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Small towns, big opportunities™

The Rural Investment Collaborative™ seeks to improve economic investment in small towns and rural communities. We collaborate with rural hubs and funding sources to help communities develop project proposals and make access to funding easier.

The Richmond Fed's Rural Investment Collaborative™ works to address a basic problem of supply and demand that is a barrier for many small towns to access the available capital needed to advance economic and community development efforts. On the demand side, rural regions have fewer people who can develop strong project proposals. On the supply side, some sources of funding are missing or are not well coordinated. By working together to address the supply and demand challenges, we are creating a future in which small towns and rural communities achieve economic resilience and prosperity.

Our Approach


The Rural Investment Collaborative™ brings together community leaders in small towns and rural areas from Maryland, North and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington DC. The leaders participate in shared learning and programming that helps them improve their access to capital, so their communities thrive.

A signature focus of the Collaborative is to provide training and guidance to assist community leaders with developing viable proposals for their community projects. The Richmond Fed is partnering with rural hubs to make this happen. Simultaneously, we are working with national and regional funding organizations to help them increase the availability of and access to the funds needed to fully actualize their projects.

A man takes notes as he attends an investment training session on his laptop.
Community Investment Training program

The Rural Investment Collaborative™ provides Community Investment Training to selected organizations from small towns and rural communities. The training assists participants with developing investment-ready proposals and connects them with potential capital providers.

Hear from a 2024 Community Investment Training participant below:

Video is temporarily unavailable.

The Rural Investment Collaborative Team

The Richmond Fed does not fund or otherwise award grants, participate in the selection of grantees or selection of communities receiving training or technical assistance.
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