economic development

This piece of the Thrive Rural Framework, the Systems-Level Building Blocks, includes driving forces and conditions that are in larger systems outside the direct control of individual rural communities or regions.

This piece of the Thrive Rural Framework, the Local-Level Building Blocks, includes conditions on the ground in rural places and regions that individual rural communities or regions can act on by themselves.

The Foundational Element of the Thrive Rural Framework requires identifying and dismantling historical and ongoing discriminatory practices that disadvantage rural people and places.

The Thrive Rural Framework helps you take stock, target action, and gauge progress on rural prosperity. We invite everyone involved in rural development to use it to spark new ways of thinking and acting to move communities, regions, and systems toward equitable rural prosperity.

‘Tokunboh Ishmael shares how she is balancing working from a distance and what the pandemic reinforced about creating an inclusive economy. 

In a Hechinger Report op-ed co-authored by Friends of the Children’s Terri Sorrenson, Anne Mosle illuminates parents strengths and resiliency as they’ve navigated overlapping challenges including a global pandemic, social isolation, increased stress and barriers to distance learning:  The pandemic has devastated entire families. Two-generation approaches can uplift them.

In a Morning Consult op-ed, Anne Mosle discusses the historic opportunities the American Rescue Plan offers to cut child poverty in half and increase well-being for all children and families:  Break Cycles of Poverty and Grow Family Prosperity by Making Permanent Investments in Families

The Aspen Institute and the Microfinance Impact Collaborative recently announced the creation of the Entrepreneur Backed Assets (EBA) Fund, which will strengthen the capacity of community-based financial institutions to lend to small businesses in low-income communities and those owned by people of color.

Richenda Van Leeuwen joined the Aspen Institute as Executive Director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) in September. She is an ambassador for equitable and inclusive economic development and brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to leading the work of ANDE—a global network that supports the success of small and growing businesses (SGBs) around the world. She spoke with the Institute’s President and CEO, Dan Porterfield, about the importance of ANDE’s work and the impact of investing in SGBs as a method of changemaking.