Performing Department
Agricultural, Food & Res Econ
Non Technical Summary
The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development will continue to focus its efforts on its four priority areas of: 1) Information Diffusion; 2) Entrepreneurship; 3) Sustainable Communities; and 4) Leadership Development. These priority areas were established via 2009 site visits to Land Grants in the twelve states in the region, modified slightly in 2011 by the Board, and reaffirmed in a strategic planning session conducted by the Board in April 2012. The Center will use part of its budget to support a post-doctoral fellow to explore or implement a research program and Extension curriculum development in the following multi-state expertise themes: Information Diffusion; Leadership Development. An open small grants competition produced strong proposals from regional Land Grant partners for project activities related to leadership development, sustainable development of natural resources, improved business retention and expansion programs, entrepreneurship programs, and local government efficiencies. The Center is also implementing educational programs in the practice of community development, especially via its nationally recognized webinar program. The Center will also continue its networking efforts by supporting the North Central Extension Community Development program leader network, and selected conferences.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
I. Overview The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development will continue to focus its efforts on its four priority areas of: 1) Information Diffusion; 2) Entrepreneurship; 3) Sustainable Communities; and 4) Leadership Development. These priority areas were established via 2009 site visits to Land Grants in the twelve states in the region, modified slightly in 2011 by the Board, and reaffirmed in a strategic planning session conducted by the Board in April 2012. An open small grants competition has produced strong proposals from regional Land Grant partners. The Center is also implementing educational programs in the practice of community development, especially via its nationally recognized webinar program. The Center will also continue its networking efforts by supporting the North Central Extension Community Development program leader network, and selected conferences. The Center will use part of its budget to support a post-doctoral fellow to explore or implement a research program and Extension curriculum development in the following multi-state expertise themes: Information Diffusion; Leadership Development. The purpose of the post-doctoral fellowship is two-fold. First, to identify research gaps in high need areas of rural development, and fill those gaps through research and curriculum development. A second purpose is to increase the supply of individuals ready to take leadership roles in research and extension appointments in the twelve-state region. Increasingly, the land grant system is producing PhD-holders with strong disciplinary training who could benefit from an opportunity to broaden their perspectives and become more familiar how to function in a research and extension position. In addition to their own personal research and extension program, the post-doctoral fellow will coordinate and host a webinar series entitled, "Innovations in Agriculture for Rural Development." This series, unlike the current NCRCRD webinars (which will continue in their present format) will feature technical leaders from the land grant system and target extension professionals, agribusiness R&D leaders, and others operating in agricultural production. III. Small Grants Program. The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development issued a region-wide call for small grant proposals relating to its four priority areas. Responses to the call were reviewed for technical merit by anonymous reviewers appointed at major universities in the region. Each proposal was treated to at least two anonymous reviews. The proposals and the technical reviews were shared with the Center's Board of Directors for discussion and final funding decision. Table 1 shows the results of the Board decisions. The Michigan State University proposal to help small farms install anaerobic digesters is rolled into the main budget for the NCRCRD and will be handled as internal subcontracts at Michigan State University. The other proposals will be handled as external subcontracts (abstracts of each subaward are found with the associated budget justifications). In addition, the small grants process yielded agreement to reimburse travel only to a group for work on strategies to involve tribal members in community development programs. This is travel only and provided on a reimbursement basis via the main budget, so no subcontracting is implied. Table 1 Small Grant Principal Investigators, States, and Project Titles Title PI State Missouri-Illinois Step Up to Leadership Program Impact Evaluation Adams MO Elevating & Expanding the Traditional Business Retention & Expansion Program Bowen-Ellzey OH Preparing Communities for Shale Development through Sustainable Planning Moss OH Evaluating Impacts of Natural Resource Development Redlin SD IENation Lewis WI Building Community Capacity through Strategic Planning Silvis IL
Project Methods
We implement this work via convenings (electronic, face-to-face, and traditional teleconference) and through peer reviwed projects.