Along with a range of research and technical assistance efforts, we are currently involved in three major projects:

States Subsidies & Rural Communities
With support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we are analyzing the pernicious impact of business subsidies on rural communities in 15 states. Specifically, we are documenting how the vast majority of subsidy programs focus on nonlocal businesses that are least likely to benefit rural communities, and proposing policy alternatives that could benefit these communities.

Community Food Enterprise: Local Success in a Global Marketplace
With grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we are profiling two dozen businesses – half in the United States, half abroad – that show the diverse structures, opportunities, and challenges facing local food producers, processors, and distributors. The project is being done in partnership with the Henry Wallace Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Winrock International. Visit the project website through Wallace Center here.

Economic Beanstalks
Working with the Appalachian Center, in partnership with the University of Kentucky’s Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute and the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. we are preparing a companion workbook to The Small-Mart Revolution tentatively titled “Economic Beanstalks: How A Community Can Revitalize Itself through Homegrown Business.” This workbook will grow out of an intensive learning process in partnership with grassroots teams from up to eight low-income communities in rural Appalachia.