Western LGUs and WRDC Partners Western LGUs • America Samoa Community College • Blackfeet Community College • Chief Dull Knife College • College of Micronesia - Kolonia • Colorado State University • Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station • Crownpoint Institute of Technology • Diné College • Fort Belknap College • Fort Peck Community College • Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station • Institute of American Indian Arts • Little Big Horn College • Montana State University • New Mexico State University • Northern Marianas College • Northwest Indian College • Oregon State University • Salish Kootenai College • Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute • Stone Child College • University of Alaska Fairbanks • University of Arizona • University of California • University of Guam • University of Hawaii • University of Idaho • University of Nevada Reno • University of Wyoming • University of Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station • Utah State University • Utah Agricultural Experiment Station • Washington State University WRDC Partners • CSREES-USDA • Center for Rural Affairs • Food Innovation Center (Oregon) • Morgan Valley Lamb • North Central Regional Center for Rural Development • Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development • Northwest Area Foundation • Rural Community Assistance Corporation • Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) • Southern Rural Development Center • Southwest Marketing Network • Utah State University College of HASS • Utah State University College of NR • Utah State University Cooperative Extension

Western Entrepreneurial Listening Sessions

Now available!
The WRDC's Listening Session Summary:
"Sounding off about Rural Entrepreneurship in the West"

The WRDC coordinated Entrepreneurial Listening Sessions throughout the West in response to the 2004 RFP issued by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Corporation for Enterprise Development. In this request, these two organizations were soliciting interested parties to create Rural Entrepreneurship Development Systems. 

The overwhelming response to this RFP culminated in Entrepreneurial Listening Sessions being held across the United States with the facilitation for each session being coordinated by the Regional Rural Development Centers.

Click here for a detailed map of those states that participated in these sessions.

Background Information
Fifty-six million people live and work in rural America. Over 25 million proprietor-owned businesses operate in rural America. One fourth of all part-time and full-time jobs in rural America are linked to rural proprietors. Current data clearly show that small businesses generate the lion’s share of new jobs in rural America. Residents value their communities and know they contribute significantly to the local, state and national economy. Yet most residents, businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations living and working in rural America feel that their voices and needs are continually being reduced by state and federal government.