The Bottom Line – (Air date: May 30, 2017) While the Wasatch Front is thriving, rural Utah is hurting. For generations many rural Utah communities have mostly depended on the extraction of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) for local jobs. But this dependence has proven painful over the last decade. Disappearing coal jobs are hurting places like Carbon and Emery Counties, and the boom and bust cycles of oil and gas have left Uintah and Duchesne County residents uncertain.
But the impact investment firm Accelerant BSP and the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development have been working to help local Utah communities develop new employment opportunities. Joel McKay Smith’s firm Accelerant BSP works to pair hiring companies with rural communities. Ben Hart, Deputy Director of the Governor’s Office for Economic Development, also discusses how the state is helping rural Utah to expand its economic horizons.
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