Rural Support Partners - Asheville, NC

Rural Support Partners is a social enterprise that provides tools, resources, and guidance to leaders, organizations and networks that promote sustainable economic development throughout the rural southeastern United States.

Brief Overview of Organization/Mission

Rural Support Partners uses a results-focused approach to foster cross-sector collaboration and deepen the impact and scale of rural economic development efforts. They establish partnerships with influential and well-connected community development organizations throughout the region and promote solutions rooted in collective engagement.

Mission: “At Rural Support Partners, our deepest interest is to help rural areas return to an era of prosperity and economic innovation, while building power within historically marginalized populations and sustaining our cultural and natural resources”

Website: http://www.ruralsupportpartners.com

Issues of Focus:

Sustainable Economic Development
Rural Wealth Creation
Non-profit consulting
Community Engagement
Infrastructure -Based Organizing

Projects and Programs:

Leaders: RSP provides ongoing support and capacity building for rural, non-profit leaders primarily through facilitating support for executive transitions in non-profit organization and training the next generation of rural leaders with their Rural Fellowship Program

Organizations: RSD identifies and provides ongoing support to “anchor organizations,” which are community or economic development organizations that display high levels of internal capacity across a multi-county region, attention to marginalized populations, and a history of work building strategic partnerships and effectively utilizing regional resources. Support provided by RSD can include strategic planning, board development, participatory evaluation, development of measurement systems, and organizational learning.

Networks: RSD works to connect organizations with collaborative potential and break down geographic, political, and organizational barriers to effective network formation. RSD coordinates shared research, creates unified measurement systems, and facilitates communication within their managed networks.

Field-Building: RSD engages in participatory research and evaluation projects each year on topics such as rural wealth creation and southern non-profit leaders.

Frequent Collaborators:

IN APPALACHIA

Appalachia Funders Network: Central Appalachia

Appalachian Regional Commission: Washington, DC

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project: Asheville, NC

Appalachian Sustainable Development: Abingdon, VA

Bristol Library System: Bristol, TN/VA

Central Appalachian Forestry Alliance: Central Appalachia

Central Appalachian Network (CAN): Central Appalachia

Community Economic Development Network of East Tennessee: Knoxville, TN

Community Farm Alliance: Frankfort, KY

The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation: Charleston, WV