Peer-to-Peer Technical Assistance grant awarded to HandMade Small Towns by NC Rural Economic Development Center

HandMade will test a new approach to small town revitalization, one which uses volunteers as lead trainers and peer consultants, thanks to a new Economic Innovations grant from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. HandMade's asset-based, citizen-led community economic development techniques are expected to be shared with dozens of additional small communities throughout Western North Carolina and the state during 2011 and 2012.

Judi Jetson, Handmade Director,  will manage this training and technical assistance project, working in partnership with existing HandMade Small Towns, regional and state resource groups to identify success stories and the people behind them, and develop methods and incentives to share success with more people and places. Topics will cover hands-on, how-to examples of ways to make small towns unique and memorable such as renovating an historic courthouse, developing a cultural activity or exhibit, opening a gallery with work of local artisans and more. All will feature small town volunteers as trainers.

HandMade's business model for this Small Towns Institute will use peer-learning as a way to build a sustainable platform and to serve, at a modest cost, towns too small to have paid staff. Currently there are 12 towns actively participating in HandMade's Small Towns Program, and collectively they have created over 600 jobs, 300 new businesses and attracted $53 million in investment over the past decade. The vision behind this proposal is to create the same magnitude of economic growth over the next 10 years by leveraging the knowledge and power of hundreds of citizen leaders in small towns to plan and implement community development projects which create jobs.