The U.S. Small Business Administration announced rural west central Missouri will soon operate one of the nation’s newest Women’s Business Centers. To be based in El Dorado Springs, Missouri, the New Growth Women’s Business Center will serve 15 counties: 13 in Missouri and two in Kansas.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is an international celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups and bring ideas to life. Founded by the Kauffman Foundation in 2008, it has since expanded to more than 160 countries.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded one of 30 national microenterprise assistance grants to West Central Missouri Community Action Agency. The one-year, $98,000 award will support West Central’s work with affiliate community development corporation

There is power in making your place, your hometown, a wonderful place to live. This may be obvious, but quality of life is often an afterthought in the economic development work of growing jobs and businesses.

CAUTION: This article starts with a platitude, and then it hits you with reality. You’ll be glad you read it, because you will find a way to make a difference. Platitude (cliché truism): If you give someone a fish, you will feed them for the day. If you teach someone...

Raydonna Biles makes lunch for her son every day. It keeps them both healthy. “I cook better for him than I would for myself alone. … Last time I went to the doctor, the doctor said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’ My blood sugar was down. I’d lost weight.”

The global pandemic of 2020 has made starting and building a small business in west central Missouri even more difficult. Now a regional effort to develop micro loan financing for rural entrepreneurs is gaining the steam it needs to help local businesses get going and...

Rides to Health and Wealth is a collaborative west central Missouri effort to build thriving people and places by increasing access to healthcare and community services using the HealthTran ride scheduling and resourcing platform. Rides to Health and Wealth...

A perfect storm of food needs during the Covid-19 Crisis presents west central Missouri with an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen local people and places with farm fresh foods. The free webinar Feed Communities Local Food Now is designed to help west central...

Local food farmer Katie Nixon is thankful, during this Covid-19 market upheaval, that she and her husband had put time into setting up an online ordering system. It has become critical for marketing the organic fruit, vegetables, and bedding plants they produce at...

For the outstanding high school or college student with an interest in journalism, marketing, and/or communications. Serve on a select regional team to promote west central Missouri communities. The summer 2020 opportunity is part of the regional Making Rural Visible...

Just a few more people getting off the highway to check out our small towns can make a big difference for rural west central Missouri. Tourism Tool. Here we would like to share news of a project New Growth initiated this year to get more people off the highway and...