Regional Rural Development
Centers
An IN FOCUS article on this program page
details the integrated research, education,
and extension approach the Regional Rural
Development Centers (RRDCs) bring to rural
and community development. RRDCs have rich
portfolios of strategies to enhance the capacity
of the land-grant system to help rural people
and places.
The following are examples of exemplary
RRDC projects:
Food
Assistance Needs of the South's Vulnerable
Populations is a new, special policy
series helping scientists, policymakers,
and practitioners understand and address
issues of food assistance needs and population
health in the South. USDA's Economic Research
Service and the Farm Foundation provide
partial funding. Publications include research-based
analyses of obesity links to food security,
the economic burden of obesity in the rural
South, medical spending attributable to
obesity, diet quality among low-income
rural women, participation variations in
food stamp and other assistance programs,
Latino/Hispanic population's food stamp
program participation in the South, and
childhood obesity among low-wealth Latino
families.
The November 2002 “Measuring Rural
Diversity Conference,” organized by
the Southern
Rural Development Center (SRDC) and
the Economic
Research Service (ERS) has led to a
new policy series developed by the SRDC to
disseminate the results of the research.
The first issue, November 2003, examines
how poverty and persistent poverty vary across
the ERS urban influence codes and where poverty
is concentrated in the United States. It
is available on the SRDC
Web site. Additional issues will disseminate
research findings on factors associated with
lower income levels in tribal areas, the
growing importance of rural proprietors for
economic development, and creating metropolitan
and micropolitan statistical areas.
The Southern
Rural Development Center 2002-2003
program of professional development training
opportunities resulted in greater capacity
for technical assistance in many areas
central to rural and community development,
including:
- Training for Forest Service, extension,
and Rural Development agency representatives
in the South in core and advanced rural
development skills, co-sponsored by SRDC,
USDA Rural Development, the University
of Georgia, USDA Forest Service, and the
University of Florida IFAS Extension.
- Sixteen new Business Retention and Expansion
certified consultants, who are helping
create new jobs from existing and new businesses.
- Thirty-four extension professionals from
seven southern states trained in health
system analysis, improving extension's
role in individual, family, and community
health needs.
- New skills in value-added entrepreneurship
for extension faculty working with agricultural
and natural resources producers.
- New tools for state extension specialists
and county agents to develop educational
programs for smart growth in the rural
South.
- More than 120 participants from 20 states
trained in Hispanic audience outreach.
The North
Central Regional Center for Rural Development
(NCRCRD) supported diverse professional
development opportunities in 2002-2003,
including:
- Working with community and economic development
extension program leaders to identify a
set of core competencies for the land-grant
system and to assess professional development
needs in the North Central Region.
- Hosting the 2002 National Extension
Tourism Conference, where more than 100
extension researchers, specialists, field
agents, and administrators learned about
tourism as a development strategy.
- Co-sponsoring, with Kansas State University
College of Agriculture, the January 2003
conference, “Engaging
Hispanic Audiences in Kansas.”
The Northeast
Regional Center for Rural Development provided
opportunities for extension leaders to
learn from several of its research conferences
and apply findings to educational programs,
including:
The
Western Rural Development Center (WRDC) surveyed
rural western counties to determine the
extent and manner in which rural county
planning departments use GIS tools in their
work. Findings are helping extension leaders
develop educational programs for local
governments and planning bodies to enhance
application of GIS tools. Results of the
study are online.
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