellows summer internship program for 2023.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community-improvement projects they worked on in Gering and Scottsbluff, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Murals have long been part of Nebraska’s culture and communities. But gone are the days of murals simply advertising soaps and sodas. Today’s murals adorn entire buildings and showcase a community’s history, values and culture. They are displays of what the community represents, often created by community members themselves. RPN Extension Educator Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Rural Fellow Faith Junck, and others talk about the impact murals have had and the cohesiveness murals bring to Nebraska's communities and residents.
The Nebraska Regional Food Systems Initiative partners with Rural Prosperity Nebraska to make fresh, healthy food more accessible to all Nebraskans. Through a number of programs and workshops, RPN Extension Educators share their education and expertise to help communities strengthen or initiate their farmers markets, establish farm-to-school programs, establish SNAP benefits and Double-up Food Bucks programs in local grocery stores, and more. This is all in an effort to help communities bring healthier, fresher and tastier local foods to their residents, with the goal of improving the quality of life for all Nebraskans.
Community leaders from the 2022 Rural Fellows program share their experiences of how the students from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Rural Fellows program made an impact on their communities.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community-improvement projects they worked on in Gering and Scottsbluff, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Students from the 2022 Rural Fellows program share their reasons why other university students should apply to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Rural Fellows summer internship program for 2023.
The Latino Small Business Conference is an annual conference that takes place in three different locations over three different weekends. This year the conference was held in Grand Island, Omaha and Norfolk with a total of more than 300 attendees.
In collaboration with Juan Sandoval, associate director of the Nebraska Business Development Center, the conference is an annual culmination of the efforts of Sandra Barrera, a Rural Prosperity Nebraska Extension Educator who spearheads the Latino Small Business Program. This program provides free guidance and support to immigrant entrepreneurs who want to establish their own businesses here in Nebraska. Learn more in this episode of RPN Today and at https://extension.unl.edu/entrepreneurship/programs-adult/latino-small-business-program
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Wakefield, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Valentine, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Stanton, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with the Scotts Bluff County Area Visitors Bureau during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with the Rural Housing team during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with the Rural Community Resilience team during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with the Rural Childcare team during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with the Nebraska Energy team during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked with the Leadership Development team during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Kimball County, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with IANR Communications during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on Empowering Families in Scottsbluff, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Dawes, Sheridan and Sioux Counties, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center during Summer 2022.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Alliance, Nebraska during Summer 2022.
Highlight real of the 25 Rural Fellows who served in 16 Nebraska communities for the 2022 summer, the projects they worked on, and the impact they had.
El Programa de Pequeños Negocios Latinos de Rural Prosperity Nebraska trabaja con empresarios de Nebraska para fortalecer sus comunidades ayudándolos a crear su concepto de negocio, planificar y poner en marcha sus propios negocios. A través de consultas individuales gratuitas, la educadora de extensión de RPN, Sandra Barrera, comparte su experiencia sobre cómo crear propuestas comerciales, solicitar permisos, buscar ubicaciones comerciales y navegar por el papeleo legal, todo en el idioma del empresario. Este programa tiene como objetivo aumentar la diversidad, la equidad y la inclusión de las comunidades, mejorando así la calidad de vida de todos sus residentes.
Rural Prosperity Nebraska's Latino Small Business Program works with Nebraska entrepreneurs to strengthen their communities by helping them conceptualize, plan and start up their own businesses. Through free one-on-one consultations, RPN Extension Educator Sandra Barrera shares her expertise on how to create business proposals, apply for permits, scout out business locations, and navigate legal paperwork—all in the entrepreneur's own language. This program is aimed at increasing communities' diversity, equity and inclusiveness, thus improving the quality of life for all their residents.
Rural Prosperity Nebraska's Leading Locally program works with Nebraska residents to revitalize their communities through leadership development and activation. Through a series of locally-designed workshops, seminars and projects, RPN Extension Educators pair their education and expertise with the needs and values of participating communities to help them create stronger, more proactive, more community-aware leaders. This process is aimed at increasing communities' capacity to improve the quality of life for all their residents.
Rural Prosperity Nebraska's Leading Locally program works with Nebraska residents to revitalize their communities through leadership development and activation. Through a series of locally-designed workshops, seminars and projects, RPN Extension Educators pair their education and expertise with the needs and values of participating communities to help them create stronger, more proactive, more community-aware leaders. This process is aimed at increasing communities' capacity to improve the quality of life for all their residents.
Rural Prosperity Nebraska and the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center work with Nebraska residents to revitalize their communities through planning, creating and running cooperatives in their towns. RPN Extension Educators share their education and expertise to help participating communities navigate the paperwork, and legal and logistical processes of getting their co-ops up and running in order to benefit the community as a whole. This process is all aimed at increasing communities' capacity to improve the quality of life for their residents.
Rural Prosperity Nebraska's ECAP (Entrepreneurial Communities Activation Process) program works with Nebraska residents to revitalize their communities through economic growth and development. Through a series of locally-designed surveys, workshops, and projects, RPN Extension educators pair their education and expertise with the needs and values of participating communities to help them strengthen their weaknesses and bolster their strengths. This process is all aimed at increasing communities' capacity to improve the quality of life for their residents.
Learn more from our Community Economic Development Team: https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/com...
Music: https://www.bensound.com
Nebraska communities create, develop and strengthen their towns through recreation-focused projects with the help of UNL's Rural Fellowship interns and their innovative education and experience.
Nebraska communities create, develop and strengthen their towns through infrastructure projects with the help of UNL's Rural Fellowship interns and their innovative education and experience.
Nebraska communities create, develop and strengthen their towns through projects exploring local history, with the help of UNL's Rural Fellowship interns and their innovative education and experience.
Nebraska communities create, develop and strengthen their towns through childcare improvement projects with the help of UNL's Rural Fellowship interns and their innovative education and experience.
Nebraska communities create, develop and strengthen their towns through business development projects with the help of UNL's Rural Fellowship interns and their innovative education and experience.
Information for students interested in becoming a Rural Prosperity Nebraska Student Fellow.
UNL's Rural Fellowship interns use their education and majors in leadership development to help strengthen and develop Nebraska's rural communities. Apply now to be a Rural Fellow for summer 2022 at https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/rural-fellows
UNL's Rural Fellowship interns use their education and majors in community development to help strengthen and innovate Nebraska's rural communities. Apply now to be a Rural Fellow for summer 2022 at https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/rural-fellows
UNL's Rural Fellowship interns use their education and majors in civil engineering to help strengthen and develop Nebraska's rural communities. Apply now to be a Rural Fellow for summer 2022 at https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/rural-fellows
UNL's Rural Fellowship interns use their education and majors in business administration to help strengthen and develop Nebraska's rural communities. Apply now to be a Rural Fellow for summer 2022 at https://ruralprosperityne.unl.edu/rural-fellows
Highlight reel of all the 2021 Rural Fellows, the projects they worked on, and the impact it had on them and on rural Nebraska.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Wahoo, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Valentine, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Thayer County, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Superior, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Schuyler, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Ravenna, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Pierce County, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Ord and Valley County, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Madison and Pierce County, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Macy, Nebraska with the Omaha Tribe during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Lexington and Dawson County, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Imperial, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Gothenburg, Nebraska during Summer 2021.
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on in Custer County, Nebraska during Summer 2021.