Southern Rural Development Center
 

Box 9656
410 Bost Extension Bldg.
DELIVERY: 190 Bost-North
Mississippi State, MS 39762
Phone: (662) 325-3207
Fax: (662) 325-8915
http://srdc.msstate.edu

 

 

 

Around the SouthNovember 2007, Vol. 3 No. 11

In this Issue . . .


SRDC Items of Interest

  • SRDC-Funded RIDGE Projects Showcased in Recently Released One-Pagers
    In light of the extensive list of RIDGE projects the SRDC has supported since the research program’s inception in 1998, the Center wanted to showcase the scientific richness of the studies undertaken since 2000. Simply put, we wanted to offer our social scientists and others an efficient way to determine the variety of food assistance and nutrition studies we have funded under major thematic areas. Six documents have now been produced that highlight the mix of RIDGE research studies carried out in the South. The themes capture the valuable social science research carried out under the banner of the SRDC RIDGE program: Food Access Quality and Cost, Food Assistance Challenges, Food Assistance Participation, Food Insecurity, Impacts of Food Assistance Policies, and Nutrition and Obesity. The highlights can be viewed at http://srdc.msstate.edu/publications/ridge_onepagers.html.

  • Business Retention and Expansion Training -- Early Bird Registration Deadline Extended to November 30
    Make plans to attend the SRDC's Business Retention and Expansion Training January 7-9, 2008. The training, cosponsored by BREI and held at the Madren Conference Center and Inn in Clemson, South Carolina, provides an assessment and planning framework that can be used to evaluate an established business retention program or design a program tailored to the specific needs and capacity of the local community. Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to assess a community's readiness to implement a BRE program, design an approach suitable for the community and implement the program. Registration now to reserve your spot! Space is limited, so visit http://srdc.msstate.edu/07bre/ and register soon. Register by November 30 to save $50!


Other Items of Interest

  • Economic Research Service Releases Household Food Security in the United States, 2006
    Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2006, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (10.9 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year. About one-third of food insecure households (4.0 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security-meaning that the food intake of one or more adults was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were essentially unchanged from those in 2005. The typical food-secure household spent 31 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to USDA's annual Food Security Survey. This ERS report, written by Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson, is available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err49.

  • Southern Education Foundation Announces Newly Released Report, A New Majority: Low Income Students in the South's Public Schools
    This special 140th anniversary report from the Southern Education Foundation focuses on low income students in the Southern region's public schools, and examines the growth in the number of low income students and the history of underinvestment in public education. Presenting historical facts as well as current trends, the report concludes that the choice to improve public education resources and patterns ultimately belongs to the people of the South. The report can be found online at http://www.sefatl.org/pdf/A%20New%20Majority%20Report-Final.pdf.

  • Southern Growth Policies Board Seeks Partners for Community Forum Discussions on Youth
    Southern Growth Policies Board is seeking regional partners to help with facilitating community discussions through the South on youth development and engagement. These discussions will form the basis of Southern Growth Policies Board's recommendations to policy leaders as part of the 2008 Report on the Future of the South. Add your community's voice to the conversation by organizing a two-hour discussion with 10 to 30 citizens. Civic clubs, youth groups and leadership classes can provide the audience, or create your own. Southern Growth will provide you with all the materials including a moderator's guide, discussion guides for citizen participants, and questionnaires. The materials are available online at http://www.southern.org/forums/forumdwnld.shtml. For more information on how to plan or moderate a community forum, contact Linda Hoke at Southern Growth Policies Board at (919) 941-5145 or lhoke@southern.org.


Funding Opportunities

  • SRDC's Grant Connections: Rural Development Funding Opportunities
    Volume 10, Number 1, October 2007
    http://srdc.msstate.edu/funding/oct07.htm

    The SRDC staff compiles Grant Connections primarily for the faculty of land-grant colleges and universities in the South to provide funding information in support of activities in agricultural economics, education, human sciences, rural sociology, youth development, and other related disciplines.


People in the News

  • The Rho Chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi recently presented the Mid Career Award to Dr. Alan Barefield, Associate Director of the SRDC and Extension Professor with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

  • Dr. Jonathan Edelson has been named Assistant Director of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station. Dr. Edelson was formerly Head of the Entomology and Plant Pathology Department at OSU.

  • Dr. Bob Shulstad has been named Associate Dean for Research and Associate AES Director for the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. View the UGA news release at http://georgiafaces.caes.uga.edu/storypage.cfm?storyid=3262.


Conferences & Trainings


Job Opportunities


Submit Announcements

Job announcements and other items of interest may be sent to Julianna Brown for possible inclusion in future issues.


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Some photos on this page
courtesy of USDA NRCS.

  

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