I recently learned about an excellent workforce training tool—the Occupational Licensing Dashboard—developed and supported by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.  Short-term credentials and occupational licenses, such as for physical therapy or teaching, are growing in importance as training and career tools.  In fact, around 22% of currently employed Americans hold such credentials. The Dashboard tracks the use of these credentials, allowing users to assess demand for such training, and the relative take-up of various credentials by state.  If you want to better understand today’s occupational licensing landscape, this is a very helpful tool. 

I remain a huge fan of crowdfunding, especially in rural regions, where it can offer a financial lifeline to business owners and help to build more supportive community networks.  However, the data on crowdfunding impacts are somewhat mixed, finding that crowdfunding sites can be effective but may not have significant long-term economic impacts. 

The jury is still out, but I remain encouraged by new research, in an interesting paper entitled “Does Crowdfunding Foster Rural Entrepreneurship?, which taps into a new database that assesses crowdfunding’s wider community impacts.  The report, by Utrecht University’s Nicola Cortinovis, finds positive impacts from rural crowdfunding.  She finds that locations with crowdfunding campaigns show subsequently higher numbers of local ventures when compared to similar locations without such support.  In addition, these impacts are greater in places where strong community networks and ecosystems are in place. These types of nurturing support can often be found in rural locales.  This promising research offers further evidence that crowdfunding can not only help build new businesses, but it can also help nurture rural entrepreneur ecosystems as well.