Grab a paper map of your town and a highlighter. Circle the oldest neighborhoods, the ones closest to your downtown or town center. Those are the areas to focus on.

Rural Health Summit 2021: COVID-19 and Rural Nutrition and Fitness Sean Park, program manager for the Illinois Cooperative Development Center, will participate in the summit on Thursday from 12-1 pm.

In his most recent study, Dr. Adee Athiyaman analyzes differences in beliefs among ethnic groups on issues such as healthcare, gun violence, and climate change. His research examines whether people of different ethnicities experience events differently. https://t.co/BS16TUw3hA

Hillsboro community & economic planner Jonathan Weyer will demonstrate how social capital, calculated risks and commitment to an “ownership economy” can help your community to thrive in the global marketplace. Please join us at Midwest CDI in August!

Discover how to recruit new firms to your community this year at Midwest CDI.

Pam Schallhorn, Extension regional specialist in community and economic development, will discuss the development and implementation of community talent retention strategies with Year 3 participants this year at Midwest CDI.

Learning about outside influences of different generations leads to understanding how vastly different experiences and influences are among different age groups. Please join us for CDI 2021, to learn how this can strengthen communication among generations.

Join CDI with "Renew Moline" President/CEO Alexandra Elias. She will discuss growth/development strategies in downtown Moline. She has previously led planning efforts, as well as a major public waterfront redevelopment project, both in downtown San Diego.

Please plan to join the Advanced Class at Midwest CDI, along with Maria Ontiveros and SBDC advisor Ann Friederichs, to explore this very unique entrepreneurial and cultural endeavor.

Measuring Community Progress raises questions and then provides answers to how and why we should empirically track community development progress. IIRA Director Chris Merrett will offer this session to Year Three participants at Midwest CDI in August.

Register for Midwest CDI now to enjoy the Early Bird Rate. You can register to attend Year 1, 2, or 3 by selecting the appropriate button. Advanced training is also available to individuals who have completed all 3 years of Midwest CDI previously.

Local businesses are the main supporters of local charities and school activities. Learn more at Midwest CDI 2021, about the advantages of keeping dollars in the local economy, including the support of existing jobs and helping business owners to remain.

The Year 1 field trip features LeClaire, Iowa's tourism and downtown development, providing participants with a first-person perspective on this 187-year-old historic community and its highly successful transformation over the past 19 years.

The year 1-3 schedule is now available, for Midwest CDI.

In November 2020, Qatalyst Research Group shared their findings from a review of current programs from big cities and small towns all over the world that attract remote workers.

In our Survey of Rural Challenges, people ranked downtown as one of the top challenges, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021. It doesn’t matter whether you call it your Main Street, High Street or town centre, you’re not alone if it’s a challenge.

As many colleges and universities in the United States approach their first anniversary of operating in a work-from-home environment, some of the policies and expectations for remote workers are becoming permanent. https://t.co/rQq0QDX9Ka

Planners need the right ingredients: An efficient and inclusive neighborhood must have an optimal mix of housing types, commercial and public services needed by current and future residents, employees, and visitors.

One solution is to "ensure that post-pandemic growth is also tied to building a greener economy" and that new policies foster clean technologies as part of the economic recovery.

Despite this year's challenges our partners, presenters and constituents worked together to help our first virtual Rural Economic Development Conference succeed far beyond our expectations. Powerpoint presentations can be downloaded from IIRA's website.