The State of Washington expands program aimed at attracting successful urban entrepreneurs to mentor rural business people

Washington has been more attuned than most states to the reality that creating successful economies in rural communities results from helping them grow and nurture what they have rather than merely trying to attract businesses from elsewhere to relocate.

Now as Maury Forman, the man who built this state’s image of focusing on rural economic development for nearly 26 years, passes the baton, a new program aimed at attracting successful urban entrepreneurs to mentor rural business people is seen by his successor as a "priority program" for the future.

Recruitment and retention, generally in that order, have been the key words that guided the programs of economic development organizations in smaller communities across the country for years, usually with marginal success. But retention has been a generally amorphous patchwork.

Startup Washington http://startup.choosewashingtonstate.com/

By Mike Flynn

Full Story: http://www.emikeflynn.com/index.php/blog/flynn-s-harp/forman-s-quarter-century-focus-on-rural-development