The Center for Rural Entrepreneurship (CRE) is a rural policy research institute that promotes entrepreneurship in rural communities as a tool for a more economically sustainable future.
The Center for Rural Entrepreneurship sees entrepreneurship development as a necessary component and the most promising strategy for rural places to sustain economic development. The Center strives to be the national resource for rural communities, regions and states interested in using entrepreneurship as a tool for sustainable economic development.
The Center studies entrepreneurship development, creates opportunities for leaders to learn more about it through trainings, newsletter publications, development tools and other mechanisms, and engages community and regional leaders by bringing new models and tools directly to rural leaders. The Center specifically identifies youth engagement as an important tool for economic and community revitalization and works with community leaders to better understand youth perspectives and help young people discover local career and business opportunities.
Examples of the Center’s direct activities in communities include entrepreneurship coaching, evaluation of a community’s entrepreneurship development efforts, measurement of success and development of case studies to showcase a community’ work in entrepreneurship, research for communities on financial options for entrepreneurship (“Transfer of Wealth”), assessment of regional opportunities for economic development planning, and trainings through the Center’s “Energizing Entrepreneurs” tool.
The Center is also affiliated with the Rural Policy Research Institute, which helps use research to directly affect policy related to rural entrepreneurship. Much of the Center’s past research and practical work is available on its website; however, many of the reports are specific to a certain location where the Center’s work has been engaged. More general information is provided in their Energizing Entrepreneurs toolkit.
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