Community Economic Development

Beatrice, Neb. mural

Your Community. Your Economy.

Your downtown isn’t just a bunch of stores. It’s a collection of passionate entrepreneurs and inventive business owners. The Community Economic Development team works with you and your neighbors to enhance the thriving economic environment of your community. Through group discussions, workshops, coaching sessions, consultations in your native language, and explorations of which business models work best for the residents of your town, our programs help you foster a culture of innovation, sustainability, and prosperity, creating growth and resilience for generations to come.

Resources

Activate Your Community

Entrepreneurial Communities Activation Process

The Entrepreneurial Community Activation Process (ECAP) views economic development as a success when a community charts its path to a positive future by building on its current culture.

Chilvers Park in Plainview, Neb.
Learn more about ECAP

Entrepreneurship. Engagement. Excellence.

eCommunities

The eCommunities program focuses on helping communities identify, collect, and cultivate resources that encourage entrepreneurship within their towns.

Cody Lawson works in his computer business in Central City, Neb.
Learn more about eCommunities

Small Businesses. Big Ideas.

Small Business Program

Entrepreneurs interested in creating their own businesses in Nebraska receive business development guidance through the Small Business Program.

Downtown Kearney, Neb. Photo by Russell Shaffer
Learn more about the Small Business Program

Honoring the Past. Creating the Future.

Native American Coalition

The Native American Coalition builds bridges between tribal and non-tribal communities, facilitating community development and leadership in Native communities, and brings Native American traditional worldviews and cultures to greater Nebraska.

Omaha woman showing the medicine wheel.
Learn more about the Native American Coalition

Cooperation Equals Community

Nebraska Cooperative Development Center

The Nebraska Cooperative Development Center is Nebraska’s source for cooperative-based business development, which has the power to increase quality of life and economic vitality.

Centennial Marketplace in Utica, Neb.
Learn more about the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center

Contact Us

SHAWN KASKIE

RPN Extension Educator
308-872-6831
shawn.kaskie@unl.edu

JASON TULLER

RPN Extension Educator
402-768-7212
jason.tuller@unl.edu