Using "Creative Capacity Building," MIT's D-Lab established in impoverished, rural areas in developing nations a method of empowering and supporting individuals in rural communities to invent low-cost technologies specifically geared to address the problems or needs of their locale. In 2009, the D-Lab paired with SolCom, a Guatemalan community organizing enterprise, and an international development fund to bring this model to the isolated, impoverished area of Nebaj, assisting locals in creating a Makerspace, or "integrated workshop, demonstration site, training center, and retail shop to complement the activities of microentrepreneurs." The collaboration has fostered an environment for sustainable, grass-roots change, in which the social and intellectual capital needed to create the needed innovations and inventions originate in the community itself.

Two columns on microconsignment, a new variation on microcredit that helps poor people living in developing countries - particularly women in rural villages - start small social businesses without taking on debt or requiring previous business skills. The organization, Soluciones Comunitarias, partners with a non-profit and a university student program to manage the supply chain and other components of the business necessary to support the social entrepreneurs in successful micro-ventures.

Development work is evolving beyond short-term mission trips and one-off donations into a more comprehensive, in-depth model that addresses long-term sustainability of a solution paired with empowerment of those being served. MicroConsignment is a unique branch of micro-enterprise being implemented by non-profit SolCom in Guatemala that provides individuals in rural villages the skills and resources needed to start sustainable businesses.

RedTire is a program operating in Kansas that helps coordinate the selling and buying of businesses. The service has proven critical in rural areas that often only have a single key entity, like a pharmacy, and would suffer greatly if it were to shut down. RedTire serves as a "matchmaking" service to assist these communities in finding new owners to take over at a fair price.

A local energy cooperative in Colorado, Delta Montrose Electric Association, is spurring economic development through renewable energy. The program has allowed Delta County to diversify energy sources, and has become a tool for economic revitalization.

A UNM-Taos nursing program has been touted by the college and the hospital as a great example of workforce development in a community that has long struggled with economic development. As leaders continue to look for ways to diversify the economy beyond low-paying tourism and service industry gigs, the program might be one example of how to effectively merge education and workforce development.