Regards to Rural Conference

Regards to Rural is the signature event hosted by Rural Development Initiatives. There are now upwards of 400 community members from throughout the Pacific Northwest who gather to inform, inspire and celebrate. . . all that is rural!

At Regards to Rural, Participants

• Gain practical skills for successful rural community and economic development.
• Learn about successful community revitalization projects from near and far, and how to apply winning concepts to their communities.
• Receive assistance to ensure their community not only maintains vitality through economic challenges, but uses its strengths to emerge ahead.
• Connect with other community leaders, funders and elected officials of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels.

The success of Regards to Rural is not merely the result of careful planning; it is the synergy that happens between enthusiastic participants, committed partners, passionate presenters, and supportive staff. In conference evaluations, conversations, and follow-up thank you notes, conference participants tell RDI that they have gained renewed energy, hope, confidence, and commitment to strengthening their communities.

June 2011 was the seventh offering of RDI’s semi-annual Regards to Rural conference, held in Corvallis, Oregon. The conference brings together industry experts in leadership development, community building, economic development, and rural life along with the rural community members RDI works with every day. The conference is our biggest networking program and the one time a year we get to see the people we work with gathered in one place.

Past notable speakers at Regards to Rural have included

• Ben Hewitt, Author of The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food
• Michael Shuman, Economist and Author of Small-Mart Revolution
• Anita Brown-Graham, Author and Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University
• Luther Snow, Asset Mapping Expert and Author
• Francis Moore Lappe, Democracy Advocate, Expert on Food and Hunger, and Author
• Tim Egan, PNW Correspondent for the New York Times and Pulitzer Prize Winning Author
• Kim Klein, Grassroots Funding Expert and Author

To learn more about the conference, visit the Regards to Rural web site or contact Noelle Colby-Rotell at RDI: nrotell@rdiinc.org.