Speaking Engagements
CFO Affiliate Appreciation Conference
Beginning in 1993, the CFO has offered community foundation services to smaller communities and rural counties in the Missouri Ozarks. The CFO now has 53 regional affiliate foundations serving 58 counties south of the Missouri River. Each affiliate has its own governance board and, for the most part, operates as an autonomous organization.
Since the start of the affiliate foundation program, the CFO’s affiliates have amassed more than $115 million in total assets for the betterment of rural communities in Missouri.
9 Strategies to Bolster Rural America
This webinar was held as a conversation on how our program GRO has helped communities and how we might be able to help yours. If not us helping you, we’d love to learn more about the challenges your communities are facing.
Our program (GRO) Growth in the Rural Ozarks, launched in 2016, and over the last five years, our nine communities have made incredible strides. We’ve found that collaboration and learning is essential to making progress, so having conversations with other communities is incredibly important to our work and helping our GRO family.
Rural Communities & Federal Funding Webinar
Are you getting your fair share? Rural Communities & Federal Funding.
Rural communities have tremendous opportunities to access federal funds for economic, workforce, and infrastructure development. With the right know-how and capacity, rural communities can get in on the action. In this conversational webinar we discussed and learned how we can navigate the complex world of federal grants. The webinar was an informal Q&A as we make sense of the basic steps that communities can take to position themselves to be more effective in this pursuit.
BioSTL’s inaugural Rural Health Symposium, sponsored by Centene.
The Symposium focused on the major challenges rural communities face: healthcare access and affordability, healthcare workforce and hospital capacity, affordable internet access, and the social determinants of health unique to rural communities.
Leaders from rural communities – from the domains of healthcare, business, higher education, community-based organizations, innovators, NGOs, workforce development, government, research and policy – will come together to share successful approaches to improving health and economic vitality through innovation.
Restore Your Economy Webinar
Dealing with dilapidated and abandoned properties- Sharing the economic development best practices.
NEDA Best Practice Webinar Series
Presenting the key findings from “The Case of the Disappearing Main Street Retail” white paper to an array of economic developers.
IEDC Conference
It’s a Need, Not a Want: The Importance of Retail in Economic Development.
ECEDC Seminar
Presentation at the RISE (Regional Incubator for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship) event to discuss strategies that can be applied to improve the downtown retail ecology.
PhilanthropyOhio Conference
Conducting two sessions: One that speaks to how philanthropy can play a role in supporting/sustaining the local retail economy. Also leading a workshop with the philanthropic leaders on how they can practically move the discussion forward in their respective communities.
OEDA Conference
Discuss how the economic professionals can play a role in supporting and sustaining the retail economy in their respective communities.