Depew named local economy fellow

Lyons, Neb. - Brian Depew, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs based in Lyons, Nebraska, has been named to the 2018 cohort of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) Local Economy Fellowship.

Depew joins 25 representatives of rural communities and businesses across 16 states and three Canadian provinces, in the two-year program designed for leaders who are advancing the development of healthy, equitable local economies.

“The opportunity to participate in a fellowship with rural leaders from such a diverse set of backgrounds and across such a wide geography is really exciting,” said Depew. “This is a critical time for rural leaders to be connecting to share best practices and develop new ideas.”

Local Economy Fellows are selected based on their vision, their leadership, and their role as strategic connectors, supporters, and influencers of local entrepreneurs and their businesses. Whether leading entrepreneur networks, community business incubators, or regional economic development initiatives, they champion new ways of doing business and organizing economies that work for all.

The program connects leaders with their peers, equips them with new skills, perspectives, and resources to help advance their work, and provides a platform to share experiments and models so that other regions can learn from them.

“Through participation in the program, I hope to learn new ideas and new strategies that we can apply in our work at the Center for Rural Affairs,” said Depew. “I’ll also have the opportunity to share strategies that we are exploring with peers working in other regions.”

With the fellowship, BALLE plans to connect, nourish, and illuminate 250 communities that make investments to grow local economies from within, and focuses on values such as racial equity, economic justice, public health, and environmental sustainability.