Rural communities often struggle with low tax revenue and not enough staff to create strong economic plans, while hiring consultants is often too expensive

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Building Communities, Inc. $650,000 on September 1, 2026, to develop a Phase II AI-powered planning application for rural economic development under the Small Business Innovation Research Program (CFDA 10.212).

Building Communities, Inc. will expand an affordable, app-based planning tool designed to help rural communities with limited budgets and staff create and execute economic development strategies. The Phase II project runs through August 31, 2028, with work performed in Baker City, Oregon. Key deliverables include integrating all phases of the planning process into the application, enhancing real-time recommendation capabilities, and conducting system validation testing with rural partner organizations. The tool aims to reduce planning costs and support rural job creation, industry strengthening, and quality-of-life improvements by removing barriers to professional economic development planning.

This phase II project aims to build an affordable, APP based planning tool that uses AI and new research to help rural towns create and carry out economic development strategies. Key milestones include adding all parts of the planning process into the APP, improving real time recommendations, and testing the system with rural partners. By lowering planning costs and helping communities guide new investments, the project supports rural development by creating jobs, strengthening local industries, and improving quality of life.