In Spring 2015, NACo worked with counties across the country to host County Prosperity Summits to generate creative solutions around local economic opportunities. During these one-day summits, national experts convened with local leaders in rural and mid-size counties to provide an introduction to the WealthWorks framework, build strategies to strengthen relationships among local and regional players in community and economic development, identify ways to deepen and sustain local asset-based economic development and investigate ways to infuse equitable development principles into local economic strategies. Listen to a podcast here to hear interviews with summit participants about their experiences at the summits and how they plan to use what they learned to build wealth in their communities.

County ​Prosperity Summits Digital Journal

County Prosperity Forum: Innovative Economic Development in Small and Mid-Sized Counties

NACo hosted the County Prosperity Forum at NACo’s Annual Conference in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County, N.C., on July 12, 2015. This interactive forum guided county leaders in smaller and mid-sized places to generate creative strategies for strengthening local economies by building and capturing wealth that is rooted in local people, places and firms. Using the WealthWorks model, this forum introduced a systematic approach to economic development that engages a wide range of partners. Attendees participated in hands-on exercises, gained access to tools and resources and learned from the outcomes of NACo’s pilot County Prosperity Summits program. Support for this forum was provided by the Ford Foundation.

2015 County ​Prosperity Summits

Five counties were selected through a competition in 2014 to host a summit in Spring 2015. The selected counties and summit dates are:

• Titus County, Texas | April 8, 2015 | Recap
• Shasta County, Calif. | May 12, 2015 | Recap
• Scott County, Ky.​ | May 26, 2015 | Recap​
• Cheatham County, Tenn. | May 28, 2015 | Recap​
• Cape May County, N.J. | June 4, 2015 | Recap

Each summit convened approximately 50 participants invited by the host county, including a broad mixture of county elected officials and staff, other local and regional public officials, business owners, representatives of the nonprofit and philanthropic community and other relevant stakeholders. View a sample summit agenda below: