Skip to main content

Centers of Community Prosperity

Centers of Community Prosperity

Centers of Community Prosperity are designed to increase the capacity of rural and underserved communities across the country. The program is administered by the USDA Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement.

Centers of Community Prosperity represent the partnerships between USDA and USDA stakeholders including USDA agencies, cooperative extension, other federal departments, and private sector partners, such as, nongovernmental and philanthropic organizations, community development financial institutions, and others. Centers of Community Prosperity work to foster hope and opportunity, wealth creation, and asset building. 

Centers of Community Prosperity convene state, federal and tribal partners, land-grant universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges, historically black colleges and universities, national development organizations, nonprofit organizations, faith leaders, veterans, and other strategic partners, to focus on the White House Rural Prosperity Taskforce recommendations, as well as the executive orders regarding the Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives, as well as the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council.

Local Prosperity Councils

For community prosperity to be realized, solid local leadership is needed. Local Prosperity Councils bring together mayors, county planning committee members, board of supervisors, superintendents, farmers, ranchers, agriculture producers, and faith-based and community organization leadership to focus on locally driven, bottom up solutions to address community specific and self-identified challenges and issues.

The Local Prosperity Council Guidebook aims to guide communities through the various stages of establishing a Local Prosperity Council, including recruiting council members, identifying community assets, and establishing and prioritizing community priorities.  

Community Prosperity Summits

Prosperity Summits and capacity-building workshops foster a sustainable development process focusing on locally driven, bottom-up solutions to address challenges in rural and underserved communities.

To date, USDA has worked with local partners to bring together more than 1,000 institutional and community partners with USDA agencies and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and other federal agencies. These summits have resulted in grants and leadership endowments to address community challenges such as veteran outreach, improving regional food systems, and combating substance abuse.

Check out the State Summit Planning and Evaluation Guide to learn more about hosting a summit in your community. 

USDA Liaisons

USDA Liaisons serve as a key USDA representative in communities across America. USDA Liaisons advise and assist communities, students, faculty, universities and colleges, farmers, ranchers, foresters, and others on USDA programs and initiatives. USDA liaisons develop and maintain partnerships with key USDA stakeholders in order to enhance greater outreach between USDA stakeholders and USDA agencies, mission areas, and staff offices.

Find your local USDA Liaison 

Community Prosperity Resource Matrix

USDA and its agencies have programs that can provide financial assistance to rural and underserved communities across the country. These programs support residents, businesses and communities through:

  • technical, training, and planning assistance;
  • financial assistance

The Community Prosperity Resource Matrix and Community Prosperity Resource Matrix - Federal organizes funding opportunities identified at the USDA and across the federal government that support capacity building in rural America, and that foster hope and opportunity, wealth creation, and asset building. Opportunities are categorized by stakeholder group and type of technical assistance.

Community Prosperity Resource Matrix 

Community Prosperity Resource Matrix – Federal (PDF, 1023 KB)

 

Additional Resources