The Michigan Small Town & Rural Development Conference has gone virtual in 2021 and will be held April 13th - 14th! We will begin Tuesday afternoon with Keynote Speaker Whitney Kimball Coe! The day will continue breakout sessions, the annual Pitch Competition, as well as a special networking event. The conference continues on Wednesday with additional breakout sessions and the announcement of the winner of the pitch competition. 

The conference is geared toward those working in and on behalf of small or rural communities in Michigan and is hosted by the Rural Partners of Michigan.

REGISTER HERE

We hope to see you there!

Thank you to our generous sponsors:

Gold Sponsors:

Session Sponsors:

Keynote Speaker Sponsors:

Community economic development is intuitively linked with our environment in many ways but often can be an afterthought. Join us for our CED101 webinar on climate equity to learn about how Eastside Community Network is using green initiatives to advance equity in Detroit.

Presenter: Richard Ackerman, Director of Climate Equity at Eastside Community Network.

Community planning or urban planning is often thought of as the bones on which community economic development is built. Community planning impacts our day-to-day lives as citizens and the work we do as practitioners. Join us as we explore the intersection of community planning and community economic development work.

Facilitated by Andrea Brown, Michigan Association of Planning

Sponsored by:

Financial capabilities, financial stability, financial education… The financial empowerment world is an alphabet soup of terms! CEDAM’s Brian Rakovitis will unpack what financial empowerment means and share examples of ways that Michigan communities are implementing best practices to raise the bar in their communities.

Facilitated by Brian Rakovitis, CEDAM

Sponsored by:

Please join us for the Michigan Children's Savings Accounts Network quarterly meeting on Wednesday, June 23 from 10:00am-12:00pm EST. 

Meeting overview: This meeting will be divided into two parts: Part I- CSA Policy and Part II- Technical Assistance. 

Attendees are encouraged to come for some or all of the meeting

Part I: CEDAM will kick off the meeting with an update about statewide CSA funding. Following that, members will have an opportunity to provide feedback on the CSA policy framework paper. A draft version of the paper will be made available on April 30, 2021, to all network members on Basecamp.

Who should attend: Current/emerging CSA communities, state/local government agencies, stakeholders and funders with interest in youth engagement, postsecondary achievement, banking access, economic opportunity and community development.

Estimated time for part I: 1 hour

Part II: Provide members with time to workshop their technical assistance needs. Current and emerging CSA communities are invited to share new challenges and successes as part of a roundtable discussion. 

Who should attend: Current/emerging CSA communities, stakeholders and funders with knowledge of banking access, community outreach and engagement, data management, and program management.

Estimated time for part II: 1 hour

Total meeting time: 2 hours