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Top Economic Development Strategies for Rural Communities

Economic development strategies for rural communities and small cities share many big-picture goals with urban counterparts. Workforce development, business attraction, and quality-of-life initiatives are essential across the board. The difference in the economic development strategies begins to shift in approach and when establishing key performance indicators to judge progress toward end goals. The best strategies blend existing strengths with emerging opportunities.

Unique collaborations maximize results for economic development organizations

Community collaboration is the genesis of many economic development organizations, but partnership efforts often stall at the regional level. Results-driven EDOs need to work through the barriers funding and geographic boundaries can present to drive returns. Forming strategic alliances with other groups, agencies, or local governments maximizes resources, allows for cross-promotion, and generates positive externalities.

Finance, Business, and Economic Development Articles

Note: Older articles may feature outdated information.

Chron - Small Business •

What Can I Write Off on My Taxes as LLC Business Owner?

The Internal Revenue Service recognizes the limited liability company as one of several business structures. When your small business files as an LLC, the actual profits from the business pass through to members as income. Various deductions reduce the gross revenue for your company to its taxable level, including office space charges, filing fees, cost of goods sold and certain costs that may be unique to your business, such as tools or equipment. If you are uncertain about deductions or other...
Legal Beagle •

How to File a Complaint Against Social Security

Whether you encounter a rude employee, a problem with your case or a benefits decision you don't agree with, the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides you with several avenues to file a complaint. The nature of your complaint, such as poor service or a benefit denial, dictates the method of contact. Discrimination and appeals move through a designated process while personal complaints may be filed with your local office. To complain about a specific employee or experience at a local So...
Chron - Small Business •

How to Calculate Net Income From 1099 Miscellaneous Income

Internal Revenue Service form 1099-MISC reports miscellaneous income to the earner, the IRS and the earner's state. When the earnings information is listed on the 1099-MISC, the total refers to gross income from the reporting source. Small businesses are typically able to deduct a variety of business expenses from this amount before arriving at a net income total.

Internal Revenue Service form 1099-MISC reports miscellaneous income to the earner, the IRS and the earner's state. When the earning...
Chron - Small Business •

GAAP Accounting Rules for Expensing Samples

Providing samples to customers is an important promotional tool for many businesses, and they are often used to encourage an immediate or future purchase. The way the sample is offered and contributes to your bottom line helps determine how you account for its purchase or manufacturing expense under generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. Some samples are a marketing expense the same as promotional fliers or advertising spots, while others are tied to the cost of sales and must be exp...
Chron - Small Business •

How Does the IRS Know Your Capital Gains on Real Estate?

Whether your small business focuses on real estate or sold unneeded property during the tax year, a copy of form 1099-S, which is sent to both you and the IRS by the closing attorney or real estate official, reports the gross proceeds from the sale. When you file your tax return, you must calculate your basis in the property and compare it to the proceeds reported to determine if a capital gain exists. If there is no gain, you avoid paying capital gains tax but still need to submit forms to illu...
Weekand •

What Does Our Credit Score Need to Be As a Married Couple to Qualify for a Home Loan?

The minimum credit score needed to buy a home ranges from 580 for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan to 620 for conventional loans. If you are married, both you and your spouse must meet the minimum credit score to qualify for a joint mortgage. Even if you meet the minimum score requirements necessary to finance a home, aim higher to secure loan terms that are more favorable.

The minimum credit score needed to buy a home ranges from 580 for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan t...
Chron - Small Business •

How to Depreciate a Company Car

Business vehicles often are a necessity for small businesses with a delivery, transport, service or pick-up focus, such as flower shops, shuttle services, plumbers or dry cleaners. In other industries, such as a media firm, an insurance agency or a home health agency, it may also make better financial sense to purchase a company car instead of reimbursing workers for business use of a personal vehicle. If you have determined company vehicles are necessary for your business, the vehicle then beco...

Local Media Highlights

Features local media headlines and USA Today contributions

USA TODAY •

Fact check: Southern states used convict leasing to force Black people into unpaid labor

Fact check: Southern states used convict leasing to force Black people into unpaid labor

Editor’s note: In two former legal statutes referenced below, a racist term was replaced with the word Black in brackets.

The claim: Convict leasing, an example of systemic racism, was used to force Black people into unpaid labor for private and state industry.

Prior to the Juneteenth holiday commemorating the end of slavery, a now-unavailable Facebook post asserted that the convict leasing system used in
Monroe News-Star •

Local doctor says Tensas Parish is testing for COVID-19. Where are the numbers?

Local doctor says Tensas Parish is testing for COVID-19. Where are the numbers?

Tensas Parish is the only parish in Louisiana without a confirmed test of COVID-19, according to data from the Louisiana Department of Health on Wednesday.

But according to one local physician, the data doesn't mean they aren't testing or haven't had one suspected positive that never appeared in the state's reporting.

Tensas, a parish with an estimated population of 4,334 in 2019, is also the only parish in Louisi
The News-Star •

Paperwork clogs flood recovery in south Monroe

The 91-year-old sits in one with a rotary bakelite phone in reach on the other. For the past several months, Splond has spent many of her days on the patio, using the phone to take care of her business. She can't spend time in her home of 30 years until damage caused by the March flooding is repaired.

"I'm here most every day when I feel up to walking from the neighbor's house over to this house, but it's not every day that I feel like I can do it," Splond said.
thenewsstar •

Meet the Monroe native on Project Runway's reboot season

The realization that fashion could be a form of self-expression led Lela Orr to a career in the fashion industry and launching her own brand, Ferrah, in Dallas.

It has also led her to reality television.

Orr, a former Monroe resident, will appear as a contestant in the new season of "Project Runway" when it returns to Bravo on March 14.

Orr was a fan of the fashion-design competition in high school and dreamed of appearing on the show. When the reboot was announced, a friend sent in an applic
The News Star •

Salmonella outbreak: 'I've never seen anything like it'

Salmonella outbreak: 'I've never seen anything like it'

Louisiana's Department of Health officials believe a mass outbreak of salmonella poisoning in Caldwell Parish that sickened hundreds and is suspected in one death can be traced to a jambalaya fundraiser for a softball team.

As of Thursday, 49 cases of a gastrointestinal illness were confirmed with 31 people hospitalized, the Department of Health reported. The ages of those with a confirmed illness range from 15 to 70.

State officials also reported Thursday samples taken from five people have tested positive for salmonella.
The News Star •

Graphic Packaging announces $274 million investment

A $154 million capital investment in a new Graphic Packaging International folding carton plant and distribution center on Millhaven Road in Ouachita Parish will fuel the largest single construction project in the parish's history.

Upgrades to the existing Graphic Packaging paperboard manufacturing location in West Monroe will also take place over the next several years and bring the combined capital investment in northeastern Louisiana to $274 million. Clyde White, the president of the Ouachit...
The News Star •

Forestry group tours Drax Biomass

Drax Biomass played host to a diverse group of international scientists and forestry experts at Morehouse BioEnergy on Monday, following an international conference in Little Rock.

Jim Guldin, a supervisory research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service and program chair for the International Union of Forest Research Organizations workshop, said the tour was comprised of an international group of scientists who study forest management with a focus on sustainability.

The IUFRO workshop, which...