A credit check is part of almost anything you try to do these days … get a job, get a home, insure your car … . A good credit score will save you money and open doors.

St. Clair County, Missouri, resident Matt Anderson moved his credit score from zero to 700 in less than six months with the help of nonprofit New Growth’s free credit building program.

Every local business is an asset from which new growth can emerge if we tend to the power of microenterprises, like micro-organisms in soil, to support new life. This is the essence of our mission at New Growth CDC.

A major regional workforce study and next steps for funding west central Missouri action were the topic recently of the START HERE Business Acceleration Network’s bimonthly community partner meeting. View recording here.

“If we don’t have affordable housing, our communities can’t move forward.”

A lack of housing options could nip new rural opportunity in the bud. Can the west central Missouri region muster the private-public collaboration and innovation needed to ramp up housing supply? This question is the topic of a “5th Monday” regional networking luncheon 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Monday May 24.

West Central Missouri Community Action Agency (West Central) and the Missouri Rural Health Association (MRHA) seek volunteer drivers to help with healthcare rides in the region. Drivers receive a mileage reimbursement of $.80 per loaded mile, volunteer insurance coverage, flexible schedules, and training as HealthTran drivers.

Appleton City, Missouri, is a small town, quite far from any major highway, that is quietly and deliberately building new Main Street culture and commerce. It’s a great story about innovation and investment in our rural west central Missouri region.

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...

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...

Driving 30 minutes for their daughter’s soccer practice used to be stop-and-go traffic stress for Shellie and Jonas Unell. It turned into rolling countryside and gorgeous sunsets when they moved back a few years ago to Shellie’s rural hometown of Appleton City,...