Community Development Training Kicks Off in Two Weeks
Understanding how communities work is vital to all Extension programming whether the focus is agriculture, natural resources, 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, or community development.  The upcoming Understanding Communities and Their Dynamics training, hosted by the Regional Rural Development Centers, provides participants the tools needed to make their Extension programming more impactful. Offered as a Web-based distance education program, the Level I Foundations of Practice in Community Development, beginning September 29, is conveniently provided to you in your office, meeting room, or home.  Slots are filling up, so register soon at http://srdc.msstate.edu/fop/ before the sessions reach capacity.
 

New Round of e-Commerce Mini-Grants Available
The Southern Rural Development Center is pleased to announce the continuation of its initiative to foster implementation of one of its new e-commerce curricula. U.S. Land-Grant Extension educators or teams are invited to submit proposals outlining how they propose to implement one of the FOUR new e-commerce educational curricula that the SRDC is scheduled to release by this fall as part of the National e-Commerce Extension Initiative.   The maximum amount allowed for any proposal is $3,000. Interested parties are encouraged to participate in the Fall 2009 e-Commerce Webinar Series. To view the call for proposal and learn more about the National e-Commerce Extension Initiative, visit http://srdc.msstate.edu/ecommerce.

SRDC Announces Fall 2009 National e-Commerce Webinar Series
Serving entrepreneurs, educators and community leaders, the fall 2009 e-Commerce Webinar Series will cover a host of topics from computer and e-commerce basics to marketing food products to promoting Hispanic owned businesses online. This valuable series is hosted by the Southern Rural Development Center and is co-sponsored by the eXtension “Entrepreneurs and Their Communities” team. To hear from the authors and learn exciting information about e-commerce, check out the Webinars on the following dates:

Marketing Food Specialty Products Online
September 29, 2009 2-3 p.m.
Dr. Shannon Turner

Web site Basics:
A Primer for Hispanic Small Businesses
October 6, 2009 2-3 p.m.
Dr. Brian Whitacre

A Beginner’s Guide to e-Commerce: Easy Tools for Profit
October 20, 2009 2-3 p.m.
Dr. Kimball Marshall

e-Tailing
October 27, 2009 2-3 p.m.
Dr. Julie Sexton

2009 Sustainable Community Innovation Grants Proposals Due October 5
The Sustainable Community Innovation Grants program seeks projects that embrace and invest in local strategies intended to link farm and nonfarm economic development with agricultural and natural resource management.  This partnership of the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program and the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) encourages applications aimed to increase knowledge, build capacity, and make connections among on- and off-farm sustainable agriculture activities, economic and community development efforts, value-added activities, civic engagement, and local government policy.   As outlined in the RFP, the SARE/SRDC partners remain interested in proposals that focus on entrepreneurship efforts and on value-added activities that build on the agricultural and nonagricultural assets of communities.  These include efforts to establish entrepreneurial-friendly communities that help support and sustain value-added entrepreneurship endeavors. The proposals are due October 5, 2009. For more information, view the RFP at http://www.southernsare.uga.edu/currentcalls/sci.doc.

Managing in Tough Times Web site Provides Timely and Relevant Materials

Community Development Society Issues Call for Abstracts for 2010 Conference
The Community Development Society/ International Association for Community Development conference provides opportunities for students, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to share experiences, expertise, and/or research findings on innovative strategies to improve the process and practice of community development. The Program Planning Committee will accept abstracts for proposed presentations for the 2010 Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. Abstracts involving partnerships between practitioners and academics are especially encouraged. For more information and the full call for abstracts, visit
http://comm-dev.org/inside/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=74

Publication Promotes Homegrown Responses to Economic Uncertainty in Rural America

Rural communities have been hard hit by the recession, but those that have approached economic development by looking inward to community strengths and existing resources are often faring better than those that attempt to lure companies to relocate by promising low wages and tax incentives. The latter can no longer compete in a global economy. This latest issue of Rural Realities, a publication of the Rural Sociological Society, highlights the potential of three homegrown approaches to rural economic revitalization: place-based development, economic gardening, and creativity and talent cultivation. Access Rural Realities at http://ruralsociology.org/StaticContent/Publications/Ruralrealities/pubs/RuralRealities3-2.pdf.

Rural Healthcare Analyzed in New ERS Report 

Not only do rural households have higher rates of mortality, disability, and chronic disease than urban households, even after taking into account the different age distributions of the two populations, but they also have less access than urban households to affordable, nearby, high-quality health care. Reforming the U.S. health care system is high on the national policy agenda. Debate over U.S. health policy has focused on expanding health insurance coverage, improving the quality of health care, and reducing costs. Within this broader context, rural households confront special health care challenges due to their lower socioeconomic status, higher average age, and greater geographic dispersal than the U.S. population as a whole. Rural households, on average, have less education and fewer financial resources, both of which are associated with lower health status. “Taking the Pulse of Rural Health Care” released by the Economic Research Service, looks at the challenges rural America faces in terms of health care. Learn more about the widening gap between urban and rural health care at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Amberwaves/September09/Features/RuralHealth.htm.

Internet Not Drastically Changing the Face of Civic Engagement
Political and civic involvement have long been dominated by those with high levels of income and education, leading some advocates to hope that Internet-based engagement might alter this pattern. However, the new report “The Internet and Civic Engagement” by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that the Internet is not changing the fundamental socio-economic character of civic engagement in America. When it comes to online activities such as contributing money, contacting a government official or signing an online petition, the wealthy and well-educated continue to lead the way. However, there are hints that the new forms of civic engagement anchored in blogs and social networking sites could alter long-standing patterns with disproportionally young people, a group that is traditionally not politically active,  posting material online about political or social issues or used a social networking site for some form of civic or political engagement.  To read the full report, visit http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=54907.

2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book Showcases the Well-Being of Children State by State
This year marks the 20th edition of the KIDS COUNT Data Book, the 20th time that the Annie E. Casey Foundation has amassed critically important data on the well-being of our nation’s children and families into a single, easy-to-access volume that is now backed by an extensive online data system. At the national level, the principal activity of the initiative is the publication of the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, which uses the best available data to measure the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children state by state. The Foundation also funds a national network of state-level KIDS COUNT projects that provide a more detailed, county-by-county picture of the condition of children. View the 2009 Data Book at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2009/Default.aspx.

ERS Report Projects Potential Baby Boomer Migration to Rural America
Members of the baby boom cohort, now 45-63 years old, are approaching a period in their lives when moves to rural and small-town destinations increase. An analysis of age-specific, net migration during the 1990s reveals extensive shifts in migration patterns as Americans move through different life-cycle stages. Assuming similar age patterns of migration, this report identifies the types of nonmetropolitan counties that are likely to experience the greatest surge in baby boom migration during 2000-20 and projects the likely impact on the size and distribution of retirement-age populations in destination counties. The analysis finds a significant increase in the propensity to migrate to nonmetro counties as people reach their fifties and sixties and projects a shift in migration among boomers toward more isolated settings, especially those with high natural and urban amenities and lower housing costs. If baby boomers follow past migration patterns, the nonmetro population age 55-75 will increase by 30 percent between now and 2020. Access the full Economic Research Service report at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR79/.

Rural Sociology to Begin New Partnership and New Award in 2010
The Rural Sociological Society will branch a new partnership with Wiley-Blackwell to publish Rural Sociology, the Society’s professional journal. Published quarterly, this peer-reviewed journal is distributed worldwide. Scholarly articles are authored by rural sociologists, sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, economists, and other social scientists who study social, spatial, local, and global rural issues. This advantageous new partnership offers RS many benefits including significant global marketing and accessibility and a leading online submission and peer-review system, ScholarOne. As of September 14th, all new manuscripts should be submitted using ScholarOne at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rs. Submissions, reviews, and correspondence are now performed online. In addition, the Rural Sociological Society will offer an annual $1,000 award for the best scholarly article published in RS. The first award for articles published in 2010 will be presented at the Rural Sociological Society’s 2011 meetings. To learn more about submitting to Rural Sociology, please visit the Rural Sociological Society’s website at http://www.ruralsociology.org/index.php?L1=left_Home.php&L2=staticcontent/ Publications/Ruralrealities/publications.php.

Call for Proposals for Latinas and Latinos in the South Conference
Latino Studies, in cooperation with the University of Alabama, invites proposals for a special issue on Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. South, with a general focus on inter-ethnic/inter-racial relations. The purpose of this special issue is to explore and highlight the growing social, political and cultural significance of Latinos in the region referred to as the Nuevo New South. Successful proposal writers will be invited to submit article-length papers and participate in a conference and workshop to be held at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, on February 19-20, 2010. The aim of the proposed conference and special issue of the Journal is to examine historical and contemporary issues related to the experiences of the growing population of Latino/as in the Nuevo New South, and to explore the changing nature of racial and ethnic relations in the region, from a broad variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. Please send proposals no longer than 5 pages by email attachment to Suzanne Oboler, Editor, Latino Studies, at latstu@jjay.cuny.edu. The deadline for submission is November 15, 2009.

SRDC's Grant Connections: Rural Development Funding Opportunities
http://srdc.msstate.edu/funding/grant_connections.html

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

10th Annual National Outreach Scholarship Conference
September 28-30, 2009
Athens, Georgia
http://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/conferences/outreach_conference/index.phtml

Foundations of Practice in Community Development
Understanding Communities and their Dynamics—A Distance Education Program
September 29-November 11, 2009
http://srdc.msstate.edu/fop/levelone/index.html

New Energy. New Jobs. New Opportunities for Appalachia.
An Appalachian Regional Commission Conference
October 26-28, 2009
Athens, Ohio
http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=a38ed6f8-6b0f-44b4-9cbd-2f39bac5cf80

Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. South: Immigration, Integration, and Identity
February 19-20, 2010
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=170520

Community Development Society / International Association for Community Development

Joint Annual International Conference

July 24-28, 2010
New Orleans, Louisiana
http://comm-dev.org/inside/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=74

Assistant Dean and State 4-H Program Leader, University of Tennessee Extension
View announcement:
http://ext1.ag.utk.edu/Employment/Jobs.nsf/391A69A9E2169150852569580
0526330/787249D11A80F431852575D600713BE7?OpenDocument
 
Director, Missouri Research Corporation, Southeast Missouri State University
View announcement:
http://www4.semo.edu/humanresources/JOBS/Director-MRC.htm

Research Agricultural Economist, Economic Research Service/USD
View announcement:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/AboutERS/Employment/OpportunitiesPage.htm

Research Social Science Analyst, Economic Research Service/USDA
View announcement:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/AboutERS/Employment/OpportunitiesPage.htm