NGIN Inclusive Recovery Guide

In this episode, my colleague BJ Allen, R5DC's Deputy Director, sits down with Betsey Suchanic and Dee Shaw from New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN) to talk about their Inclusive Recovery Guide. You can learn more about NGIN, check out the guide and become part of their online community at recovery.newgrowth.org/

Transcript

BJ:
Hello everybody, this is BJ Allen from Region 5 Development Commission, and I have the pleasure of being here today with Deirdre Shaw and Bessie Sukenak, and I will let them introduce themselves if I've slaughtered their names. I'm sure Angela will edit this out.

Betsey Suchanic:
Hi, BJ. Thank you so much for having us. I'm Betsy Sushanek, but you were close. So I'm Betsy Sushanek. I'm with the New Growth Innovation Network and so pleased to be here to share a little bit of what we've learned both from Region 5 and our national program that we've had over the last two years.

Deirdre Shaw:
Hi, BJ, thank you for having me on. My name is Deirdre Shaw and you got my name right. And I'm really proud of you because that is not an easy one. But I go by D. So thank you so much for having us here.

BJ:
Would you all just tell us just a little bit about NGIN to get us started, and then we'll dive right into the questions.

Betsey Suchanic:
Yeah, I'll share a little bit about ENGINE. So ENGINE stands for the New Growth Innovation Network. ENGINE is our acronym for short. And we are a national organization that's looking to understand what inclusive growth looks like in economic development. So we're looking at how does equity show up in economic development and how we can better understand ways in which to embed equity. to get more equitable economic outcomes in regions, in communities, in cities, in counties, all across the country. And we were founded in 2019 by a group of economic development practitioners who wanted to re-envision what economic development would look like if it had an inclusive development lens. And so all of that, that ideas that were seeded in 2019 have sort of led to the full evolution of what we're doing now. in terms of the different windows and different lenses we're applying inclusive economic growth to regions, to cities, to sort of better understand how does this look like when it's on the ground.

BJ:
Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit more about inclusive economic recovery and how it's relevant in our region?

Deirdre Shaw:
Sure. So the inclusive recovery initiative. Sure, thank you. So the Inclusive Recovery Initiative was a two and a half year national initiative that explored how economic development districts are embedding inclusive and equitable growth strategies into their COVID-19 recovery strategies. In particular, we looked at how EDDs were embedding inclusive growth strategies in their planning, specifically in the development of their comprehensive economic development strategies or their SEDs. We worked with EDDs in two ways. We got to learn from almost 100 EDDs and in our community of practice. And that was an online network complete with eight online convenings to discuss key topics. We had an opportunity to learn about We had an opportunity to learn deeply by working alongside six regions, which you were one of, that were doing this work and to better understand how you plan and implement this work on the ground. Like I said, we had the privilege of learning from Region 5 Development Commission as they engaged in both aspects of our initiative in the community of practice and as one of the six regions that had the opportunity to work with our technical assistants as you advanced your work.

BJ:
Great, thank you for that. And I have another question about the SEDs, the economic development strategies. And I was just wondering, you know, I think that there are a lot of people who don't necessarily know what those are or how they are relevant to their lives because it's sort of a obscure thing, I think for a lot of people, a lot of individuals in our communities. And so maybe you could take a moment to just talk about the SEDs and how that's relevant for people. And then also just elaborate just a little bit more on what our role is, especially moving forward, taking the information that you all supply to us. And, um, and why, why us?

Betsey Suchanic:
Thanks, BJ. Yeah, I'll absolutely share. So the SEDS, which is sort of short form for that, that long acronym that D shared about the comprehensive economic development strategies, which sounds quite dry when you put it like that, but also is a really powerful document and process that really serves as a five year roadmap for a community, for a region specifically. to sort of chart what their economic strategies are going to be for the five years. So I like to think of it as sort of the strategic plan for the region's economy. And so it sounds that long acronym, it's a big document usually, and it includes some really core pieces such as a summary background, which sort of tells the story of where the community has been, what the community looks like, and creates sort of a narrative around. how the economy came to be where it is and what that means going forward. Part of that document is a SWOT analysis. That's typically a SWOT analysis. Sometimes they have different acronyms and different ways of framing, but it looks at strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. But also I know Region 5 has adopted sort of a much more asset-based model around how we sort of assess that. But basically to say what are these pieces, what are all the factors in our regional economy, and how are we developing comprehensive strategies that are going to work together across our region, across the entities, the partners, the localities in this region, to come together and what are the strategies and what are the metrics that we're going to measure success on. So it's a document that contains a ton of information about the economy, but it also is the roadmap to evaluate how do we know that we've made the progress that we want in the region's economy throughout that time. And so building on that as well, in terms of the role that Region 5 had in our work was, we had a really great chance to work alongside Region 5 as one of our technical assistance sites. So... our community practice, we went wide, our technical assistance sites, we went deep. Knowing that what's happening on the ground and knowing the uniqueness of each region really determines what you can and can't do and how equity shows up in terms of what the needs from the community are and all of that. And so we had a chance to work alongside both you and Cheryl and I'll say that when we were selecting the six sites, there was a number of factors around sort of where you were. in implementing this, one of the sort of key things too was we wanted a wide range of geographies in our six sites in terms of where they were located across the country, but also in the type of region that they serve. And region five was one of our sites that really served a rural area. And that led to a lot of powerful learnings for us at NGIN on sort of the unique and complex challenges of how you advance equity work in both planning and implementation. across a rural region and the sort of challenges that come with that and sort of sometimes the doubling down of inequities, right? Like thinking about what does digital equity look like? And you're starting to think through that layered approach of who has digital equity and how does that relate to digital literacy and device access, all under this layer of sort of broadband equity as well. So I think for us, the rural focus was really key in terms of understanding sort of what does this look like in rural communities and having lessons from both you and Cheryl and how you were working and doing this work and bringing partners into this work was really important. And I'll also add on that note too, that one of the things that I think has really stood out to me was, I think Region 5 is a really great example of using an asset-based approach to understand where the region is. And so using things like the WealthWorks model in framing your SEDs and saying, these aren't weaknesses or threats, but they're opportunities. And there are ways and places, and we have assets in our community that can be leveraged, that might be untapped. And there might be things that we can do to sort of better understand our region through that lens. And so I think for us, that also came through loud and clear as a significant learning and definitely something that is reflected in the toolkit that we'll share about later.

BJ:
Great, thank you. Yeah, I think that being located in a rural region really has another, it just contributes to another aspect and to the whole conversation in terms of equitable access to infrastructure like you're saying, and many other things too. So we often talk about what it's like in a rural region. So I'm glad that y'all included a rural region in your work. I just looked at the statistic the other day that only 17.9% of Americans live in a rural area, so it's actually a very small percentage of people that we're talking about. But we produce a lot of food that everybody enjoys and so forth. We do some important economic activities out here in rural areas as well. So how does equity relate to regional economic growth?

Deirdre Shaw:
So regional economic growth or development, it really does improve upon the social welfare of the region. And that's pretty important because, you know, it sets, it's a set of concerted efforts taken by community leaders to ensure that the, ensure the standard of living. And so because regional economic growth is place-based, it's so responsive to equity. Like everything about equity, it's exacerbated or really shown in a regional level. So here at Enjin, we believe that equity is tied in to economic growth. It can't be separated out. And the fact that equitable economic outcomes are the driver for economic growth, which is the premise of inclusive growth. And that's what Enjin was founded on. It helps that when we reduce economic inequities in our communities, what we're doing is we're building, we're investing back in our communities. It's all about our standard of living. investing in economic growth, you're investing in yourselves, you're investing in your future. And if your region isn't investing in all of its residents, its workers, its assets, it's leaving a lot behind. And you know, it looks different for each community. You know, there's a lot of things in economic inclusive, inclusive economic growth that looks at the assets in the community that are not tapped or they're hidden or, you know, hidden investments. And some of that would be surprising. And ultimately, by looking at all of these untapped investments in your region. You're addressing inequities and you're growing your local economy. Especially in a rural area, you might have just maybe one, you might think that you only have one major employer or one type of economy, but there could be several other types of economies that are hidden or untapped. And so when we look at that or we look beyond just that, we can see that there are key historical and structural barriers that have, they have, unfortunately, they've led to the exclusion of economic growth for people of color, for women and other neglected communities. And you might think, well, I'm in a rural area, we're a monoculture, we're all the same. We don't have... We don't have anybody else that doesn't look like us. We don't have anybody else that doesn't think like us. We, we, we're all the same, but demographics are shifting, mindsets are shifting and rural America is still America. I lived in rural America. I lived in one of the most rural remote places in America. And even, you know, the demographics are shifting all over America. So, you know, when we think about building some of these economic outcomes that are equitable and writing some of the historic and current wrongs, we can look outside of ourselves or outside of the community that we think that we might not understand is right there with us, if that makes sense to you. Almost like, I don't want to say a hidden community, but sometimes we were siloed. in some of these smaller communities. And we think, well, we don't have this type of issue here. It's always been this way. I think that everybody has the opportunity for growth. There hasn't been an issue or there hasn't been a problem. And then when you go and you just do some digging within the community, you'll find out there's another vibrant community there that you didn't know about.

BJ:
Yeah, I think that's really well said, Dee. And yesterday we were actually having a conversation about intersectionality. And I think that it's very easy to get stuck in your little box and not even know what's outside of your box, even in our small rural communities. And I learned a lot yesterday too, about individuals who are in our communities and their perspectives and their experiences, which were obviously very different from my experiences in our community. So, so yeah. Region five's mission is to contribute through planning and implementation to a sustainable and prosperous regional economy, environment and quality of life for all. And we really take that to heart in terms of our, you know, our programs and projects and how we really try, we're constantly trying to reach everyone and be inclusive in those processes. So yeah, thank you very much for that. So what, you know, We touched a little bit on this already, but I just want to elaborate a little bit further on, what do you see as the challenges in this work and why is it important?

Deirdre Shaw:
That's a great question. Challenges, that's pretty subjective. The thing is that you can ask six different people what the challenges are. You're going to get six different answers, or maybe you'll get 60 different answers. So what are the challenges? I'll just come up with two that I've heard. And two of those challenges that we hear practitioners are faced with are not knowing where to start. That's a big one. Or just have the lack of support, whether it's capital or community or institutional. Those are just two of some of the challenges that I hear. But with challenges, there's also solutions. there's an adage that says there's nothing new under the sun. It might be different for your community or it might present differently, but. There's nothing that no one has ever seen before. And I say that to say that InGen has a great online community and on that online community, you can reach out to other practitioners. You can go online and you can see some of the resources. You can do a search and especially in our... InGen has an online community, and on top of our online community, of course, we're talking about this toolkit that was built. The toolkit is a very great resource for our challenges. There's an idea bank, which I think is one of the coolest things ever, that you can go and you can get help with ideas. You can go and... say, oh my goodness, I thought I was the only person in America, or the only reason in America that had this problem. I didn't know that there was another area, rural area, in another state that has similar demographics that's going through what I'm going through. This is how they solved it? Oh, that's great. You can go through and you can search by topic. You can search by region. You can go through and you can say, I'm having these challenges What do I do? And the toolkit is a great asset for that. So between Engines Online Community and our toolkit, there are a lot of solutions for our challenges. And also, I would like to address the question that you asked, why is this work important? Personally, for me, I think that this work is important because it represents the everyday life of Americans. It's who we are, the ability for us to survive and thrive in our environment, to be included in community, and to have access to wealth, to participate in our community is a basic human right. I'm a first generation American. So for me, it's important to understand the sacrifice that my family took to get me to be here, to be part of American society, even though we know that it's not perfect. It's important. And when I read, I'm going to. read this quote really quick. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To me, that's the impetus of inclusive economic development. The very foundation of America, the very thing that a war was fought with England for is what we are trying to do right now. That everyone has the same rights. That everyone should be equal. That all men are created equal. And if we are all created equal, why can't we have equitable participation in our communities? And that's why I believe this is important work.

BJ:
Great, thank you for that. And I really appreciate the personal example and how it relates to you as an individual too. I think that really helps some of our listeners relate and understand a little bit more deeper, you know? And so I appreciate that. Thanks, Stee, for sharing that. So the work is really, really important and there are unique challenges that we face in rural America. And you all have... resources for us to tap into for some great ideas as well, the idea bank, so we can look for ideas from solutions that other folks have presented around the country. And then, so the next question that I have for y'all is how the work is driven by local decision making. So if we have these, you know, this nationwide network and whatnot, then how do we get back to really being able to demonstrate to our community, this is something that is an issue in our own community. And yet we're addressing it through our local decision making abilities and bodies and so on. So, that's something that I think that is really important to so much of rural America is that, we do it on our own and we're deciding things on our own. And yet, we need help. So can you just talk a little bit about that being driven by local decision-makers?

Betsey Suchanic:
Yeah, BJ, that is such a good question, and I think has come up over and over again. So the word that I think the words that D used earlier were place based. And I think like that tells us a lot that like this work has to be driven locally if it's place based. And and it's not something that can come from the top down and it has to come from the bottom up. It has to come from community. And it has to be community voice and members at the table for bringing their expertise because they are experts on the like lived experience of living in this region in your rural community. If it's an urban area, like they have, they're experts in that, in their very real experience of like the jobs that are available in. and what they're seeing if they're working at a community-based organization, if they're a local government leader, all of these perspectives are really critical. And so I will say, I think as I'm thinking about how this work is being driven locally, it is, you know, for us, we were working on a grant funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, so a federal program. But the big thing for us is that it wasn't top down. It was that it wasn't like us saying this is how you embed equity. The biggest thing for us was how are places doing this already? And how can we take those learnings just to give folks who are trying to do this a step up to say, this is how another place has done it. Just for inspiration, just to say, is this a pathway that you have thought of? But knowing that at the end of the day, it has to come from within your community. I think one of the things that Dee has said over and over again about this project that I really love is that, it's created a lot of optimism for her on the amazing practitioners who are driving the work in these communities, who are finding the ways to do this. And so I think for us, that's really important because I think we know that those practitioners who are trying to advance this work in their regions are critical assets to the work actually happening, to change and outcomes actually coming as a result. And so, and then the other thing I'll add on that is, I think it's making sure that you have the right stakeholders at the table. We had a really rich discussion in one of our feedback sessions with EDDs on the toolkit when we were developing it on sort of the key importance of who is on your advisory council. Who are the folks who have classically had a voice, who have traditionally had a voice in economic development strategies? And not that, you know, how do we widen the table? How do we change who's at the table? How do we make sure that we're bringing in experts in other areas and other things? And so I think that it's, yes, we still have our local government leaders and we have those jurisdictions represented, but also how are we bringing even more experts to the table and valuing that expertise in new ways? And then I'll just sort of say also in that same vein around just like you were saying in this whole idea, sort of like it has to be bottom up is like, The other thing that we learned from this work is every single region is dealing with different local dynamics, whether that's the political arena that they're operating within, whether that's the funding that might be available locally or regionally, there's all kinds of different ways that we sort of learned regions are leveraging the assets that they have because those assets are all unique and the way that they all line up is unique. And so... We learned this from EDDs, which obviously include Region 5, that there isn't like a one-size-fits-all, but there's like lessons that we learned around like, here's a way that a local government was able to sort of like step in and be a key partner in doing this. And so I think that it's like, how are we making sure, rather than just saying, this is the like five-step framework to embedding equity into our strategies, into developing equity outcomes, is to say, What are the ways that we haven't considered how we're broadening the table? What are the ways that we can better talk to and understand what's happening on the ground? Because that's gonna be the most important thing. And so for us, it's like, how can we help create space for those light bulbs to say, what's a way that we haven't done this before? Knowing that we just have this sort of classic and traditional approach to things, that there's a lot of room for change in there.

BJ:
I really appreciate the comment about the technical assistance and, you know, bringing pieces from, that are applicable for your own region from a whole bunch of different ideas from around the country and around the world, frankly. And we do that a lot at Region 5 Development Commission. We take, we steal ideas all the time. And then in order to make those ideas happen. We oftentimes are piecing resources together, you know, a little resource here, a little resource here in terms of funding, right? And so y'all were talking a little bit about how, how your project has been funded through the economic development administration, EDA. Uh, how, how else do you guys fund the important work that you do?

Deirdre Shaw:
So this project specifically was funded by EDA, but we have partnerships through other organizations, private organizations, endowment funds and you can go online to our website and see a list of some of our partners and some of our projects that's going on. I don't wanna say off the cuff right now and then mess something up, but we do have a lot of great projects going on through endowments and donors. And that's. you can find out more about on our website. For this project though, we did have, we did specifically partner with NATO, which is the National Association for Development Organizations, their research foundation. And NATO served as a critical partner in helping us reach a better understanding of the structure of economic development districts. And of course, beyond EDA and NATO, we had, we worked with practitioners. who brought their insights, learnings, and questions to all of our meetings. And of course, we partnered with Region 5. We worked with you all, which was great, for this specific project.

BJ:
same vein. I'm curious to hear a little bit more about the types of partnerships that are developing for the future and what types of collaborations. And maybe you could give us some specific examples. What has, what do you see is shifting because of the efforts you all have been working on?

Betsey Suchanic:
Great question, BJ. So I feel like I have the answer that is what happened in the regions that we got to really work in and learn from, including region five. And then there's also sort of like, how does this look? What does this look like more broadly moving forward as we sort of see this becoming a really significant priority and more and more attention and needed support coming into advancing sort of what equity looks like in economic development? And so. I'll share that for the inclusive recovery initiative sort of at the regional level. We've seen action take form in a lot of different ways because again, every region is different. But in terms of the six sites we learned alongside, we supported a lot of stakeholder engagement projects, going back to that local decision-making, how are we talking to the community, how are we understanding the community? And so that was really sort of a really important baseline to then say what we've heard, take action on it. And so some of the ways that we had are the EDDs that we were working with do this work. We did have one EDD that moved forward with the design of an economic equity fund that brought together a range of regional partners, local foundations, anchor institutions, to say how can we have this shared fund that's gonna build capacity for community-based organizations so they can access additional funding to move key projects forward. And then what does the sustainability of that look like? Another example is, and this holds true across a lot of our sites, was community engagement was a huge opportunity area for them to say, how are we formalizing our community engagement process, both for the development of our SEDs, but on an ongoing basis? And so we had one site that really sort of did a full evaluation of what are the different ways that they are engaging with the community. And then from there say, well, what does, like how are we bringing leaders onto some sort of advisory board who is on that? And then how are we sort of institutionalizing these outreach points? So that was another example. And then I think beyond sort of the Inclusive Recovery Initiative, based on what we've learned from that nationally, we did help. and support the Economic Development Administration and how they were thinking about their equity contact guidelines for the SEDs. And so how regions will be thinking about what does equity look like in our comprehensive development strategies moving forward. But one of the big things, and I think that it's funny because you were thinking about how does this work move forward and what kind of ways and partnerships is like a really key word for us, because that was one of the ways that we saw regions really being able to tap in. to, you know, you can't go and reach every single individual in your region without significant resources. But if you have the right partners on board, you can get a lot closer to sort of understanding the realities on the ground. And so we heard over and over again that sort of there is a key opportunity around bringing community-based organizations and economic development organizations together to sort of build partnerships and coalitions that will allow them to pull down additional funding. to better understand what's happening in the community. And so really all of that sort of, a lot of the lessons that we learned through that process has sort of led to us embarking on another economic development administration program that we've designed called equity impact investments, which looks specifically at how economic development organizations and community-based organizations are partnering and how we can strengthen those partnerships and institutionalize them even further. And so, and how do they flourish? What does success look like? And how are they sharing power? All kinds of things. And so we did just open applications for that program. And so a lot more information's available online, but just a little bit of a note that partnership component was really important. And so if you wanna learn more or are interested, you can learn more at equity.newgrowth.org. That has sort of the full information on the Equity Impact Investments Program.

BJ:
Great, so that's equity.newgrowth.org. And that program sounds amazing. Really, really interesting. I can't imagine where a Region 5 Development Commission would be without our partners and without those partnerships. Oh my gosh, we accomplished so much more with our partnerships. So you all, through this process and this big project, you have developed this amazing toolkit. and it's online and you can download a copy of the whole thing too. And so tell us tell us a little bit more about it. You're going to do a much better job than I would.

Betsey Suchanic:
Absolutely. I feel like this tool kit is my favorite thing to talk about right now. And I'm like sending it to everybody I know. So in May, we launched our inclusive recovery toolkit. And so I really like to say that this is truly the culmination of all the insights and resources that we've learned and gathered throughout the full inclusive recovery initiative. This is based on sort of like so many interviews, so many convenings, all of the six technical assistance projects. And again, you can access the toolkit online. You can also download a version of it. It's available at recovery.newgrowth.org. And so we have it designed as an interactive webpage with several core sections of content and then as Dee shared, an idea bank that has more than 100 ideas, resources, and tools. Basically, all kinds of examples that came through our research, models, things like that, resources that EDD's shared with us, that partners have shared with us. And so you can search and filter for those solutions as they're relevant to your region or topics. But I like to think of sort of the meat of the toolkit as those three core sections, which really reflect sort of the initial question we would ask EDDs and regions when we were doing this work, which was, how are you incorporating equity in economic development? That's a really broad question, but we found three core sort of. mechanisms, areas that we would usually get responses in to that question. And these were organizationally, in their planning, and then in their implementation. And so those are the three sections that the toolkit is built around. So the first section is organizational commitment and capacity, which says, what does diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, practices, and statements look like in your organization, institutionalized in your organization? And so what's happening inside the organization to make sure? that staff feel like they're equipped to have these conversations, that staff feel comfortable, that the organization itself is serving as a model to create the right environment in which to have these conversations. In their planning, so that was really where we got in deep in terms of the comprehensive economic development strategies. And that section's kind of got two subsections because we heard overwhelmingly there's the process of developing the SEDs and the whole big community engagement aspect of it, but then there's the actual document itself. And equity shows up in different ways and different considerations for both of those in terms of like in the document, how do you tell the story of your region? How like that is a very like, how are you making sure that it reflects the experience of all residents of your region? And so I think. you know, for us, we have a section on both of those. And then lastly, of course, the most important, like what's the action look like? What's the implementation? How, what does this look like to get us closer to equitable outcomes? And so it was everything from like, what are EDDs doing to address this? So all of the things, we have six core areas there that look at everything from equitable workforce development to equitable infrastructure as they're relevant to different regions. And again, I'll just say it one more time for anybody listening who's bookmarking this toolkit right now, it is recovery.newgrowth.org. So feel free to go and explore.

BJ:
Awesome, thank you. So one of the things, as you're talking to Betsy about the ways that some of the different RDOs across the country are engaging in this work and facilitating conversations with the communities, one of the things that recently happened at R5DC is that our commission decided to set up a subcommittee that will support the DEI work. And so that subcommittee has already met a few times and the subcommittee is composed of some of the commissioners. And I think that one of the cool things that it's doing already, even though it's really new, is that it is opening up those conversations between the commissioners, as well as helping to facilitate some of those conversations between the commissioners who are on that committee and the broader community as a whole. And so it's really helping to integrate that work. You know, really, really embed that work in the organization. So for a lot of our listeners who might not be economic development practitioners or nerds like us, what do you think, how can they get involved? What were the types of things that they could do and who should they get in touch with?

Deirdre Shaw:
I think that as members of society, where we are all economic development practitioners on some level. So I'm gonna give everybody credit. If you had a little lemonade stand, or if you even traded, you know, if you were in school once and you traded an extra pencil for some paper, you're part of the system, for sure. And if you want to get involved, I would just say, Come on over, we have an online community you can engage with other economic development practitioners no matter where on the spectrum that you lie in economic development, whether it's trading pencils or paper or doing redevelopment projects in your community at hub.newgrowth.org. That's H-U-B dot N-E-W-G-R-O-W-T-H dot O-R-G. You can explore the inclusive recovery toolkit we shared earlier at recovery.newgrowth.org. That's R-E-C-O-V-E-R-Y.N-E-W-G-R-O-W-T-H.O-R-G. Beyond that, you can learn so much more about our programs and current opportunities at newgrowth.org. Feel free to reach out to Betsy or myself. anybody for anybody that is willing to learn more to To just chat about things. We have a whole slew of things coming on. We have great programming we have Webinars and not just that we are totally awesome cool people and we want you to be part of this hub. So come on over

BJ:
Thank you for that. And you are super awesome, super cool people. And we are so appreciative and grateful for the opportunities that you all gave to us and are very, very pleased with all of the information that we've gotten from you all and all of the assistance that you have provided for us through specifically as well as the opportunity to be able to utilize the Inclusive Recovery Toolkit as we grow in this space. Do you all have any final parting words of wisdom or thoughts that you want to share with the group? our listeners

Betsey Suchanic:
I'll just say thank you so much for having us. It's been a pleasure. And I feel like it's so exciting for us to have the opportunity to both be on the podcast, just share about what we've learned, but also knowing how much we've learned from Region 5 that's informed this work, particularly in the rural context. And so I think for us, it just feels like a really beautiful, like full circle moment to get to be here, to say like, you know, I feel like we're sharing all these insights and all these lessons, but truly like. I feel like we're standing on the shoulders of all the practitioners we've learned from, which includes you and Cheryl and the whole team at Region 5.

Deirdre Shaw:
I just definitely want to thank you for having us here. Yes, you are in Region 5, are a rural community, but I'd like to think that with all of us together and this online hub and just the engine community, you're part of something really large. And I'm just so thankful that we can be part of this together. Thank you so much for having me.

BJ:
Absolutely. And again, everybody who's listening here, the Inclusive Recovery Toolkit can be found at recovery.newgrowth.org. Check it out. It is really, you guys did an amazing job putting this together. All right, thank you for listening to the podcast. This is BJ Allen with Region 5 Development Commission signing off with Dee and Betsy. Thanks, y'all.