North Central Regional Center for Rural Development

Robin Carlson founded a health care company in her hometown of Courtland and became elected mayor. Soon, her community will be hosting the second annual Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities conference for small businesses and support organizations across Kansas. Read more: https://extension.k-state.edu/news-and-publications/news/stories/2026/05/kansas-profile-courtland-robin-carlson.ht

📢 Registration is open!
Join us June 11–12 in Waterloo for the Iowa Farm & Food Conference
Hosted by Iowa State University Extension & Outreach, the Iowa Food System Coalition, and the Iowa Farm to School and Early Care Coalition, this biennial gathering brings together farmers, educators, food system practitioners, supply chain partners, nonprofits, and community leaders working to strengthen Iowa’s food system.

This year’s theme, Futuring our Food System, focuses on building resilience and shaping what comes next for food and farming in Iowa.

📝 Register by May 31:
👉 https://ow.ly/Zc3L50YYgus

Reimagining the path: Four lessons for navigating change While the process to redesign and innovate may be daunting, change is often necessary when working with partners on long-term projects or impact. Discover helpful tips for leading a community or program through a transition.

Communities don’t grow stronger by accident, they’re built by people willing to lead.

The Community Development Institute West is a 4.5-day immersive training (July 20–24, 2026, Boise, Idaho), designed for individuals working in, or passionate about, community and economic development, housing, education, government, nonprofits, and local leadership.

If you’re working to strengthen your community, this program gives you the strategies, tools and peer support you'll need to be highly effective.

Learn practical skills, such as:
• Community asset mapping & strategic planning
• Stakeholder engagement & leadership development
• Economic development and local resilience strategies

🔗 Learn more & register: https://wrdc.uidaho.edu/cdiwest/

NCRCRD is excited to share the North Central Region Household Survey Reports. These 13 reports (one regional report and twelve state reports) present index measures that synthesize multiple survey questions from the NCR-Stat: Baseline Survey 2024 into meaningful indicators of household and community well-being. These indices also enable comparisons between rural and urban areas across the North Central Region and provide benchmarks for tracking changes over time. https://bit.ly/4u6ln4x

With support from the North Central Cooperative Extension Association, the reports were compiled by the NCRCRD team of Michael D. Wilcox Jr., Zuzana Bednarik, DeAndre Malone, and Mary Breidenbach.

✉️Join us June 1 & 2 in Virginia Beach, VA, for the Understanding Heirs’ Property at the Community Level: Fundamentals Train‑the‑Trainer workshop!

🚨Only 40 spots available, priority for first‑time participants.
🔒 Registration closes May 18 at 8:00 AM ET

➡️ Register: https://msudafvm.co1.qualtrics.com/.../SV_6ny6MPVKVziH67A

🔗 More info: https://srdc.msstate.edu/programs/heir_property

NCRCRD is pleased to announce that Thomas Krumel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Economics in the NDSU Department of Agribusiness & Applied Economics, is the newest NCRCRD Fellow.Learn more his Fellow Project at https://bit.ly/43cyEg6.

The recording of NCRCRD’s May webinar, “Measuring What Matters: Linking Community Assets, Vitality, and Well-Being" is now available on the NCRCRD YouTube channel. http://www.youtube.com/

Thank you to our presenter, Michael Wilcox, Purdue Extension Community Development Program and NCRCRD along with panelists, Zuzana Bednarik, NCRCRD and Jeffrey Walker, Purdue Extension Community Development for sharing their research and report findings with us.