Other Areas of Expertise
Area of Expertise (AOE) teams involve Extension specialists, agents, researchers and/or stakeholders organized around a particular commodity, interest area and/or issue.

Michigan State University Extension
Mission: Helping people improve their lives through an educational process that applies knowledge to critical needs, issues, and opportunities.

Michigan State University Outreach
The Office of the Vice Provost for University Outreach serves as a source of information about Michigan State University programs that extend knowledge resources to serve the needs of individuals, groups, and communities. Instructional offerings include off-campus degree programs, noncredit courses, conferences, workshops, and continuing professional education. Outreach partnerships bring together faculty, professionals, practitioners, community-based organizations, government agencies, and business and industry to address such areas of societal concern as economic development, environmental quality, child and youth development, educational reform, health services, and public policy.

Michigan Tourism Business (MTB)
The main goal of  this industry’s eNews source is to provide industry employees and leaders with a one-stop source of relevant industry news and available training opportunities. Featured topics include research results from MSU and other sources, trends that may impact Michigan tourism, what’s new in the industry, conference and trade show information, guest columns from tourism industry leaders, and various stories that are useful to tourism professionals. In each month’s issue, a new training topic is featured utilizing online courses provided by the Michigan Department of Career Development and Michigan Virtual University. Subscription is free.

Michigan Tourism Economic Impact Model  (MITEIM)
The MITEIM model (developed by Dr. Daniel J. Stynes at Michigan State University) estimates economic impacts of tourism-related actions in an Excel workbook. The model employs visitor spending profiles for a set of travel segments to estimate visitor spending and a set of sector-specific multipliers. A number of spending datasets can be imported into the model as can sets of multipliers for the state of Michigan and various sub-regions.

CARRS
Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies at Michigan State University.
Main functions: academic courses, research, outreach.

Agricultural Tourism
Small Farm Center at University of California.

Community Swap
The Community Swap process is organized by University of Illinois Extension Educators and Unit Leaders, who help community members address topics such as downtown revitalization, community development, leadership and volunteer development, tourism development, small business management, and economic development.

Developing Naturally - Enhancing Communities
The Goal of the Developing Naturally home page is to provide field tested resources that will enhance communities throughout the world. The materials provided here have been developed around the concepts of: Discovery, Mutuality, Locality, Historicity, Potentiality, and Enhancement. Included for downloading at no fee are "How to" guides on Nature-based Community Development, Bed and Breakfast Development, and Recycling.

Let's Talk Business
Ideas for expanding retail and services in your community. Information is compiled by Center for Community Economic Development, University of Wisconsin - Extension.

List of Michigan Convention and Visitors Bureaus
Information is presented in alphabetical order of cities in which CVBs are located.

Local Government Commission
 

Michigan Economic Development Corporation
Information on businesses in Michigan, opportunities for expansion, etc. The site also contains statistical information on Michigan and its counties.

North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) at Iowa State University.
Its mission is  to initiate and facilitate rural development research and education programs to improve the social and economic well-being of rural people in the region. The NCRCRD also provides leadership in rural development regionally and nationally by identifying, developing and supporting programs on the vanguard of emerging issues.

Promoting Tourism in Rural America
Promoting Tourism is composed of bibliographic citations with annotations, contact lists of individuals, organizations, and agencies that focus their efforts on tourism and rural development. A list of selected journals pertinent to the topic is included.

Recreation and Tourism
Texas Cooperative Extension Publications, Texas Agricultural Extension Service, The Texas A&M University System.

Rural and Agricultural Tourism Links
 

Smart Growth
This web site provides public resources to help create communities that promote the sustainability of America's environment, economy, and quality of life (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) at Mississippi State University
The SRDC  has served the twenty-nine Land-Grant institutions of the thirteen Southern states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands since 1974. SRDC is one of four regional rural development centers supporting research and extension efforts to improve the lives of people living in non-metropolitan areas of the United States.

State Tourism Organizations and Research Websites
The site contains links to the 50 state tourism organizations and the District of Columbia. The majority of the state offices includes sections with research results and economic impact estimates for the state and in some cases counties or sub-state regions.
The information has been compiled by the Dept. of Park, Recreation and Tourism Resources at Michigan State University.

Tourism Business Development Toolbox 
Resources tailored to specific industries that can assist tourism entrepreneurship in local communities.
Information has been put together by University of Wisconsin-Extension's Center for Community Economic Development and  Wisconsin Small Business Development Center .

Travel Michigan
Information for tourists traveling to Michigan.

Western Rural Development Center (WRDC) at Utah State University
The purpose of the WRDC  is to strengthen rural families, communities, and businesses by facilitating rural development research and extension (outreach) projects cooperatively with universities and communities throughout the West.