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.

Strawberries are here! And again this year, friends, family, and neighbors with limited budgets will be able to take locally produced fruits and vegetables home with them thanks to the Double Up Food Bucks Program. Seven farmers’ markets in west central Missouri participate. They are part of a national wave of communities adopting the Double Up Food Bucks approach to helping families, farmers, and communities grow healthy.

Two new Benton county businesses are the latest to get the startup boost they need from a new nonprofit financing resource in west central Missouri: The START HERE Revolving Loan Fund. Both are prime examples of what the START HERE Revolving Loan Fund is designed to do: Support rural businesses that are ready to get going and growing but are too new, too small, or too credit-challenged for traditional bank loans.

Resources here for small businesses preparing taxes this year, including our recorded Tax Tips webinar, guest speaker Timothy Carter’s presentation, and a Small Business Tax Workshop series of videos from the IRS.

Learn about new relief for small businesses in the American Rescue Plan Act. Mike McWhorter with the Small Business Kansas City district breaks it down for us. Download information and resources here from our March 31, 2021, webinar.

The New Growth Women’s Business Center is a new resource for rural entrepreneurs in all stages of business development and growth. It focuses on the power and potential of women to employ themselves, provide jobs for others, and build their local economies and communities.

New Growth Women’s Business Center! Open House events March 8-12, 2021, across 15 counties in Missouri and Kansas will celebrate women in business. They will also launch a new rural resource for all entrepreneurs, the New Growth Women’s Business Center.

APPLY BY MARCH 10. Launch U is a proven one-on-one, six week course for getting businesses going and growing. Participants put their plans together with intensive guidance and support from business counselors, other entrepreneurs, and experts that every business needs to consult for legal, financial and other questions.

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.

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.

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.

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.