Regional Flavor Learning Cluster

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What is the Regional Flavor Learning Cluster?

Building on our prior Food Sector, Sustainable Tourism, and Artisan Learning Clusters, AEO launched the Regional Flavor Learning Cluster in March 2007. Following a competitive Request for Proposal process, six regional networks in Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, and Ohio were selected for this four year project. Additional support for the Cluster has been secured through an USDA Rural Community Development Initiative grant awarded to AEO in April 2007.

Why Regional Flavor?

As many rural communities experience a ‘loss of power’ in their traditional economic engines (manufacturing, resource extraction, etc), this project offers new hope and opportunity. Utilizing collaborative efforts to implement a mix of rural economic development strategies that incorporate microenterprise development, regional tourism, cultural and historic assets, and agricultural product development, the Regional Flavor approach supports these entities and entrepreneurs in working together to rethink, redefine, and rebrand themselves and their regions.

Click on the icon for more information about Regional Flavor and its role in economic development in rural communities.

The Regional Flavor Learning Cluster

This learning cluster includes six lead organizational and their regional partners. The Cluster meets monthly by telephone and gathers twice a year to share their work and to see the various grantees’ Regional Flavor efforts in action.

To learn about the Cluster participants using Regional Flavor in their communities, click here.

Resources

Documents from Learning Cluster Gatherings

	Asheville, North Carolina • February 2007
	Athens, Ohio • August 2007
	Charleston, South Carolina • December 2008

Planning Tools

Elements of a Regional Flavor Plan: Guide to Collaborative Planning (workbook)

Building a Regional Entrepreneurship Network: A Guide to Action

Regional Flavor checklists:

Downtown Districts - a checklist to help you assess the level in which Regional Flavor is already present (or not present) in a downtown district

Agricultural Heritage Tourism - an inventory to determine your region's infrastructure for agritourism, local food production, agriculture heritage promotion, etc.

Effective Messaging - questions to ask when determining how to reach out to your target audience

Publications/Papers

	Guide book to bring Regional Flavor to your area Regional Flavor: Marketing Rural America's Unique Assets is a manual that outlines strategies, case studies and resources to develop coordinated efforts for rural areas to market their assets as a region. Chapters include information on how to identify regional assets, developing a heritage trail, establishing a regional brand, developing a website and e-commerce tools, connecting with the media, and engaging policymakers. Click on the icon to download the order form and purchase the publication today!
	Building Smart Communities through Network Weaving by Valdis Krebs and June Holley This paper investigates building sustainable communities through improving their connectivity – internally and externally – using network ties to create economic opportunities. Improved connectivity is created through an iterative process of knowing the network and knitting the network.
	Regional Flavor - Bringing It Home: Inspirations from Appalachian Ohio AEO Exchange article, Fall 2007
	Entrepreneurship with a Regional Flavor by June Holley Published by the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet), this document discusses lessons learned from Appalachian Ohio for developing a regional innovation economy and provides insights for other regions that are interested replicating this approach.

For additional publications, see the AEO Bookstore.

PowerPoint Presentations

A presentation on the Regional Flavor paradigm, its elements and updates from its networks. It was delivered at the 2007 AEO Annual Conference in Kansas City, MO.

Presentations from members of the Cluster on their Regional Flavor work

Location: 2008 AEO National Summit on Entrepreneurship™

	Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) in southeast Ohio
	Arkansas Delta Rural Heritage Development Initiative in the Delta region of Arkansas
	Concord Grape Belt Heritage Association along Lake Erie in New York
	GROW Nebraska acros the state in Nebraska

New Thinking for Rural Economic & Microenterprise Development

The following presentations were part of the webinar series delivered in June and July 2007 focused on a range of strategies for supporting rural business and building pathways to thriving rural economies. The Rural Pathways webinar series was presented by June Holley, who provides consulting, training, and mentoring to a wide range of organizations around the world who are interested in creating healthier communities through a better understanding of networks, collaboration, innovation, and learning

	An Introduction to Regional Flavor
	Building Regional Collaborations
	Engaging Entrepreneurs
	Engaging Policymakers in Supporting Entrepreneurship
	Planning Your Regional Flavor Initiative

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