2026 CDS Annual Conference: Full Schedule

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9:30am EDT

Community System Usability: Supporting Entrepreneurs

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:30am - 10:45am EDT

This session presents survey-based findings from four rural communities on residents' perceptions of the usability of local systems that support entrepreneurship. The presentation focuses on differences between resource availability and ease of use. It introduces a set of measures that practitioners can apply to better understand how community support for entrepreneurs functions from the user perspective.

Speakers

Neil Linscheid

State Specialist, Entrepreneurship, University of Minnesota Extension

I am a State Specialist in Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota Extension. That means that I spend my time working with my Extension colleagues and community members to explore, deliberate upon, and implement community-based efforts to support entrepreneurs. I've been working... Read More →

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:30am - 10:45am EDT
Classroom 120 - University Hall

Classroom 120 - University Hall, Chart Cross-Sector Pathways - Academic Paper

9:30am EDT

Educational Program Development as Social Entrepreneurship

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:30am - 10:45am EDT

Classroom 120 - University Hall

From 2021-2025, University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension led a cross-sector collaborative to solve a multi-part problem in Wisconsin: inequities in both entrepreneurship and incarceration, alongside high recidivism. Responding with entrepreneurship education for justice-impacted state residents, Extension educators followed the same steps their participants were learning to grow the program. This paper describes the effort through typical Extension program development steps as well as entrepreneurial language. Comparing the two shows that common Extension skills are well suited to social entrepreneurship, which creates a community benefit from new funding and partners. It ends with a discussion of lessons learned and suggestions for trying again.

Speakers

Diana Hammer

Associate Professor, Community & Youth Development, UW-Madison Extension

From 2020-2025, Diana led Extension's Entrepreneur in Training Partnership, a collaborative effort to teach entrepreneurship, career skills, and character development to justice-impacted Wisconsinites. Prior to that, she served as Extension's Community Development Educator in Fond... Read More →

Wednesday July 22, 2026 9:30am - 10:45am EDT
Classroom 120 - University Hall

Classroom 120 - University Hall, Chart Cross-Sector Pathways - Academic Paper

2026 CDS Annual Conference

9:30am EDT

Neil Linscheid

9:30am EDT

Diana Hammer

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