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The National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) and its 501(c)(3) affiliate the NADO Research Foundation work with the national network of more than 500 regional development organizations (RDOs) across the United States to promote economic competitiveness, rural and regional development, and quality of place. RDOs are multijurisdictional organizations that provide regional planning and local community and economic development services.
With grant support, the NADO Research Foundation has been building capacity and offering technical assistance on a wide range of transportation and regional development topics for rural Tribes, communities, or RDOs since the mid-1990s. NADO has found that for rural regions, making progress on any type of transportation challenge requires a network of partners working both in and outside of transportation.
Partner Mapping for Transportation "Chains"
NADO works with technical assistance stakeholders to identify their current and potential transportation partners using the methodology of partner mapping in wealth creation value chains, a concept initially developed for rural economic development. The rural wealth creation framework, also known as WealthWorks, has three core principles that relate well to transportation: building on a region's existing assets, conducting broad engagement, and supporting local ownership and control of development. Strategies and metrics focus on improving multiple forms of community capital (such as health and wellbeing, infrastructure, natural capital, economic opportunity, or social connectedness).·
Wealth creation value chains are networks of partners that "work together for mutual benefit to create value in response to market demand" in ways that are different from typical supply chains. For instance, value chain partners often hold some values in common, such as social or environmental outcomes, although their work also meets their own self-interests.·
Through NADO' work, the value chain business model is expanded to organizing around public goods, such as transportation, that are largely delivered by government or nonprofit partners, rather than only organizing around businesses that meet market demand. The competitive environment of transportation funding makes building extensive partner networks a necessity for success. Many federal discretionary grant programs are oversubscribed. Likewise, state and federal formula programs often have far more identified needs...