The National Association of Counties(NACo) and the National Association of Development Organizations(NADO) Research Foundation hosted the Strengthening Economies in the West Coal-Reliant Communities Challenge on May 1-3, 2019 in Denver, Colo. through the support of the U.S. Economic Development Administration-Denver Regional Office.
This team-based challenge workshop convened county and regional leaders from coal-reliant communities across the West. During this interactive, hands-on forum county & regional teams worked through action plans and implementation roadmaps for economic diversification in their community, while networking and learning from their peers in other communities. Further, this convening offered the opportunity for coal-impacted community leaders to hear from and interact with representatives from the EDA-Denver Regional Office.
County & regional teams will receive post-workshop mentoring and peer-learning assistance to help guide economic diversification planning and implementation.
Below is the link to the full forum agenda, followed by links to the presentations, other resources and photos.
Full Program/Agenda: Strengthening Economies in the West Coal-Reliant Communities Challenge
County & Regional Team Opening Presentations: Identifying Goals, Assets, Challenges
County & Regional Team Implementation Roadmaps
In the News:
- Western communities try to chart new economic paths as coal declines. Route Fifty. May 2
- Coal counties try to plan for uncertain economic future. Denver Post. May 6
- Lincoln County commissioners in Denver for conference on coal communities . Kemmerer Gazette. May 1
Other resources:
- Growing Stronger Economies in Coal Communities Newsletter
- EDA Assistance to Coal Communities(ACC)
- The Commons on Champa: Denver’s Entrepreneurial Hub
- Coworking 101/Rural Technical Assistance (Colorado OEDIT)
- America at Work: A National Mosaic & Roadmap for Tomorrow(Walmart)
- Hope Street Group programs for economic opportunity
- Wyoming Outdoor Recreation Task Force Report
- Recreation Economy for Rural Communities technical assistance program
- Southwest Virginia outdoor recreation economy initiative
- Telling Your Community Story: Strengthening Economies through Place Branding(NACo webinar)
- USDA Rural Development programs & opportunities
- NACo TestIT app for broadband coverage gap identification
- SolSmart program for solar energy planning assistance and recognition
- Wind energy + economic development resources
- Utah Coal Country Strike Team + Alliance for American Dream competition
- Northwest New Mexico Future Forums
- 2019 NACo Annual Conference, July 12-15th, Clark County, Nevada
- 2019 NADO Annual Training Conference, Oct 19-22, Reno, Nevada
This challenge event follows previous educational and peer-learning events supporting coal-reliant communities in the West, including a 2017 Denver forum and four smaller-group forums held in 2017 and 2018 in Richfield, Utah; Billings, Mont.; Delta, Colo.; and Gillette, Wyo.
This three-year “Building Stronger Economies in the West” effort is made possible through the generous support of the U.S. EDA- Denver Regional Office. In addition to the in-person trainings and workshops, our project team looks forward to providing on going support and technical assistance to coal-reliant counties and regions across the West through a bi-weekly newsletter and an interactive webinar series.
For more information, please contact
NACo Program Manager Jack Morgan at jmorgan@naco.org or
NADO RF Associate Director Brett Schwartz at bschwartz@nado.org
