Course information

Running from September 4 - October 29, 2024, this course features a community economic development business retention and expansion (BRE) model. This approach includes three key steps and broad-based community involvement that allows professionals, stakeholders and volunteers to connect with businesses.

The course also infuses discussion and content about staff-driven continuous BRE visitation approaches — examining the similarities and differences between continuous BRE methods and the University of Minnesota’s community economic development BRE model. The course will help you consider the BRE approach and methods valuable for your economic development situation.

The course typically involves two to four hours per week over an eight-week period. You can work at times convenient for your schedule. Staying involved on a weekly basis, however, optimizes your experience. There are weekly presentations, videos, readings, activities and discussion forums. Live weekly discussions and office hours enrich the learning.

The course will help you create a plan for your community or region’s new BRE initiative or improve your existing program. See our course website for more information, https://z.umn.edu/brecourse. This course also meets the requirement to receive a Business Retention and Expansion International (BREI) certification and one-year membership for $75. BREI is an international association that promotes and educates about BRE.

Fees and registration details

All participants need to enroll individually (by 4pm on August 27, 2024) in order to gain access to course materials. If you are registering as a member of a team, please confirm that someone from your team has already purchased the course before you begin enrolling. Register by July 31, 2024 to receive early bird pricing. Pricing is as follows:

• Individual (per person): $800 ($650 early bird)
• Community members/teams*:
  • 2-person team: $1,375 ($1,100 early bird)
  • 3–5 person team: $1,800 ($1,500 early bird)
• Full-time student: $160 ($120 early bird) — email your transcript to Michael Darger prior to registering at darger@umn.edu

*Community-led BRE is all about teamwork, so we encourage teams to attend training together. We offer team discounts for groups from a town or city, county, school district, or other groups of contiguous communities. It is available for either the online or in-person course.

Please start your registration by either logging in with a pre-existing University Guest Account or register as a new user below.

Course contacts

Michael Darger
darger@umn.edu

Eric King
kingx953@umn.edu

Registration help

ext-reg@umn.edu

Course site

(access granted after enrolling)
https://canvas.umn.edu/

Help with online learning

https://z.umn.edu/onlinelearninghelp

Cancellation policy

No refunds will be issued for cancellations after registration closes (August 27, 2024 at 4pm). Cancellation requests received prior to close of registration will be fully refunded.