UW–Platteville will host the Investing in Healthy Rural Communities Summit on Wednesday, July 1. 

The goal of the summit is to consider more deeply the common interests in resilient, thriving, healthy rural communities that are shared among economic development and community health focused organizations and how this work can succeed in the region’s rural context. 

Michael Shuman, director of community portals for Missions Markets and a fellow at Cutting Edge Capital and Post-Carbon Institute, will be the day’s keynote speaker. He is one of the architects of the crowd funding reforms that became the “JOBS Act,” signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2012.

The Federal Reserve System and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation created the Healthy Communities Initiative to enrich the debate on how cross-sector and place-based approaches might revitalize neighborhoods and communities while improving health and well being for residents.

The daylong event will provide an opportunity to dig into what is working to build health, prosperity and resilience in rural communities. It will feature national speakers and local leaders in community and economic development and community health improvement who will share examples of successful community integration between the disciplines from the perspectives of policy, practice and financing.