RRDC Activities
Through efforts of the NIFA Regional
Rural Development Centers (RRDCs),
the land-grant system's capacity to address
critical needs of rural people and places
is being significantly advanced through:
Research
Each of the RRDCs is building the scientific
knowledge base to underpin education and
extension programs in rural and community
development. Selected examples follow. Link
to each Center's Web site to find research
reports and information briefs, and you can
add your name to their consortia of participating
scholars and link to more opportunities that
support research.
-
Health and food security research:
The Southern
Rural Development Center (SRDC), in
partnership with USDA's Economic
Research Service, funds research through
its competitive Food Assistance Research
Small Grants Program. Population
health and food security are one of
the SRDC's priority areas.
-
Measuring and understanding
rurality and rural diversity: SRDC also
partnered with USDA's Economic
Research Service to organize a research
workshop, Measuring Rural Diversity Conference,
in Washington, DC , November 21-22, 2002.
National and international participants
shared scientific methods for measuring
social and economic diversity in rural
places, including new methods to examine
socio-demographic features of rural America,
measure economic activity in nonmetro
areas, explore economic distress, and
create sub-county and place-based typologies. Ways
to apply new information technologies
to rural analysis were presented.
-
Understanding community-led
change and economic development: “Comprehensive
Community Initiatives: Evaluating Multi-Level
Collaboration for Systems Change” represents
work under way through the North
Central Regional Center for Rural Development
(NCRCRD) and its partners to develop
a model of community-led community and
economic development. The research also
contributes to program evaluation methodology
and theory. See the NCRCRD Web site for
Rural Development News, Volume 26, Number
3, 2003.
-
Land-use research and policy
issues: Northeast
Regional Center for Rural Development
(NERCRD) is leading efforts to develop
a regional and national research and
education strategy on land-use issues,
meeting a compelling need for research-based,
community-level public policy education
on land use. Its Rural
Development Paper Series and Land-Use/Sprawl
Briefing Room include research reports
and policy briefs on land-use trends
and issues, farmland at the urban fringe,
farmland preservation, land-use conflicts,
housing construction, seasonal housing,
and e-government resources for land-use
management. All are available on the
NERCRD Web site.
-
Fiscal crises facing state governments: Western
Rural Development Center (WRDC) released
research findings in 2003 of a comparative
study of the fiscal situation for 13
western states. Examining causes and
consequences of current budget difficulties,
the research points to longer-term factors
that help explain how a mild recession
is affecting state budgets. It also reviews
coping strategies. The report is available
on the WRDC Web site.
Professional Development
The RRDCs support professional development
opportunities and educational programs to
ensure high-quality, relevant, and timely
technical assistance capacity and outreach
for rural and community development.
-
Core to advanced community and
economic development skills:
In recent years, the Southern
Rural Development Center (SRDC) has
emerged as the major vehicle for training
state and county extension faculty in
the South on how to incorporate community
development principles in their primary
extension programs areas of responsibility. “Creating
Vibrant Communities in the South: Training
Resources for Building Community Development
Skills” describes recent activities
in its multiyear professional development
portfolio.
-
Native American business owners
and e-commerce: The North
Central Regional Center for Rural Development
(NCRCRD) has completed an assessment
of technical assistance and training
needs of Native American business owners
to help them participate in e-commerce.
Through learning circles at four reservations
across the country, NCRCRD worked with
tribal colleges, cooperative extension,
tribal small business centers, and local
nonprofit organizations to identify and
recommend culturally appropriate assistance
and training. The project report, “Native
American Business Participation in E-Commerce:
An assessment of Technical Assistance
and Training Needs," is available
on the NRDC Web site.
-
Bridging the digital divide
for businesses, local governments, and
nonprofits: The Northeast
Regional Center for Rural Development
(NERCRD) hosted a regional workshop
on bridging the digital divide to offer
a hands-on, in-depth professional development
opportunity for those who help small
business owners, local government officials,
nonprofit managers, and community leaders
use information tools effectively. Proceedings
from “Information
Technology Regional Workshop on Bridging
the Digital Divide” are available
on the NERCRD Web site. To further develop
information technology capacity, NERCRD
published “GIS
and Your Community,” with examples
of how small and rural communities and
local government can and do use GIS applications,
including tax mapping, land management,
policy and fire systems, water conservation,
utility planning, transportation analysis,
demographic analysis, and infrastructure
mapping. This information is also available
online.
Partnerships
The RRDCs have a long record of working
partnerships with public and private entities
toward common goals. In recent years, work
with partners has expanded, promising sustainable
rural and community development programs
despite a period of fiscal austerity and
scarce resources. Annual reports from each
center are posted on their Web sites and
detail partnerships that are leveraging NIFA
support for the RRDCs. Selected examples
follow.
-
Mid-South Delta Regional Revitalization:
The Mid-South Delta Region faces economic,
social, political, and environmental challenges
that span many years—limited population
and economic expansion, low educational
attainment, a limited pool of skilled workers,
high rates of poverty, and low community
capacity to address priority issues of
importance to the welfare of the area.
The Southern
Rural Development Center works with
several partners on projects toward revitalization
for the region's economy and communities.
-
Master Farmer education and growing
economic opportunities— With seed
money from NIFA, SRDC began work in
2003 with extension directors and program
leaders in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi
to expand Louisiana's successful Master
te
Initiative—Following a May 2003
conference on the Mid-South Delta, SRDC,
the Foundation for the Mid-South, and
the directors of extension in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Arkansas began strategic
discussions on how to align programs
for a unique public-private partnership
in the region. Partners are preparing
Memoranda of Understanding for shared
work in 2004 on economic and community
development, leadership development,
youth development.
-
Walton Family Foundation Initiative
Evaluation—SRDC began work in fall
2003 with the Walton Family Foundation
on strategies to development appropriate
measurement and assessment tools for
the Foundation's programs in Arkansas
and Mississippi.
-
Mississippi Delta trends analysis—SRDC
works with the Mississippi State University
Remote Sensing Unit and Delta Data Center
to collect, analyze, and generate information
to guide the activities and investments
of leaders, organizations, and citizens
in an 18-county region in the Mississippi
Delta. In 2004, SRDC will prepare a series
of Delta briefs to highlight key trends
and their implications for the region.
-
Theory, models, and measures
of integrated, holistic, collaborative
community change: The North
Central Regional Center for Rural Development
works with the National Rural Funders
Collaborative, the Benedum Foundation,
the West Virginia Collaborative, the
Northwest Areas Foundation, Heartland
Center, and international partners toward
theoretical advances in understanding
community-driven and regional development
and toward a new vocabulary and methodology
for monitoring community investments.
Early results of the work are published
in diverse forms, including through the
NCRCRD Web site. Two examples follow:
Back to Rural & Community Development Home Page |
