Community Economic Development
Division of Extension
We advance research about community and economic development in Wisconsin and provide applied research, education, and assistance to individuals, local governments, and community organizations.
There are about 50,000 employer businesses owned by people over 55 years old in Minnesota. Or about 50% of the businesses in the state. In this webinar, guest presenter, Michael Darger, describes efforts at the University of Minnesota Extension to work across organizations to raise awareness among business owners and create support for business succession and transition (BST) planning in rural areas.
Over the last couple of decades, community economic development practitioners and researchers have explored the importance of quality of life on economic activity and population growth. Dr. Amanda Weinstein discusses her work on the importance of quality of life for Midwestern communities and shares what this might mean for a broader set of economic development policy recommendations.
With rising costs to students and soaring debt levels, many people are questioning the value of pursuing higher education. Nationally, a person with a bachelor’s degree will earn about $560,980 or 37.8% more than a person with a high school degree, even while accounting for lost years of work while obtaining the degree.
Building on the data sources described in Part 1, this session explores how to use data once you have extracted it. Real-world examples will be shared to demonstrate how data can be used in applications related to commuting patterns, retail surplus and leakage, workforce development, housing analysis, and industry expansion and retention.
This session provides an overview of data sources to help guide community economic development efforts at the local and regional levels. Topics covered include labor force characteristics, demographics, measures of industrial concentration, sales tax collections, and housing data options.
As a growing number of Wisconsin farms struggle to survive, many farm households (families) are dependent on off farm income to offset weak and unstable farm sourced income. Over the five-year average (2016-2020) average household income for Wisconsin farm operators is $98,353of which $20,210 comes from farming activities, and the remaining $78,143 comes from off farm sources. One strategy to ensure the continued operation of most Wisconsin farms is to focus on enhancing off farm employment opportunities.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2022 — Innovation moves the economy forward. Innovations are new products, processes, or services that create value for customers. Innovations often signal an improvement over a past model or way of doing things. Innovations can be significant, disrupting the status quo. Many innovations, however, are modest, offering small increases in quality of […]
Entrepreneurial activity increased sharply in Wisconsin in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Entrepreneurship is a key part of any healthy economy but ensuring that new business activity leads to significant economic impact by creating high quality jobs can be difficult. Communities can take a lead role in a range of strategies that help entrepreneurs grow and be successful to make the most of this opportunity to improve their economies.
Summary April 2022 — Dr. Alejandra Ros Pilarz discusses the early care and education landscape in Wisconsin, how it has changed over the past 15 years, and the implications for children and families. She describes the current state of the early care and education workforce, as well as challenges and opportunities for supporting the workforce […]
National Restaurant Association Downtown Restaurants by N. David Milder, DANTH, Inc. March 2022 — Restaurants and culinary experiences can be extremely valuable additions to a downtown area. They serve downtown workers and residents as well as attract visitors to the center of the community. They serve both an economic and social role in the community, […]
The development of seasonal and recreational housing units in Wisconsin reflects the economic transitions of many counties that were formerly dependent on natural resource extraction to a current reliance on services, hospitality, and recreation. With these transformations also come regional opportunities and challenges related to the growth of seasonal and recreational housing.
In this webinar, we discuss how city leaders, businesses, property owners, and others can “shape their city” for the betterment of all and how Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) can be used as a tool in that process. The focus of the webinar is on leadership and partnerships that help create an effective downtown organization.
