TIGblogs - Dave Matthews

G'Day All --

Here are some Civic Action Free University reference materials of
potential assistance with regard to business and economic development:

1. Micro-Business and Small Business Incubators E-Mail Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytmicrobizincubatorforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytmicrobizincubatorforum/links

2. Cyber-Business Development E-Mail Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytcyberbusinessteamsforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytcyberbusinessteamsforum/links

3. Community Economic Development (General) E-Mail Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytecondevelopteamsforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytecondevelopteamsforum/links

4. Producer Cooperatives E-Mail Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytproducercoopteamsforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytproducercoopteamsforum/links

5. Consumer Cooperatives E-Mail Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytconsumercoopteamsforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytconsumercoopteamsforum/links

6. Credit Unions E-Mail Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytcreditunionteamsforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytcreditunionteamsforum/links

7. Housing Development
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ythousingteamsforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ythousingteamsforum/links

8. Appropriate, Innovative, and Sustainable Technologies
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytappropsustaintechforum/
Informational Links at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ca4ytappropsustaintechforum/links

You'll notice that every one of the above Links collections begins with one link that they all have in common, namely this one:

http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/yourturf/ca4ytlinks01b.htm

The reason for this is because Section A. of that page provides substantial amounts of information on sources of government and private foundation funding for project support and venture capital, as well as grant proposal writing, and "grantspersonship."

Also on that page (near the bottom) you'll find three other extremely useful links related to community economic development:

A. The Kauffman Foundation's "Venturing" Site -- A World of Resources for Entrepreneurs
http://www.eventuring.org/eShip/appmanager/eVenturing/eVenturingDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=eShip_home

B. EnterWeb -- The Enterprise Development Website
http://www.enterweb.org/welcome.htm

C. My Community Development Corporation -- Courtesy of the National Congress for Community Economic Development
http://www.ncced.org/mycdc.html

Taken together, these sites provide a substantial collection of valuable information that that can be used to help assist and support community economic development efforts of many different types.

The Civic Action Free University site provides similar sets of resources for several other categories of community service and development. To access and review them directly, go to this specific part of the site:

Topic-Focused "Civic Action for Your Turf" (CA4YT) E-Mail Groups & Links
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/yourturf/civactnet.htm#Topic-Focused

Last but not least, Yahoo! makes it easy for any town or city to have its own "Community and Economic Development Network E-Mail Group," together with a collection of relevant informational links. An example provided for review was prepared for the town of Crawford, in McLennan County, Texas:

Crawford and McLennan County Texas Community and Economic Development Network
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CrawfordTXCommunityandEconomicDevelopmentNet/

An initial collection of links containing information and resources for the above Group, can be accessed directly at :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CrawfordTXCommunityandEconomicDevelopmentNet/links/

E-Mail Groups of this type not only have the capability to function as either correspondence lists or message boards (depending on user-preference settings), but also provide searchable archives of posted material, ample space for accomodating relevant document files, project photos, chat rooms for real-time discussions, and calendars where Group Moderators and/or members (depending, again, on Group settings) have the option of announcing/scheduling community activities and events.

I hope you will find the above information to be useful. If you have any questions or comments, please drop me a note.

Best wishes, Dave Matthews
Facilitator, The Civic Action Free University
http://www.tcafu.net
E-Mail Address: civact6@yahoo.com

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