In 2023, we had 540 attendees from 40 states, D.C., and Canada including 73 speakers! Thank you all for joining us for 19 innovative sessions, Solutions Slam, and evening CONNECT Event. According to our survey results, 94% of attendees made valuable connections at the summit. A few examples include:

  • “It’s great to be able to interact with professionals who work the same positions in different parts of the country that have similarities and contrasts from the Northeast. Very valuable experience sharing ideas.”
  • “When having the chance to speak with Nova Arts, Brewbakers, and Arts Alive, I found a model of a small town music venue that shares revenue and expenses. This is something fantastic for me to share on my Small Town Big Arts platform, but I also made a call to a developer in Lynchburg who I am close to. We are starting to scout possible locations for something modeled after this. Very exciting.”
  • “Because I met Brian and Dusty, the Independent has joined the Association of Nonprofit News Organizations.”
  • “I made connections with the gentlemen from TradesUp and MashUp Lab and plan to talk to them about how we can use their ideas in our communities.”
  • “I made connections with folks from my area that will be excellent collaborators in my food and farm work.”

Watch the recap video!


The Opening Ceremony featured poetry by Shanta Lee, music by Monadnock Music, and a keynote panel with Tony Pipa, Gloria Dickerson, and Alex Beck. 


Day two kicked off with our Solutions Slam and a keynote address from Chris Estes.


The closing session focused on reimagining rural policy.

Click each icon to learn more about the track and its sessions.

 

Entrepreneurship Track

Each successive recession in recent history has left in its wake an ever-widening economic gap between rural communities and national trends. Along with a stunning lack of new business formation in rural America, if this trend continues after this current pandemic-induced recession, it will perpetuate ever-widening gaps in income, population, education attainment, innovation, politics, employment and opportunity. Radically Rural seeks to provide solutions, guidelines and models for community leaders, groups and individuals to create a rich culture of entrepreneurship, a thriving local economy and a vibrant community.

Who Should Attend: Entrepreneurs, economic and community development professionals, government leaders, business leaders, community and downtown advocates, entrepreneur support organizations, lenders and other business funders

Track Leaders: Chris Harris, Senior Director of Growth and Strategy, Kansas Leadership Center & Sara Powell, Program Director, Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship


Trailblazing a Path to Funding: Fresh Models Meeting the Capital Needs of All Entrepreneurs

September 27 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Hannah Grimes Center

Entrepreneurship plays a big role in our rural communities creating thriving and resilient places to live and meaningful and sustainable work for families. The structural and systemic barriers facing many entrepreneurs for accessing the funding needed to start and grow businesses can be great, threatening many of these enterprises before they even get off the ground. This session will lift up some innovative models for addressing these challenges. We will explore: How did they do it? Who do they serve? How does it fill in the gaps? 

This session is for you if:

  • You want to hear from National Leaders executing on innovative solutions for addressing the capital needs of entrepreneurs 
  • You want to learn how these models are tested and scaled across the country 
  • You want to understand how to take these concepts and apply them to your own entrepreneurial community/ecosystem

Moderator: Lakota Vogel, Executive Director, Four Bands Community Fund

Speakers: Laurel Adams, President, Regional Economic Development Center; Tosh Comer, Coaching & Connections Manager, Thread Capital; Swarvoski Little, Loan Officer, Change Labs

Growing Rural Entrepreneurs: Rural Entrepreneurs & Their Stories

September 27 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Hannah Grimes Center

Entrepreneurs are a critical ingredient to a thriving rural community. They solve problems and support a vibrant, diverse, and growing economy. Nearly all entrepreneurs will need to access capital to start or grow their venture and too many entrepreneurs will face unequal access to that capital. This session will showcase four entrepreneurs as we learn about their journey to start and grow a rural venture. Attendees at this session will learn about the work of supporting rural entrepreneurs by listening to four 1:1 conversations between an entrepreneur and the entrepreneurship support program that helped them make progress.

This session is for you if:

  • You want to hear from entrepreneurs and their supporters about how they grew their venture and why they chose to do it in a rural community
  • You want to see how entrepreneurship support and capital access programs directly impact rural entrepreneurs
  • You want to understand how to take these concepts and apply them to your own entrepreneurial community/ecosystem

Moderator: Alison Chisolm, Owner, Consultant Squared

Speakers: Laurel Adams, President, Regional Economic Development Center; Tosh Comer, Coaching & Connections Manager, Thread Capital; Swarvoski Little, Loan Officer, Change Labs


Taking it Back Home

September 28 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Hannah Grimes Center

Join us to continue our exploration of innovative capital access models for all rural entrepreneurs in an interactive workshop style session. We will spend 90 minutes applying our learning from the first two entrepreneurship panels to the challenges in your own communities. Facilitators will help us diagnose the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in your community and identify the assets and strategies that could help us make progress. Participants will leave with a working understanding of how they can start or continue this work back home.

 

Moderators: Chris Harris, Senior Director of Growth & Strategy, Kansas Leadership Center; Racquel Thiesen, Director of Community Partnerships, Kansas Leadership Center

PitchFork Challenge

This is the culmination of a Hannah Grimes program. Learn more here.

September 28 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Colonial Showroom

The PitchFork Challenge provides money and momentum for rural entrepreneurs in the form of a friendly business pitch competition. Rural entrepreneurs are coached to create a compelling pitch describing their business opportunity in pursuit of a cash award. Ultimately, one business owner is chosen to receive a $10,000 cash prize every year. For the inaugural Radically Rural Summit in 2018, the success of the Hannah Grimes PitchFork Program was leveraged into the PitchFork Challenge, which provided local entrepreneurs in eligible counties with the opportunity to meet like-minded entrepreneurs, develop relationships with investors, and build up the skill of talking about their business in a clear and succinct way.

Moderator: Alison Chisolm, Owner, Consultant Squared

 

Judges: Roy Wallen, CEO, Directional Healthcare Advisors; Jenine Winesuff Rubin, Investor, Agile Angel Partners; Christopher Janke, Manager, Small Business Butter; Julie Glosner, Southern Regional Director, NH Small Business Development Center; Cody Morrison, Executive Director, Monadnock Economic Development Corporation
Community Journalism Track

Local journalism, a bedrock for informed and successful small communities, is under threat. More and more towns are losing their local news sources to the economic upheaval facing the news business and dramatic changes in the ways people get their information. We know that when a trusted local news operation leaves a town, taxes increase, bond rates worsen and community economic development suffers. The Community Journalism Track for Radically Rural assembles expert journalists to help small news organizations build sustainability. Each year we pull together a program that is scalable for rural newsrooms, providing advice and tips that build more responsiveness and relevancy.

Who Should Attend: Journalists, community leaders and organizers, law- and policy-makers and government leaders.

Track Leaders: Terrence Williams, President & COO, The Keene Sentinel & Jack Rooney, Managing Editor for Audience Development, The Keene Sentinel


How’d They Do That? Building Sustainability

September 27 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Colonial Showroom

The demise of local journalism in rural America has received national attention, but in more places than you think, small news organizations are thriving. Our panel discussion will give you insights into how three news organizations have evolved their
operations to secure a bright future.

 

Moderator: Terry Williams, Senior Advisor of Audience & Community Engagement, The Keene Sentinel

 

Speakers: Lindsey Young, Co-owner, Kansas Publishing Ventures; Chris Baker, Publisher, Taos News; Tristan Scott, Managing Editor, The Flathead Beacon

Kansas Press: The Fourth Estate in the Heart of America

September 27 @ 12:30-1:30 PM | Colonial Showroom

Jeremiah Ariaz, a professor of art at Louisiana State University, took a sabbatical in 2022 and visited 115 newspapers in his home state of Kansas. He set out to document the challenges facing both democracy and newspapers, seemingly joined at the hip these days in their respective futures. In his exhibit, The Fourth Estate, his photographs present vivid and stark images of the decline facing newspapers, offering a grim retelling of several that have closed but suggesting hope for those who persevere. Please register for this session as seats are limited

Ariaz says: “My photographs celebrate the civic function, labor, and technology at the heart of local newspapers’ production, while also documenting an industry in free-fall. Faced with the gutting of local journalism facilitated by digital news, social media, and diminishing profit margins, these newspapers often struggle as they continue to serve their communities.”

Speaker: Jeremiah Ariaz, Professor of Art, Louisiana State University

Register Here


How’d They Do That? Generating Audience Revenue

September 27 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Colonial Showroom

Successful rural news organizations are building revenue through fundraising, membership and paid readership. Our panel discussion unveils best practices among for-profit organizations and non-profits alike.

Moderator: Shay Totten, Newsroom Success Manager, American Press Institute
Speakers: Arik Ligeti, Director of Audience, The Narwhal; Christiann Mader, Founder/Editor, The Current; Carolina Guerrero, Co-founder, Radio Ambulante

How’d They Do That? Groundbreaking Journalism

September 28 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Colonial Showroom

A deep dive into how three journalists — from Mississippi to North Carolina to Maine — reported powerful stories that have deeply impacted the rural communities they cover.

Moderator: Jack Rooney, Managing Editor for Audience Development, The Keene Sentinel

Speakers: Victoria Bouloubasis, Journalist & Filmmaker; Adam Ganucheau, Editor-in-Chief, Mississippi Today; Samantha Hogan, Investigative Reporter, The Maine Monitor
Arts & Culture Track

 

The Arts are an expression of our cultural roots, our reality today, and our understanding of what may happen tomorrow, and, as such, are vital to the health of our rural communities. The arts feed our sense of belonging, understanding and social development and are an excellent means of sharing culture and connecting through beauty and stories. The arts can also be an intrinsic part of economic development – instigating tourism, downtown spending, and more. Join us at Radically Rural as we explore stories from rural communities about how the arts build community connections, grow pride in our rural spaces, and celebrate the growing diversity of our communities.

Who Should Attend:  Community Development professionals, Planners, Architects and Designers, Philanthropists, Nonprofit and Business Grantmakers and Evaluators, Municipal and City leaders, Developers, Writers and Journalists, Local arts agencies, Arts organization leaders and programming directors and development officers

Track Leader: Jessica Gelter, Executive Director, Arts Alive


Reimagining Your Welcome to Rural Artists

September 27 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Historical Society – Exhibit Hall

Artists are a great asset for a community. They put on events that drive tourism and connect community members, they bring complex and multi-layered perspectives to local issues and conversations, and they make our communities beautiful with sculpture, murals, installations, and more. The value that a strong creative community can bring is immense, so besides just trying to attract artists to move in and “do their thing,” what can help creatives thrive in rural communities? We’ll hear about three projects of rural arts service organizations supporting creatives across rural spaces and helping them thrive. After the three presenters share the projects they’re working on, we will open it up to a group conversation with the audience.

Speakers: Blair Benjamin, Assets for Artists Director, MASS MoCA; Molly Johnston, Rural Program Manager, Springboard for the Arts; Kyle Whalen, Director, La Luz Centro Cultural


Creative Community Engagement: Using Theatre to Develop Community-Based Solutions
September 28 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Historical Society – Exhibit Hall
Planning a project or developing an initiative in your community? This is an opportunity to get on your feet and practice a new technique to support your community engagement, problem solving, and feedback processes! Learn how theater can effectively address pressing community issues by tapping into the power of community imagination with this hands-on, participatory session. Discover how this fun approach breaks down barriers, uncovers community-based solutions, and fosters enthusiasm within your target community. Our facilitator, Catherine, will draw upon theatre-based practices with proven results –  successful transformative outcomes across diverse, urban, rural, and marginalized communities.

 

Speaker: Catherine Stewart, Theater & Filmmaker, Film Unbound
Land & Community Track

Land use permeates conversations in rural communities, from forestry to cattle grazing, to farming and to recreation. The livelihoods of these towns are often tied to the surrounding landscape and lands. Because the health of this land is impacted by the climate crisis, communities must act, adjust and adapt. Join Radically Rural as we introduce how people can better connect to the land for economic, social and healing benefits.

Who Should Attend: Farmers, Agricultural Service Providers, Environmental Professionals, Public Health Professionals, Planners, Students of Environment and Agriculture Programs, Community members interested in improving the agricultural economy of their region, Community members interested in improving public health and land stewardship

Track Leaders: Amanda Littleton, District Manager, Cheshire County Conservation District & Matt Smetana, Community Engagement Coordinator, Cheshire County Conservation District


The Agrarian Collaborative

September 27 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Delegation Hall

Kentucky farmer, writer, and rural advocate Wendell Berry has described agrarianism as “a way of thought based on land” (“The Whole Horse”). This simple phrase has radical implications for each of us, whether we live in the country, the city, or the backcountry. By rooting our minds in nature’s standards, we alter our foundations–our cultures, our economies, our households, our ethics. In this light, agrarianism is not simply a concern for farmers and rural folks. We all have agrarian responsibilities.

 

Berry directs our attention to economic responsibilities, “An agrarian economy rises up from the fields, woods, and streams—from the complex of soils, slopes, weathers, connections, influences, and exchanges that we mean when we speak, for example of the local community or the local watershed. The agrarian mind is therefore not regional or national, let alone global, but local.” In other words, think small, get to know your place, and work where you are with what you have at hand. Cooperation is the core of this vision. An agrarian economy arises through cooperation between people, land, and community. It arises through connections across landscapes and regions, through interdependencies of rural and urban communities.

 

These ideas are all well and good, but they generate a litany of questions. What does an agrarian economy look like? How does it relate to the big problems we face every day, especially in often overlooked, maligned, and under-resourced rural places? How can it help small town and rural communities?

 

In this interactive session, participants will explore how Berry’s definition extends agrarian membership to people from all walks of life–whether or not they farm and whether they live in the country, a small town, a suburban enclave, or an urban center. By studying illustrations of agrarian cooperative economics, including The Berry Center’s Our Home Place Meat program and other collective farming and community development projects, participants will consider models for connecting places across the countryside by drawing on local knowledge. Through guided discussion and exercises, participants will think through how cooperative efforts, grounded in ecological agrarian mindsets, can support their own home places to support land-conserving communities.

 

Moderator: Andy Pressman, Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Communities Director, National Center for Appropriate Technology

 

Speakers: Mike Lewis, Senior Manager, National Center for Appropriate Technology; Leah Bayens, Dean of Wendell Berry Farming Prorgam, The Berry Center

The Social Value of Agriculture

September 28 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Hannah Grimes Center

With present-day challenges and an unpredictable future on the horizon, we have come to recognize that resilience is key to success. In practice, this resilience often comes in the form of strong and supportive communities. It’s common knowledge that vibrant local agriculture can build community resilience by meeting our needs for fresh and nourishing food and natural
products. Ask any farmer, and they will tell you that agriculture fuels not only their bodies but their souls as well. Recognizing this opportunity, farms, organizations and municipalities are exploring the values of agriculture as a form of social service, therapeutic practice, community- builder, economic bridge and so much more. These so-called “social” values provide often
profound opportunities to meet the diverse needs of communities and of the farmers themselves.

 

During this session, panelists representing three innovative organizations will share about their organizational philosophies and the diverse ways in which they engage with agriculture. We will then be asking them to explore some of the challenges the organizations identified in their respective communities, and the unique ways in which agriculture has been used to address the needs of both their communities and those who farm. We will conclude the session by actively reflecting on our own communities–identifying existing and future challenges and the opportunities which may result from exploring agriculture as a tool to build communities and resilience. The goal for this session is to provide attendees with an understanding of the roles agriculture can play in our communities and skills to identify community challenges and opportunities.

 

Speakers: Keri Toye, Children’s Garden Caretaker, Green Chimneys; Lorie Dommermuth, Garden Teacher, Green Chimneys; Brett Rapkin-Citrenbaum, Farm & Enterprise Manager, Benevolence Farm; Sylvain Bukasa, Member-farmer, New American Farmers Cooperative, Fresh Start Farms
Clean Energy Track

The climate crisis is impacting rural communities disproportionately. These communities frequently depend on agriculture and tourism economies, but changes in weather patterns threaten both. Residents of rural communities also spend more of their household dollars on energy, studies show. Investment in energy efficiency, renewables and community solutions to electricity purchasing can provide opportunities to reduce costs, increase comfort and enhance rural living and resilience. Radically Rural seeks to provide solutions, guidelines and models for community leaders, groups and individuals to promote clean energy as a means to combat the climate crisis.

Who Should Attend: Municipal and city leaders, community, regional and statewide leaders; community organizers and energy committee members (local, regional, statewide); clean energy activists and advocates, farmers and foresters

Track Leader: Rob Werner, State Director for NH, League of Conservation Voters


Climate, Clean Energy, and Public Health – Collab with All in for Health

September 27 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Exhibit Hall – Historical Society
The public health impacts of climate change are increasingly evident, from an increase of conditions such as asthma and greater exposure to ticks to the psychological effects of dealing with the climate crisis. This collaborative session between the health and clean energy tracks will examine the connections between public health and climate action, featuring the work of New Hampshire Health Care Workers for Climate Action.

 

Moderator: Rob Werner, NH State Director, League of Conservation Voters

 

Speakers: Robert Dewey, Vice Chair, NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action; Suzanne Gaulacher, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Plymouth State University; Carl Cooley, Director, NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action


Resident-Owned Communities: Where Naturally Affordable Homeownership, Neighborhood Self-Empowerment, and Renewable Energy Meet – Collab with Main Street

September 27 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | East Lot, Gilbo Ave

Today, it’s well known that a good home is hard to find. A nationwide housing shortage exists not only in urban areas, but in many rural communities as well. In towns and villages across the country, many working families struggle to find a safe and comfortable place to live. Many younger people can’t find a starter home within financial reach. Many older adults can’t find an accessible, right-sized home in which to spend their retirement years.

 

Addressing the housing shortage will require a variety of approaches. This session will explore a particular model that has demonstrated success but is often overlooked in conversations about rural housing policy. A resident-owned community (ROC) is a manufactured housing neighborhood owned and operated by the people who live there. ROCs provide a stable and high-quality homeownership option that’s financially self-supporting.

 

Session attendees will visit Tanglewood Estates, an ROC located in Keene. They’ll experience first-hand what ROCs are all about, what makes their formation possible, and how residents step up to assume leadership responsibilities. The session will feature remarks by the NH Community Loan Fund, a non-profit lender that provides financing and technical assistance to ROCs across the state. ROC leaders from other parts of the country will join us to provide a national perspective on ROCs—the positive impact they’re having today and what the future holds in store. Attendees will also learn about creative strategies that ROCs are taking to realize savings from renewable energy and increased efficiency, thereby making ROCs an even more cost-effective form of housing.

Space is limited. Please register in advance for this session.

Speakers: Jeannie Oliver, Senior Director, ROC-NH; Jeanee Wright, Cooperative Program Manager, ROC USA; Mary O’Hara, Executive Vice President, ROC Movement; Kelli Cicirelli, Director of Organizational Training and Leadership, ROC-NH; Dan Hunt, Resident, Animas View MHP Cooperative, Inc.


Empowering Communities by Understanding Clean Energy Investments

September 28 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Delegation Hall

The clean energy investments in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) include many opportunities for folks to take advantage of energy savings – financial incentives for heat pumps, energy efficiency audits, solar installations and electric vehicles are now available. This session will delve into the many opportunities available through IRA funding and how best to take advantage of these benefits. A portion of the session will feature interactive stations with experts to help navigate specific programs, so that you can get all your questions answered in a personal and direct way. Really grasping the benefits of these energy savings will allow you to be able to take this knowledge back with you to your community and help others do the same.  We’ll brainstorm innovative ways that we can spread the word about these programs in bite sized and doable chunks, such as inviting a few friends to a coffee shop or tacking on a talk to an existing event. Every person who takes advantage of these programs adds up to big impact!
Moderator: Rob Werner, NH State Director, League of Conservation Voters
Speakers: Andrew Duncan, Energy Training Coordinator, Community College System of NH; Nora Hanke, Program Manager, Monadnock Sustainability Hub; Elizabeth McKenna, Special Assistant for Policy and Projects, Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s Office

 

All in for Health Track

Why should community members care about health? A community that cares about the health of its members cultivates a vibrant and sustainable place for living, working and playing. A healthy community positions itself to attract new businesses and residents, keeps young families in town, lowers costs for employers, and helps the elderly age gracefully in place. It takes all of us to create this vision of a healthy community. Join us in the All in for Health track at Radically Rural to learn more about your role in this picture. This year we’ll focus on the foundation of community well-being sculpted by the social determinants of health. We will discuss topics such as how adequate housing and community-based behavioral health resources can improve the lives of rural communities. What specifically can you take away from this track? Tangible tools to bring home: replicable ideas from model projects, innovative ideas to spark deep conversation about how everyone can contribute to a healthy and vibrant community.

Who Should Attend: Community organizers, municipal and business leaders, entrepreneurs, activists, philanthropists, the general public, and healthcare workers.

Track Leader: India Olchefske, Project Associate, Partners for Andean Community Health


Climate, Clean Energy, and Public Health – Collab with Clean Energy

September 27 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Exhibit Hall – Historical Society

The public health impacts of climate change are increasingly evident, from an increase of conditions such as asthma and greater exposure to ticks to the psychological effects of dealing with the climate crisis. This collaborative session between the health and clean energy tracks will examine the connections between public health and climate action, featuring the work of New Hampshire Health Care Workers for Climate Action.

 

Moderator: Rob Werner, NH State Director, League of Conservation Voters

Speakers: Robert Dewey, Vice Chair, NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action; Suzanne Gaulacher, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Plymouth State University; Carl Cooley, Director, NH Healthcare Workers for Climate Action


 Folks Helping Folks: From Crisis to Preventative Care Outside the Traditional Medical Setting

September 28 @ 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM | Hannah Grimes Center

Rural health innovation is often thought to be limited to mobile health vans and telemedicine. The challenges, including provider shortages and limited resources, are often thought to be insurmountable. By leveraging paramedical and non-medical community members these rural areas have used their greatest resource, themselves, to support the health of their communities. 

In this session of the health track, Barbara Pierce from Virtual Crisis Care and Megan Weis from Rural Libraries and Health Cooperative Agreement will discuss two innovative community-led health programs that seek to provide care at opposite ends of the spectrum, crisis and prevention. Both programs use non-traditional community members as care providers and technology to provide care outside of the typical medical setting. 

 

Moderator: Olivia Belanger, Health Solutions Reporter, Monadnock Region Health Reporting Lab

Speakers: Barbara Pierce, Director of Justice Initiatives, Crime and Justice Institute; Megan Weis, Director of Community Engagement, SC Center for Rural & Primary Healthcare

Folks Helping Folks: Using the Community Paramedicine Model to Support a Community’s Unique Needs

September 28 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Exhibit Hall – Historical Society

Rural health innovation is often thought to be limited to mobile health vans and telemedicine. The challenges, including provider shortages and limited resources, are often thought to be insurmountable. By leveraging paramedical and non-medical community members these rural areas have used their greatest resource, themselves, to support the health of their communities. 

The relatively new and evolving community paramedicine model is an example of leveraging community members, in this case, paramedics and emergency medical technicians, to operate in expanded roles with additional training to improve access to care.

In this session of the health track, Darren Forman and Samantha Swearingen from Indiana’s Project Swaddle and Rick Petrie and Jonnathan Busko from Maine Critical Access Integrated Paramedics will discuss how their respective programs tailor the community paramedic model of care for their unique rural communities to increase access to care and fill in the gaps left by medical deserts all while promoting a strong and sustainable healthcare workforce in rural America. 

Moderator: Randy Schwartz, President, Public Health Systems Consultants

Speakers: Darren Forman, Firefighter/Paramedic, Project Swaddle; Samantha Swearingen, Project Manager, Project Swaddle; Jonnathan Busko, Medical Director of Care Delivery Transformation, St. Joseph Healthcare; Rick Petrie, COO, North East Mobile Health Services

Main Street Track

Main Streets are the socio-economic centers of rural communities. Their ability to thrive is essential to the continued economic success of small cities and towns, and these centers imbue their residents with a sense of place. This awareness is often tied to the past, inextricability set in the present and looking toward the future. Facing challenges of today means keeping Main Street surviving and even thriving. Tomorrow’s future doesn’t mean leaving everything behind but, rather, acknowledging what to save and what to improve. Reimagining Main Streets can enliven stakeholders and residents in fundamentally new ways. Join us at Radically Rural as we explore the rebirth of Main Street and the positive impacts available to rural communities.

Who Should Attend: Business owners and professionals, municipal and city planners, community members, volunteers and individuals interested in community revitalization

Track Leader: Todd Horner, Senior Planner, Southwest Regional Planning Committee


Strengthening Rural Communities through Welcoming New Arrivals

September 28 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Delegation Hall

Many small towns and cities across the country are facing similar demographic headwinds: an aging population, out-migrating young people, and a shrinking workforce. Given these challenges, some communities have recognized the power and promise of opening their arms to community members with immigrant backgrounds, including refugees. Supporting new arrivals in rural places, however, poses unique challenges. For example, a lack of racial/ethnic diversity, limited transportation options, and the absence of translation services can all pose barriers to either short-term settlement, or, perhaps more importantly, making a long-term home in a rural environment. Come learn about efforts in several rural communities to put the infrastructure and services in place necessary for new arrivals to thrive and set down roots. We’ll hear about the challenges and rewards that this work involves.

Speakers: Greg Richane, Volunteer & Co-sponsorship Manager, Ascentria Care Alliance; Alex Beck, Welcoming Communities Manager, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation; Martha Tecca, Co-leader, Upper Valley Neighborhood Support Team, SHARE; Joe Shapiro, Keene Immigrant and Refugee Partnership, Monadnock Neighborhood Support Team, State Representative; Judy Reed, Project Home


Resident-Owned Communities: Where Naturally Affordable Homeownership, Neighborhood Self-Empowerment, and Renewable Energy Meet – Collab with Clean Energy

September 27 @ 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | East Lot, Gilbo Ave

Today, it’s well known that a good home is hard to find. A nationwide housing shortage exists not only in urban areas, but in many rural communities as well. In towns and villages across the country, many working families struggle to find a safe and comfortable place to live. Many younger people can’t find a starter home within financial reach. Many older adults can’t find an accessible, right-sized home in which to spend their retirement years.

 

Addressing the housing shortage will require a variety of approaches. This session will explore a particular model that has demonstrated success but is often overlooked in conversations about rural housing policy. A resident-owned community (ROC) is a manufactured housing neighborhood owned and operated by the people who live there. ROCs provide a stable and high-quality homeownership option that’s financially self-supporting.

 

Session attendees will visit Tanglewood Estates, an ROC located in Keene. They’ll experience first-hand what ROCs are all about, what makes their formation possible, and how residents step up to assume leadership responsibilities. The session will feature remarks by the NH Community Loan Fund, a non-profit lender that provides financing and technical assistance to ROCs across the state. ROC leaders from other parts of the country will join us to provide a national perspective on ROCs—the positive impact they’re having today and what the future holds in store. Attendees will also learn about creative strategies that ROCs are taking to realize savings from renewable energy and increased efficiency, thereby making ROCs an even more cost-effective form of housing.

 

Speakers: Jeannie Oliver, Senior Director, ROC-NH; Jeanee Wright, Cooperative Program Manager, ROC USA; Mary O’Hara, Executive Vice President, ROC Movement; Kelli Cicirelli, Director of Organizational Training and Leadership, ROC-NH; Dan Hunt, Resident, Animas View MHP Cooperative, Inc.

Learn about previous summits: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018.

Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship Sponsors