Entrepreneurial communities, those communities that support entrepreneurship as a local or regional economic development strategy, are generally characterized by certain behaviors and conditions. There is probably no one correct way to describe what an entrepreneurial community looks like; they are like individual entrepreneurs and come in a variety of sizes, shapes and flavors. Although we can’t give you a cookbook for creating an entrepreneurial community, we can tell you about some of the most distinguishing characteristics of entrepreneurial communities.

• Entrepreneurial communities contain an entrepreneurial pipeline, or a critical mass of aspiring and active entrepreneurs and enterprises. These entrepreneurs possess different business skills and levels of expertise. Entrepreneurial communities help entrepreneurs transition from one level of expertise to another. For more information about entrepreneurial pipelines, see http://creed.louisville.edu/Pipeline-Revised_%20Article.pdf.

• Entrepreneurial communities have a person or group that serves as a champion for entrepreneurship. Champions can help to increase entrepreneurial spirit and support for entrepreneurship as a local or regional economic development strategy. The Minnesota Rural Partners lay out a comprehensive framework for developing and organizing champions for entrepreneurial communities http://www.cafepress.com/mrponline.

• Entrepreneurial communities build on the talents and resources of their residents and local assets. Business owners, especially those with small businesses, tend to be linked or networked together so that they share information and resources and various forms of support. A good source of information on how to do asset mapping in your community can be found at http://srdc.msstate.edu/publications/227/227_asset_mapping.pdf.

• Entrepreneurial communities possess the willingness, and develop the capacity, to work together to address community goals. They are convinced that local leadership can be mobilized to tackle important community efforts and that positive economic changes can be made in the community. For a good review of local leadership and best practices for creating entrepreneurial communities see http://www.smallcommunities.org/ncsc/Kauffman/BestPractices.pdf.

• Members of entrepreneurial communities take specific actions to support entrepreneurs. These activities may include providing educational, financial, and technical support for aspiring and new entrepreneurs, adopting policies that facilitate new business development and encourage investment in skilled people, initiating and supporting networks for entrepreneurs, and fostering business relationships between the public, private and non-profit sectors. You can find additional information about activities that communities may want to sponsor to support entrepreneurs at http://www.energizingentrepreneurs.org/content/chapter_5/supporting_materials/1_000039.pdf.

• Entrepreneurial communities welcome population diversity; they recognize the importance of new ideas, creativity and innovation that are provided by people who migrate into the community. For a good discussion of diversity and its importance to entrepreneurial communities, go to http://www.ncrcrd.iastate.edu/newsletter/june97/build-soc-capital.html.

• Entrepreneurial communities are adaptable. Community change and development can create stress and conflict, especially when communities are pursuing non-traditional local or regional economic development strategies. Leadership in these communities not only rises to the occasion to help their communities withstand conflict and stress, they are willing to try a wide array of alternatives to meet the needs of their communities. Lessons learned by the small communities earning the National Center for Small Communities Grassroots Rural Entrepreneurship awards illustrate this point well. For more information, see http://www.smallcommunities.org/ncsc/Kauffman/BestPractices.pdf.

Prepared by Deborah M. Tootle, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and Marion Bentley, Utah State University