5th Monday: Our Rural Housing Opportunity

Our Rural Housing Opportunity is a regional networking webinar about getting organized for housing action.

It’s for builders, realtors, lenders, community leaders and others interested in ramping up supply of housing to meet strong and growing demand in our rural Missouri area.

Join the conversation!

AGENDA

Economic Development
We will get insights about market demand and the regional imperative to supply it, including this new Benton County Housing Study and current research in Vernon County. SPEAKER: Mark Dawson, Economic Development Director for the City of Clinton, MO, with Jo Ann Lane, Benton County Economic Developer, and Ben Vickers, Vernon County Economic Developer.

Industry Voices
Essential are businesses and organizations involved in producing housing. We will hear from two, a private and a public developer. SPEAKERS: Jeff Droz, Roof Power Solar, Rich Hill, MO; and Chris Richardson McQueen, Chief Housing Enrichment Officer, West Central Missouri Community Action Agency.

Support Strategies
From the financing to the construction workforce needed, solutions will require multiple entities sharing strategy and risk. We will hear from a group of rural communities that have begun that work through the Growth in the Rural Ozarks (GRO) program. SPEAKER: Hrishue Mahalaha, GRO coordinator with Innovation Economy Partners.

Next Steps
We will hear from you through this event. Are you interested in keeping this regional housing conversation going? Do you want to help build a strategy and see it through? Your input will help determine next steps.

Fifth Monday
This event is the re-start of semi-quarterly “Fifth Monday” community economic development networking luncheons after a pandemic pause. Fifth Mondays are organized by regional groups that have formed the START HERE Business Acceleration Network. Fifth Monday’s are hosted by network convener the New Growth community development corporation with West Central Missouri Community Action Agency. (PS It is true that May 24 is the fourth Monday … but May is a Fifth Monday month; we’re good!)