I think the best people to talk to about this would be my friends Andy Stoll and Amanda Styron of http://seedhere.org. They just completed a bus tour with Steve Case (founder of AOL) called The Rise of the Rest that was focused on building entrepreneurial communities in smaller population areas. Andy and Amanda also consult with many small communities similar to what you are describing that are working on creating community driven entrepreneurial initiatives.

Let me know if you need an intro.