Mark and Linda Graf have a crew of over 400,000 bees in over 100 hives working for them near Emerson, Nebraska. The Buzz, their store on Main Street, sells local honey and related products.
 
The Grafs are shining examples of entrepreneurship in rural America. Linda describes Mark as a tinkerer, an innovator, and an early adopter of technology. Mark’s interest in bees and honey led to a collection of hives at the nearby lake, in his backyard, and on family farmland. Soon, Linda was helping with extraction and packaging of honey in the basement of their home.
 

Small businesses are the center of rural communities and ensuring they have the tools needed to be successful is important for their sustainability. Fable Farms, a wine company in Washington, felt the strain during COVID-19 in 2020. Finding supplies for the business and getting customers to visit the winery for tastings became a challenge.  

“Tasting rooms were hard to start due to COVID and getting the business name out,” said Fable Farms owner Michelle Alger.  

When the first class of the ‘Local Innovators Institute’ gathered in March of 2020 there was nothing but excitement.

Why? Because everyone came to find out if their dreams of opening a restaurant would come true.

The ‘Local Innovators Institute’ is a business development class offered by the Lovington MainStreet agency. Specifically, the Institute was developed to provide entrepreneur training on owning and running a successful restaurant.

Technology has become a very important aspect of everyday life. Families, schools, governments, and businesses all use some form of technology to reach people and disseminate information or services.  

More than 67 years ago, parents came together to advocate for their children living with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) who were not welcome in public schools. The Arc was born out of this effort, becoming a nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals living with IDD in Connecticut.

Today the nonprofit’s work spans beyond traditional advocacy, which they still provide in the form of housing, education, and outreach. But it is their self-sustaining microenterprises run by individuals with IDD that are making an impact in the local community.

The Yellowstone Valley Food Hub (YVFH) is a cooperative of farmers and ranchers that came together three years ago to increase the community's access to local food. It started as an online ordering platform and quickly grew into an enduring business. Today it provides the communities of central and eastern Montana with quality food with delivery and pickup options.  

Fulton is a small town in Missouri and the largest city in Callaway County, with a population of about 13,000 people. But for many rural towns, identifying and securing solar incentives can be a challenge.

The Luther College’s Center for Sustainable Communities is working to improve local economies in the Midwest with the help of a Rural Energy for America Program Renewable Energy Systems & Energy Efficiency Improvement Guaranteed Grant 

Homegrown HideAways is more than just a farm. Located in the Appalachians of Berea, Kentucky, the 100-acre holler welcomes more than 2,000 guests per year and has more than a dozen listings on Airbnb. When Jessa Turner and her partner opened the center, they had plans of adding a solar panel to their community facility but the price of making their farm sustainable was a barrier they needed assistance to overcome.