Southern Rural Development Center

1996 Annual Report

Funding

Sponsors

The Center works with 29 land-grant institutions in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, the US Virgin Islands and Virginia.

Audiences

Staff

The Center functions with a small staff consisting of a Director, an Assistant to the Director, a Writer/Editor and an Administrative Secretary. The 1995-96 staff members are as follows:

H. Doss Brodnax, Director (Retired June 1996)

After the retirement of Dr. Brodnax, the Board of Directors appointed Dr. John E. Lee, Jr.,Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University and Dr. Jerome Burton, Associate Division Director of Cooperative Extension, Alcorn State University, to serve as Interim Co-Directors. A national search is underway for a Director.

Structure

Regional participation is a strength of the Center. The organizational structure is designed to foster active involvement of the states in program determination.

Board of Directors. A Board of Directors establishes policies and sets guidelines. Members come from the region's 1862 and 1890 land-grant institutions and the private sector. Composition includes three 1862 extension representatives, one 1890 extension representative, three 1862 research representatives, one 1890 research representative and one representative each from the private sector and the Farm Foundation. Ex-officio representatives from Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service-USDA and Economic Research Service-USDA serve as advisors. The 1995-1996 board includes the following members:

Extension representatives

Hiram D. Palmertree, chair (Retired June 1996)
Mississippi State University

Richard Phillips
North Carolina State University

Lawrence Carter
Florida A&M University

Chester Fehlis
Texas A&M University

Pedro Rodríguez Domínguez
University of Puerto Rico

Research representatives

James A. Boling
University of Kentucky

Leroy Davis
Alcorn State University

Verner G. Hurt (Retired June 1996)
Mississippi State University

Thomas Klindt
University of Tennessee

Private sector representative

Dennis Robertson
Arkansas Rural Electric Cooperative

Farm Foundation representative

Walter Armbruster, chair
Oak Brook, Illinois

Advisors

Marvin Konyha
Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service-USDA

Patrick J. Sullivan
Economic Research Service-USDA

Program Advisory Committees. Program advisory committees on individual land-grant campuses contribute to the SRDC Regional Program Advisory Committee. The Regional Program Advisory Committee meets biennially to focus the activities of the Center on specific areas of need.

In April 1996, the Program Advisory Committee met in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with the SRDC-sponsored "Southern Region Leadership Conference." The Committee identified several needs. The Center will target resources to the following key issues:

Human Capital Development Economic Impact Analysis Business Retention and Expansion Leadership Infrastructure Development Rural Health Issues Economics of Agriculture

Rural Poverty Small Scale/Alternative Agriculture Energy Issues/Environmental Issues Marketing Local and State Government Public Policy Natural Resource Base

The Program Advisory Committee and the institutions they represent are as follows:

 

Alabama Gerald C. Wheelock Alabama A&M University	North Carolina Joe Zublena North Carolina State University
J. Walter Prevatt Auburn University	Robert Williamson North Carolina A&T University
Arkansas Lott Rolfe III University of Arkansas/Pine Bluff	Oklahoma Kenneth Williams Langston University
Donald E. Voth University of Arkansas/Fayetteville	Mike Woods Oklahoma State University
Florida Cassel S. Gardner Florida A&M University	Puerto Rico Carmen Gonzáles University of Puerto Rico
James L. App University of Florida	South Carolina Margaret E. Johnson South Carolina State University
Georgia Horace Hudson The University of Georgia	Edward L. McLean Clemson University
Fred Harrison Fort Valley State University	Tennessee Handy Williamson, Jr. University of Tennessee
Kentucky Richard C. Maurer University of Kentucky	Joseph W. Morris Tennessee State University
Sheron L. Randolph Kentucky State University	Texas Gregory Taylor Texas A&M University
Louisiana Owusu Bandele Southern University	Benny Lockett Prairie View A&M University
Albert Ortego Louisiana State University	Virgin Islands Louis Petersen University of Virgin Islands
Mississippi Jerome L. Burton Alcorn State University	Virginia Yvette Robinson Virginia State University
Joseph H. McGilberry Mississippi State University	J. Douglas McAlister Virginia Tech

Non Land-Grant
Alan Pigg
Forest Service/USDA

Ken Fern
Southern Legislative Conference

Phil Hyatt
Tennessee Valley Authority

Thomas L. Thorburn
W.K. Kellogg Foundation

James Tonn
National Association of Development Organizations

SRDC Board Representative
Walter Armbruster
Farm Foundation

Accomplishments

Center Projects. The following section of this annual report provides insight to extension and research activities from October 1, 1995, to October 1, 1996. The variety of projects and the diversity of the people and organizations involved attest to the value of the Southern Rural Development Center and to the impact it has on the lives of the rural people and communities in the region it serves. The report is organized by issue areas: human capital, leadership, rural health and poverty. The SRDC funds rural development research and extension activities on a competitive basis; sponsors, supports and participates in conferences and workshops on key rural development issues; and publishes rural development materials. Publications include conference proceedings, results of research and extension projects, education and training materials and a periodical entitled Capsules. The Center attempts to integrate extension and research, but the following activity reports do not necessarily make the distinction.

Human Capital

Good Schools Improve Rural Development Prospects project investigated the role of local school quality in 1980 to 1990 economic development in South Carolina using school and community-level data. School quality was measured by high school test scores and student-to-teacher ratios. Findings indicate school quality does matter, especially in the more geographically isolated rural areas. The importance of school quality as a rural economic development strategy depends on the location and characteristics of the community. Improvements in school quality will enhance community development prospects for those communities with the appropriate mix of other amenities. Thus, improvements in local schools and students' performances should be viewed as one of several components of a holistic community development process. Future competition among rural communities for residents and jobs will be intense, and advantages go to communities perceived to provide good schools and the resulting quality of labor force and quality of life. Principal investigators were David L. Barkley, Mark S. Henry and Shuming Bao, all of Clemson University. Good Schools Improve Rural Development Prospects, SRDC No. 195, is the report of their project. Linking Family and Community Strengths national conference had nearly 200 educators and community partners at Louisville, Kentucky. The primary purpose of the conference was to improve extension educators' ability to partner with extension colleagues in other areas of specialization, and with outside organizations and agencies. In particular, community development, family resource management and family development extension staffs focused on building capacity in families and communities. The conference was an outgrowth of a project funded by the SRDC. Other sponsors included the remaining regional rural development centers, CSREES/USDA, the National 4-H Council, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Farm Foundation. One-thousand-dollar mini grants were awarded to 13 participants to transform conference learning into action. Three proposals from the Southern region were funded. A follow-up evaluation will be conducted at the end of six months.

School Choice Policy: Estimates of Supply and Demand Response in Private Education was an SRDC-funded project conducted in Georgia by Warren Kriesel, Andrew G. Keeler and Marc White, University of Georgia. Policies that would facilitate households' switching to private schools have been proposed in response to a perceived crisis in public education. Proponents argue that vouchers or tuition tax credits would encourage competition that would serve as a catalyst in improving public education. However, necessary conditions for effective competition are (a) that private schools have sufficient excess capacity to absorb new students, and (b) that students exit public schools in adequate numbers to cause teacher layoffs and school closure. Research results for the state of Georgia suggest that while the private schools can take on additional students, the demand response by households would probably fall far short of fostering effective competition between private and public schools. Finally the demand model shows that parents are sensitive to indicators of public school quality in making their schooling decisions. This means that public school administrators can decrease the loss of pupils by improving their school's performance. The complete report is available as SRDC No. 196.

The Southern Region Consortium to Address Food Processing Industry Competitiveness links the land-grant systems in the Southern region into an alliance to address food processing technology issues, work force training and development issues and leadership and management development issues across the region. A regional design team with research and extension representatives from various aspects of the land-grant system was formed to address these issues. The team is producing a composite directory of faculty and facility resources at each of the land-grant institutions in the Southern region. A print copy will be distributed to each design team member. In addition, a disk version will be provided so that individual states can print copies and make revisions as needed. The third media is via the Internet. A directory home page will be a component of the SRDC's home page. It will allow access to the directory with linkage to individual home pages at the land-grant institutions in the region. The chair of the design team is Joe McGilberry, Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Leadership

The Center funded a project at Prairie View A&M University, Assure People Empowerment via Active Leadership (APEAL). A major goal of the project is to generate and evaluate a leadership training program with multicultural application. They translated fifteen units and an introduction into Spanish from the Community Voices material developed by North Carolina State A&T Cooperative Extension Program with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The translated version of the curriculum, "Voces de la Communidad," was field tested in Brazoria County, Texas. The material is designed to build a community vision and provide the skills of leadership that empower people and bond groups to identify and solve problems, marshal resources and bring positive community change. According to principal investigator Cassi Steele, it can be a tool in promoting the assimilation of Hispanics to the existing cultural climate through developed leadership. The translated materials are available via computer diskettes.

Building a Foundation for Community Leadership: Involving Youth in Community Development Projects was funded in part by SRDC as an extension project to involve high school students in assessing community needs. The program is to be used by extension professionals, community leaders and school teachers or administrators for implementing student-supported community needs assessments. One goal of the project is to help students increase their understanding of and commitment to their communities and to become empowered to work toward solving local problems. Another goal is to show communities the value of the contributions their youth can make in identifying and meeting local needs, thereby expanding opportunities for students to participate in community affairs. The program was pilot tested in two rural sites, then the handbook of materials was revised. The curriculum was peer reviewed before being published in a notebook as SRDC No. 199. Principal investigators are Glenn D. Israel, University of Florida, and Thomas W. Ilvento, University of Delaware (formerly with the University of Kentucky).

Southern Region Leadership Conference brought together more than 125 leadership development professionals from extension and other government agencies, universities and the private sector with an interest in rural and community development. Together they explored the latest trends and resources to help rural community development efforts. Sessions focused on leadership development, empowerment, ethical leadership, motivational leadership and current issues, changes and challenges. The SRDC was a cosponsor with the University of Puerto Rico and the Farm Foundation. Carmen González, Puerto Rico Agricultural Extension Service, was chair of the team that put together the conference held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Joint Southern Region Program Leadership Committee Meeting's theme was "Taking Responsibility." Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service/USDA Administrator Bob Robinson delivered the keynote address. North Central Regional Center for Rural Development Director Cornelia Flora also was a plenary session speaker. The annual meeting is designed to increase communication and planning among extension program leaders in the Southern region. Other goals are to develop a common understanding among program leaders of the program planning environment in the South; to improve extension programs through sharing ideas and resources and planning regional actions; and to identify new issues important to the South and implications for current and future programs. The 1996 meeting, held in Birmingham, Alabama, had 140 participants. The meeting format allows program leaders to meet together by discipline after plenary sessions address the theme. The Southern Rural Development Center provides administrative support, conference material production and registration materials and personnel.

Rural Health

Issue Based 4-H Health Curriculum was developed by a task force to help young people develop a healthy appreciation of themselves, their families and friends. Units include Celebrating Self, Celebrating the Body, Medical/Cultural Influences, Interpersonal Skills, Decision-Making and Health Behaviors. The modules are applicable to 9-11 year olds. A member's manual, leader's guide and parent helper sheets are included. The materials were pilot tested with groups of young people from diverse backgrounds in after-school programs, clubs, health department groups, in-school programs, EFNEP day camps and others. The development of this curriculum was funded in part through a grant from the SRDC. The materials will be available from the North Carolina State University in early 1997.

Measuring the Importance of the Health Care Sector on a Rural Economy: A Brief Literature Review and Procedures to Measure Local Impacts reviewed the literature of studies that measure the economic importance of the health sector and developed three procedures to measure the impact. The principal investigators conclude that direct and secondary impacts on community employment and income often account for 15 to 20 percent of the total community's employment and income. In addition, the literature strongly supports the conclusion that a viable health sector is needed if a community wants to attract industry, business or retirees. The procedures developed to measure the economic impact of the health sector on a local economy include 1) an aggregate approach that measures employment and income impacts for the health sector, 2) a disaggregate approach that employs a spreadsheet and measures the economic impact of five health sectors, and 3) a dynamic approach developed via a spreadsheet to measure disaggregate health sector impacts for the next five years. All three approaches can easily be completed with the spreadsheet and the report. Principal investigators are Gerald A. Doeksen, Oklahoma State University, and Tom Johnson, Virginia Tech.

The Southern Extension and Research Activity - Information Exchange Group - 19 (SERA-IEG-19) developed a resource directory of individuals with expertise in rural health and safety. The directory listing consists of university personnel and others in each state and territory who are recognized for their knowledge in rural health and safety. Southern extension and research faculties, university and medical school faculties, health and human services professionals and state officers of rural health policy are included as recognized authorities and potential collaborators in health care. A grant from the SRDC supported this project. The directory is available on-line through the SRDC home page at http://www.ext.msstate.edu/srdc/ruralhlt/. Members of the SERA-IEG are updating the listings annually with SRDC maintaining the directory.

Rural Poverty

Communities in Economic Transition (CET). The SRDC and the other three regional rural development centers are taking a proactive role in promoting this Extension National Initiative and its five design teams. The Centers share the goal of CET, "to develop and implement state-of-the-art strategies and tools to support high impact programming related to rural economic development across five targeted areas of opportunities." The areas are: Business Retention and Expansion, Home-Based and Micro Businesses, Retail Development, Small Manufacturing and Value Added and Tourism. The CET design team chairs, regional rural development center directors and national Extension staff met in August at Kansas City, Kansas, to develop a strategy for implementing the goal of the CET initiative. The SRDC compiled, printed and distributed a CET update brochure that lists the activities and projects of the design teams. A Center Director will participate on the CET national management team.

Fund for Rural America (FRA). The 1996 Farm Bill has a section authorizing grants for research, extension and education projects to assist people in rural areas of the country. The Center is collaborating with the office of the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors to support regional response to the request for proposals of the Fund for Rural America. Multi discipline, multi state, joint research and extension projects and joint 1862 and 1890 projects are being fostered through this alliance. Persons with ideas for regional projects suitable for the FRA funds were asked to write concept papers. These papers are being collected, collated and organized by idea. Based on the compilation, teams of researchers and extension personnel will be assembled to write regional proposals for submission to the FRA. The Center is serving as a clearing house, easing the process necessary to deliver successful regional proposals.

Home-Based and Micro Businesses Resource Directory was developed by the Home-Based and Micro Businesses Design Team as part of the Extension Communities in Economic Transition (CET) National Initiative. They solicited information from states through the state program leaders and extension home-based/micro business state contacts. The resource directory is designed to help professionals who work with entrepreneurs by providing information on proven programming materials developed and used by extension field faculty and specialists. The directory also contains a comprehensive research bibliography of this subject-matter area. The Center published the directory in support of the CET National Initiative. There were two printings of the first edition in 1995. It was updated and the second edition printed in April 1996 as SRDC No. 194. The Center serves as the repository of copies. Beth Duncan, Mississippi State University Extension Service, serves as co chair of the design team.

A Proposed Model for Quantifying the Impact of Home-Based Businesses on Community/State Economic Development in the Southern Region is a four-state research project (Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Virginia) to develop a model to measure the impact of home-based businesses on community and state economic development in the South. While there are extensive statistics for other parts of the country, this is the first research project that will provide information for the Southern region. Data have been collected and analyses are underway. The Center funded the project through the Home-Based and Micro Businesses Design Team as part of the Extension Communities in Economic Transition National Initiative. Glennis Couchman, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, serves as chair of the project team.

Southern Rural Economic Development and Branch Plant/Local Firm Development Options addresses the contemporary efficacy of branch-plant recruitment strategies through a comparison of the jobs created and the human resource practices of locally owned establishments with national, outside owned establishments in North Carolina. Overall this study does not support the contention that outside establishments bring in better jobs than those offered by locally owned firms, once establishment size and core sector have been controlled. The findings suggest the assertion that branch-plants should be recruited because they create better jobs than locally owned firms should be treated with healthy skepticism. Outside firms seem to come to North Carolina to profit from local norms of low wages and low skills rather than to change them. A grant from the SRDC supported the project. A complete report of the study, SRDC No.197, is available from the Center. Donald Tomaskovic-Devy, North Carolina State University, was the principal investigator.

State Rural Development Councils in the Southern region are composed of state-level USDA and other agency representatives who address rural development issues. The Economic Research Service, the National Partnership Office and the four regional rural development centers have a cooperative agreement to provide for research information to inform and enhance the work of the State Rural Development Councils. The Southern Center has frequent contact through conference calls with the Councils in seven states (Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas) and provides support where appropriate.

Newly Funded Projects. The following three projects were funded in mid-1996 but ample time has not passed for progress reports:

• Replicate an After School Educational and Enrichment Model for School-Aged Youth. Alcorn State University.

• Conducting an Effective Waste Pesticide Disposal Program. Mississippi State University.

• Strengthening Rural Community Leadership: An Extension Program for Public Conflict Resolution. University of Kentucky.

• Capsules. The regional newsletter is published 10-12 times a year. It is distributed free of charge to 3000 persons working in rural development and related fields such as rural sociology, education and economics. The format is designed to distribute brief and pertinent information to the interests of rural development researchers and practitioners in the Southern region. Activities of the Center, reports of Center-funded projects, new literature citations and scheduled events are regularly included.

• Conference Materials. Conference materials, including pre-conference brochures, name tags, registration folders, press kits, programs, handouts and proceedings, are developed. The frequent use of workshops and conferences as an integral part of the Center's information sharing makes this an important service to the Southern region.

• Publication Series. SRDC publications printed and distributed by Center staff October 1, 1995, to September 30, 1996, included the following.

No. Title and publication date

192 Joint Southern Region Program Committee Meeting, October 1995.
193 1995 Annual Report, October 1995
194 Home-Based Resource Directory, 2nd Edition, March 1996.
195 Good Schools Improve Rural Development Prospects, April 1996.
196 School Choice Policy: Estimates of Supply and Demand Response in Private Education, April 1996.
197 Southern Rural Economic Development and the Branch Plant/Local Firm Development Options, June 1996.
199 Building a Foundation for Community Leadership: Involving Youth in Community Development Projects, August 1996.

Two unnumbered publications printed and distributed by SRDC last year were the 1995 Combined Report and 1995 Combined Publications List. The publications contain information about the activities and publications of the four regional rural development centers.

Electronic Communication. Staff members continue to expand the Southern Center's Home Page on the Internet. For the Internet to be an effective means of telling the story of the Center, information on the Home Page must to be current. The Center updates and maintains the Home Page to make it a visible outreach effort. The publication section includes an up-to-date listing of available Center publications, the current SRDC Annual Report, the current Combined Annual Report of the four centers, several case studies and the current issue of the Center newsletter, Capsules. Subscribing to Capsules through the Internet is now possible. Links to other rural development centers and additional sources of rural development information are listed. The Home Page lists members of the staff, board of directors, program advisory committee and the states and institutions served by the Center. Check out the SRDC Home Page at: http://www.ext.msstate.edu/srdc.

Miscellaneous Activities. From time to time the Center is called upon to support activities around the region and nation that require small expenditures of resources both financial and human. The Center staff participates in key meetings in support of extension and research personnel; awards small one-time grants for research, service and educational activities; publish occasional papers for distribution throughout the region; and does a myriad of other rural development program activities. A sampling of these activities is included below.

• Produced the 1995 Joint Annual Progress Report of the four regional rural development centers.

• Supported the 4-State Heartland Economic Development Conference, "Building Community Infrastructure in the Heartland."

• Served on the advisory board of the Center for Cultural Diversity, Kentucky State University.

• Attended Professional Agricultural Workers Meeting, Tuskegee, Alabama.

• Served as a member of the Mississippi Rural Development Council.

• Presented SRDC report to Southern Extension Directors and Administrators' Meetings.

• Participated in the annual meeting of the Southern Extension Public Affairs Committee.

• Participated in the activities of the Southern Extension/Research Activity Task Force on Rural Health, (SERA-19).

• CO Hosted the 2nd Annual Rural Minority Health Conference

• CO Sponsored the Tri State Bivocational Ministers' Conference, Memphis, Tennessee.

STATES, INSTITUTIONS SERVED BY THE SOUTHERN RURAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER