Call for papers/Appel de communications : Economic Development in Underserved Communities: Where Research and Practice Meet

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
The Community Affairs Department is issuing a call for research papers to be presented at a national conference titled, “Economic Development in Underserved Communities: Where Research and Practice Meet,” to be held September 9 – 10, 2010 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in Kansas City, MO.

This conference seeks to bring together the latest research and practice in economic development in underserved rural and low-and-moderate-income urban communities in an effort to foster thinking on relevant issues and highlight best practices in the application of economic development policy. The conference will explore the groundwork necessary for transitioning rural communities and low-and-moderate income urban communities into the new economy.

The conference is organized into four sessions, each with two break-out sections, one for rural issues and one for urban low-and-moderate-income issues.
Session 1: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Talent – This session addresses issues surrounding efforts to attract, retain, and develop a qualified workforce in underserved communities.

Session 2: The Role of Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses – This session is designed to address impediments to entrepreneurship and small business development in underserved areas.

Session 3: Developing and Maintaining Infrastructure – This session seeks to identify needs for infrastructure and public services in rural areas and urban low-and-moderate income communities and successful approaches for addressing these needs.

Session 4: Innovation and Collaboration in Economic Development – This session will highlight innovative economic development approaches, relationships and communication among economic development stakeholders, policy barriers and policies that promote development in rural and low-and-moderate income urban areas.

Each session will begin with a 40-minute research presentation (including Q & A), followed by a presentation by one or two community development practitioners addressing the issue on the ground.

For a more detailed conference agenda, including potential research questions that could be addressed, please visit the Community Development section of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s web site at http://www.kansascityfed.org.

An enlarged abstract with a maximum of 500 words, written in English, should be sent electronically (in Word or Adobe Acrobat format) to kcecondev@kc.frb.org no later than March 31, 2010. For those with abstracts accepted for the conference, complete papers are due no later than July 15, 2010. Each presenter of a research paper will receive an honorarium of $1,500. Travel expenses for presenters also will be covered.

For any additional questions, please contact Kelly Edmiston, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, at kelly.edmiston@kc.frb.org or (816) 881-2004.

WWW: www.kansascityfed.org