Stronger Economies Together Booklet

Stronger Economies Together (SET)Building New Economic Opportunities

Introduction to SET

02

Table of contents

Gearing Up

03Core Modules

04

Data Products

06Evaluation Resources

07Putting All the Pieces Together

08

Roadmap

01Extra Modules

05

3

Components of the Stronger Economies Together (SET) Program

Roadmap

section 01

This booklet

will walk you

through the

six

components

of the SET

program.

What is SET?

Benefits of using SET

Regions involved in SET

introduction to SET

5

What is Stronger Economies Together (SET)?

SET strengthens the capacity of communities and counties in rural

America to work together in developing and implementing a

regional economic development plan.

Finding ways to create, attract and retain good jobs in many American

counties (especially those with smaller populations) is a challenging process.

In today’s global marketplace, economic development improvements are

more likely to be realized when counties work together as a multi-county

region.

Collaborating as a region allows counties to design and implement plans that

build on their collective assets and comparative economic strengths.

Introduction to SET

SET is used to

strategically

build on the

current and

emerging

economic

strengths of

your region.

section 02

6

Benefits of using SET

Introduction to SET

Training

More than 25 hours

of valuable, step-by-

step coaching to

guide production of a

practical and viable

regional economic

development plan

Data

In-depth data

tailored to your

region, describing its

current and

emerging clusters,

comparative

economic

advantages, and

detailed

demographic and

socioeconomic

information

Tools

Tools to uncover

local assets and

resources that can

advance your

region’s economic

strategies

Assistance

Up to 40 hours of

technical assistance

from Extension

educators, PCRD

staff, USDA RD state

staff regional rural

development centers

and other state

partners to guide the

implementation of

regional goals and

strategies

Networking

Peer-to-peer

networking

opportunities with

other SET regions

nationwide

section 02

7

Introduction to SET

Regions involved in SETPhase I (2010-11) - Phase II (2011-12) - Phase III (2012-13) - Phase IV (2013-14)

section 02

SET planning and training

teams

Gearing up for SET

gearingup

9

Understanding SET’s State Planning and Training Teams

The State Training Team is made up of

individuals taking the lead role in the delivery of the SET

program to your regional team. The responsibilities of the

planning team include:

Coordinating

Training

Coaching

Evaluating

Technical Assistance

These are people that you are going to get to know well

over the course of the SET project.

Gearing up

section 03

The State Planning Team is composed of

agency representatives that are overseeing and guiding

the SET program in your state. The responsibilities of the

planning team include:

Launching SET

Supporting SET regional training

Helping regional teams prepare for action

Finding resources to complete SET activities

Evaluating

The USDA RD state office and the land-grant university’s

Cooperative Extension Service are two major anchors of

this planning team.

10

Gearing up for SET

A variety of

products have been

developed to help

you prepare to

launch the SET

program in your

region.

The “gearing up”

section of SET

contains the materials

you will use to lay the

groundwork for the

SET program in your

region.

Gearing up

section 03

Training materials

Modules 1 through 8

core modules

12

Core module training materialsEach SET core training module contains three types of resources for your region to utilize.

Core modules

Instructors guide

A step-by-step instruction

guide and script to ensure

your success as a regional

module instructor/coach.

Two PowerPoint files

One file is for presentation

use by the regional team

instructor, while the other is a

print-friendly version for

distribution to regional team

members.

Worksheets/resources

Tools and materials needed to

support the “hands on” work

associated with the specific

module.

section 04

13

module 1

Core modules

Launching SET & Building a Strong

Regional Team

Explores how you can invite a good mix of people

with a variety of experiences, skills and

perspective to be part of your SET regional team.

In this module you will

Define your region

Examine the benefits and barriers to building your

regional partnership

Generate a list of essential partners

Develop a call to action

Draft a plan for involving stakeholders

Exploring Your Region’s Economic &

Demographic Foundations

Takes stock of the current economic

development plans of counties/communities in

your region and explores data that offer insights

on your region’s opportunities and constraints.


Examine economic development foundations in your

region

Explore regional demographic and workforce

features

Analyze your region’s demographic strengths and

concerns

Draft a summary of the region’s demographic

climate that impacts the regional plan

section 04

module 2

14

module 3

Core modules

Focusing on Regional Competitive

Advantage

Determines your region’s competitive strengths

and examines the economic leakages associated

with your “star” and “emerging” industry

clusters.


Investigate the region’s economic advantage

Explore regional data to identify regional industrial

clusters

Select industry clusters for further exploration

Draft a rationale for industries selected

Exploring Strategies for Enhancing the

Regional Economy

Examines strategies that your region can

consider as it seeks to strengthen and add

value to the industry clusters that the SET team

is adopting for priority attention.


Identify economic leaks in the region

Explore avenues for strengthening clusters

Select potential directions for the region to explore

Complete the evidence section describing which

industry clusters selected

section 04

module 4

15

module 5

Core modules

Developing Your Vision and Goals

Teaches you how to write a vision statement that

provides an overall direction for the SET team’s

regional plan and helps you draft goals that

embrace the SMART principles.


Learn how to develop a vision statement

Find out how to prepare SMART goals

Draft a regional vision statement

Draft initial SMART goals

Seek feedback on the team’s regional vision and

goals

Discovering Regional Assets & Barriers

Helps you discover the variety of assets that

exist in your region and consider the barriers

that might impede the successful realization of

your team’s regional goals.


Introduce asset-based community development

(ABCD)

Explore the link between the ABCD and the seven

community capitals framework

Conduct an initial assessment of regional assets

and barriers

Draft an assets and barriers assessment for your

plan

section 04

module 6

16

module 7

Core modules

Planning for Success

Works through a step-by-step process for helping

the SET team build a high quality plan for

achieving your regional goals.


Identify the ABCs of success

Select strategies

Plan for action

Identify strategies to support regional goals

Draft strategies, timelines, responsibilities, and a

Plan of Action

Measuring for Success

Helps you find out how your team can track

specific targets that it has developed in its quest

to achieve important regional goals.


Use measures to promote success

Track appropriate measures

Create a plan for measuring regional success

section 04

module 8

Additional training

Supplemental modules

extra modules

18

Additional training

Extra modules

section 05

Supplemental

training with SET

allows your regional

team to achieve a

customized level of

economic

development.

Once you are finished training with the “gearing up” section

of SET and the eight core training modules, your region may

require more specialized training.

SET offers four supplemental modules to support in-depth training

and coaching for regional teams wishing to become better versed on

specific issues or topics that align with their interests and needs.

Supplemental training subjects include entrepreneurship,

community business matching, land use and networking.

19

Supplemental modules

Extra modules

Growing regional

economies by growing

networks

Describes how networks are

changing the way complex

work gets done in both

businesses and

communities.

Land use and

economic development

in rural areas

Studies the relationship

between land use and

economic development.

This relationship is

important, as land use

goals and strategies can

influence the development

and conservation patterns

of your community greatly.

Community business

matching model

Provides an overview of the

community business model

(CBM) process and shows

the results of previous CBM

analyses. This session will

help your SET region

determine if it would like to

proceed with a CBM

analysis.

Exploring

entrepreneurship for

your region

Examines the specific

considerations for

advancing entrepreneurship

in your region. This module

can be completed in 60

minutes or extended to

three hours, depending on

your region’s specific needs.

section 05

Provided products for your

region

dataproducts

21

Data products provided for your region

Data products

Various data products are

provided to your region as you

move through the SET planning

process.

One of the most important benefits of

being involved in SET is the ability to

gain access to a variety of data

resources.

These resources are customizable

and can be tailored to meet the

information needs of your specific

region.

section 06

Evaluating the SET programevaluationresources

23

Evaluating the SET program

Evaluation resources

Evaluation Instrument Explanation

Pre-SET Assessment

Questionnaire

Each regional team member should complete this form prior to

the start of the SET module one session.

Attendance Form Regional team participants should sign in for each session that

the attend. This form should be provided by the key trainer at the

beginning of each module.

Module Session

Evaluation

After each module, the regional team should complete this form.

It offers participants the opportunity to identify strengths and

weaknesses of the module.

Trainer Summary Report After each module, the key trainer should complete this form. It

offers the opportunity to share session information such as

challenges and successes.

Post-SET Assessment

Questionnaire

Each member of the SET regional team is asked to complete this

survey after Module Nine is finished.

section 07

It is important to

monitor the value

and benefit of the

SET program in

your region.

Since SET is

funded, in part,

by USDA Rural

Development, it is

important that the

impact of SET on

participating

regions be

carefully

documented.

High quality plan

Plan components

SET partnerships

puttingall of the

the pieces together

25

Your high quality economic development plan

During each SET training module that your regional team

completes, a piece of your high quality regional economic

development plan is formed.

Upon training completion, these pieces will come together to form a

sound economic blueprint for your region.

This high quality region economic development plan will contain all

of the essential components needed to guide you toward the

development of a sound economic future for your region.

Putting all of the pieces together

Your high quality

regional economic

development plan

will guide your

formation of a sound

regional economy.

section 08

26

High quality plan components


section 08

The establishment of a high quality plan

is the most critical part of your region’s

first year with SET.

These essential components

provide guidance to the

development of a plan that

will serve as a solid

foundation on which to build

the region’s economic

future.

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Regional Rural Development Centers have help organize the team of land-grant university-based faculty

who have developed the SET modules and data products.

SET Partnerships


section 08

USDA Rural Developmenthas provided financial support for the

SET program

Key partners involved in the development and enhancement of the SET educational

materials include:

Extension and research faculty in land-grant universities across the U.S.

Regional Rural Development Centers and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Purdue Center for Regional Development

The U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA)

For more information,

please contact Bo

Beaulieu at

[email protected]

765-494-7273The Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD) seeks to pioneer

new ideas and strategies that contribute to regional collaboration,

innovation and prosperity.

Stronger Economies Together Booklet

Economy & Finance

Transcript of Stronger Economies Together Booklet