The Southern Rural Development Center, in cooperation with USDA Rural Development, the University of Georgia, and USDA Forest Service, joined forces to provide advanced rural development training to key agency representatives in the region. This Institute was designed for professionals who are, or wish to become, actively involved in rural development work at the local, multi-county, state or regional levels. The training provided participants more in-depth understanding of two topics that are vital to the long-term health of rural areas--expansion of economic development opportunities and the broadening of citizen involvement in shaping the future of their communities.

Proceedings

The Rural Big Picture or the State of the Rural South

• National Perspective
  Jason Henderson, Center for the Study of Rural America
• Regional Perspective
  Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center
• State Perspective
  John Allen, University of Nebraska

Blueberry Cooperative - Harvest for Humanity
Renee Hernandez / 1312 New Market Rd W., Ste 1 / Immokalee, FL 34142-2254

• Farm ownership by former farm employees is the Harvest goal. Advocates a cause related approach to marketing, such as "Buy American For a Living Wage". Chose blueberries as first in the nation niché crop developed with University of Florida/IFAS research.

Habitat for Humanity
Lily Flores / 640 N. Ninth St. / Immokalee, FL 34142

• Second affiliate in the nation after Americus GA celebrating 25 years of building. 1978 to 2003. Builds 100 homes per year with mortgage payments of $450 per month.

Jubilation
Elizabeth De La Rosa / 1312 New Market Rd W., Ste 1 / Immokalee, FL 34142-2254

• Planned community built on neighborhood concept like Celebration in Orlando. Single family patio homes and multi-family condo's provide home ownership. Blueberry U-pick and store adds to eco-tourism. Spin-off landscape company will maintain community and add other clients.

Lake Trafford
Ski & Anne Olesky / Lake Trafford Marina / 6001 Lake Trafford Rd. / Immokalee, FL 34142-2398

• Airboats and alligators plus the finest bass fishing in Southwest Florida are Lake Trafford's claim to fame. Through grass roots support marina owners Annie and Ski Olesky have leveraged the money from state wildlife and federal Corp of Engineers sources to fund a restoration project to remove muck from the 1500 acre lake. Graduates of Extension's leadership and small business educational programs, Annie and Ski are an extraordinary example of a "mom and pop" business essential for a vibrant community.

One Stop Center
Bob Soter / 750 South Fifth St. / Immokalee, FL 34142

• Owned by the Regional Workforce Development Board, this one-stop center's development was fostered by the Empowerment Alliance of Southwest Florida's support, which brought the school board's donation of land and county government's development participation together. Lunch will include a presentation by the Empowerment Alliance Executive Director, Barbara Cacchione, on the numerous community partnerships they have fostered such as Weed 'n Seed through the Department of Justice; Front Porch through the Governor's Office, and Eagle Ridge, a housing corporation home ownership project, etc.

Main Street
Cherryle Thomas / 1802 Farmworkers Way / Immokalee, FL 34142

• A national program funded competitively by the state was seeded with technical support and $10,000. This leveraged a revolving fund façade improvement through the Immokalee Chamber in collaboration with county government and the beautification MSTD (Municipal Services Taxing District).

Airport Incubator
Monica Biondo / Economic Development Center / 3050 N. Horseshoe Dr., Ste 120 / Naples, FL 341

• The Immokalee Regional Airport originated as a World War II training runway, which sat undeveloped until the mid 1990's. It now has a small terminal, fuel pumps, hangars, and most importantly a business incubator building designed to take advantage of Immokalee's foreign trade zone status.

Farmworker's Village
Fred Thomas / 1802 Farmworkers Way / Immokalee, FL 34142

• Immokalee's agriculture developed as the eastern seaboard's winter vegetable source. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, and eggplant are harvested by hand from October through May. It costs $12,000 to grow an acre of stake tomatoes and $12,000 to harvest it. Labor is and has always been a major issue. In the early 1970's community leaders organized a governor appointed housing authority to develop Farmworker's Village to provide housing for families with Farmers Home Administration financing. See why "village" is such an apt name for a community of more than 500 homes that now has its own elementary school.

Farm Labor Dormitory
Fred Thomas / 1802 Farmworkers Way / Immokalee, FL 34142

• An ambitious, untested concept is designed to house single farm laborers in safe decent and sanitary housing in order to eliminate sub-standard mobile homes occupied by 6 to 10, which are sometimes located in homeowner's backyards. Opening scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

Immokalee Sewer/Water Facility
Eva Deyo / PO Box 5204 / Immokalee, FL 34143

• A governor appointed independent board was finally able to provide sewer in the 1980's with support from Farmers Home Administration. Infrastructure had been a limiting factor for many community improvements.

Farmers Market
Jerry Hubbart / 424 New Market Rd. E. / Immokalee, FL 34142-3895

• State of Florida's Agricultural Business Incubator Project is the third largest in the state after Miami-Dade and Palm Beach; provides net income to the Department of Agriculture. The week before Memorial Day not one square foot of pavement is left uncovered by the watermelon trucks waiting to be weighed.

Pinhookers Market

• There is a debate on the origin of this name for a hodge-podge of stalls and pick-up trucks filled with produce gleaned by mostly Mexican entrepreneurs after the farmers have harvested what can go through a packing house.

IFAS Research Center
Dr. Charles Vavrina / 2686 State Road 29 N. / Immokalee, FL 34142-9514

• One of twelve across the state serves as a five-county area that produces vegetables, sugarcane, and citrus and supports cow / calf operations. Speakers from throughout the day will be invited to an informal mixer for your one-on-one follow-up questions.

Concurrent Session I - Community and Economic Development
Moderator: Ron Whitfield, USDA

a Health Care and Community Economics
a Gerald Doeksen, Oklahoma State University

• Community Health Planning
• Health Care and Community Economics
• The Importance of the Health Care Sector
  

a Partnerships and Collaborations
a Barbara Cacchione, Empowerment Alliance
a Mary Helen Blakeslee, Florida Rural Economic Development Initiative

a Sustaining Rural Quality of Life
a Vaughn Grisham, McLean Institute for Community Development, University of
a Mississippi

Concurrent Session II - Expansion of Economic Opportunities
Moderator: Hank Cothran, University of Florida

a Information Technology
a Greg Laudeman, Georgia Institute for Technology

a Facilitating Entrepreneurship
a Alan Barefield, Southern Rural Development Center

a Downtown Revitalization
a Laura Lee Corbett, Florida Main Street

Concurrent Session III - Broadening Civic Involvement
Moderator: Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center

a Leadership Skills Training and Enlarging the Pool
a Nancy Ulman, Pew Partnership

a Community Diversity and Tapping Underutilized Resources
a Jorge Atiles, University of Georgia

a Community Voices
a Claudette Smith, North Carolina A&T State University

Speakers and Presenters

John Allen is the director of the Center for Applied Rural Innovation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and executive director of the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center. He is also a professor of Rural Sociology in the Department of Agricultural Economics and a sociologist in the Department of Sociology. His focuses include rural community development, entrepreneurial communities and natural resource management.

Jorge Atiles is the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service housing specialist and an assistant professor with the Department of Housing and Consumer Economics in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Atiles serves as the state contact for several Cooperative Extension, EPA and HUD programs. His areas of Extension work include programs for low-literacy audiences (including Latinos) on indoor air quality, homebuyer and housing education, household water, energy and waste management.

Alan Barefield became the associate director of the Southern Rural Development Center, located at Mississippi State University, in January 2003. His primary role is to serve as the Southern region coordinator for the Rural Community College Initiative. In addition to his work for the SRDC, Barefield devotes 25 percent of his time as leader of Community Resource Development with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Before joining the SRDC, Barefield served as an associate professor of agricultural economics at the University of Tennessee for nine years.

Lionel J. (Bo) Beaulieu is director of the Southern Rural Development Center located at Mississippi State University. He has been involved in community development research and Extension education activities for more than 26 years. His work has concentrated on leadership development, public policy education, needs assessments, social capital, youth education and workforce issues.

Mary Helen Blakeslee is part of Florida's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development in the Governor's Office. Her responsibilities include rural advocacy and programs, brownfield redevelopment, intergovernmental coordination and expedited permitting. In addition, Blakeslee has been the Coordinator of Florida's award-winning multi-agency Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) since its inception in 1991.

Barbara A. Cacchione is an Enterprise Community Coordinator for the Empowerment Alliance of Southwest Florida, a Community Foundation of Collier County. She is responsible for the management and implementation of the Strategic Plan that will be implemented through a series of measurable benchmarks. She represents community interests in public and private meetings and prepares grants to leverage funding resources.

Laura Lee Corbett is program coordinator of Florida Main Street, an initiative of the Bureau of Historic Preservation, Florida Department of State. In this capacity, she is responsible for the coordination of more than 50 active Main Street programs statewide. Previously, Corbett was the downtown development director for the City of Lancaster, South Carolina, where she directed an award winning Main Street program.

Gerald Doeksen is a regents professor and Extension economist with Oklahoma State University. He has been a pioneer in developing and applying community service and community impact models. His models have been adopted in many states.

Vaughn L. Grisham is the director of the McLean Institute for Community Development and a professor of sociology at the University of Mississippi, where he has taught for 35 years. Grisham has worked in leadership and community/economic development in more than 30 states and two Canadian provinces and has helped to establish leadership development programs in more than 300 countries in more than 20 states.

Jason Henderson is an economist with the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri. His research interests include rural development, agricultural economics and industrial organization. He has published research on the location and growth of value-added food manufacturing activity and the use and role of electronic commerce in agricultural industries.

J. Mac Holladay is Market Street Services’ chief executive officer and founder. He has been involved across the Southeast in economic and community development since 1972. Holladay combines years of local and state operational experience with a broad knowledge of policy and strategy creation.

Greg Laudeman is the community technology specialist for the Georgia Institute of Technology. Laudeman develops and delivers information technology-enabled economic development solutions. With additional professional experience in electronic media, graphic arts, computer support and training, and as a small business owner, Laudeman is uniquely qualified to link technology and community economic development.

David Mills serves as the director of the J. W. Fanning Institute for Leadership at the University of Georgia. He has served in the Public Service & Outreach Division of the University of Georgia for over 25 years. As the director of the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership, Mills leads a diverse faculty in collaborating with a wide variety of local, state and national organizations and individuals with expertise
and interest in leadership development.

Alan Pigg is the regional program manager for rural community assistance with the Cooperative Forestry Unit of the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry. He has 33 years of federal service with the U.S. Army and Forest Service working in natural resources, forest product marketing research, water resource programs, watershed improvement, flood prevention, and rural community assistance. He provides overall program leadership and guidance for the technical and financial assistance of six federal programs that assist rural communities, tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, institutions and state government.

Claudette Smith provides leadership for the Community Voices program for the Cooperative Extension Program at North Carolina A&T State University. Smith has devoted extensive time to professional development activities focusing on curriculum design and performance improvement. She has completed requirements to be recognized as a certified instructional designer and spent over twenty five years planning and conducting extension programs on the county and state level.

Nancy Ulman is an urban planning consultant in St. Louis, Missouri. She has served as a planning director in large and small urban areas in Missouri and Florida. She is the immediate past president of the St. Louis League of Women Voters, and served as a co-facilitator of the first LeadershipPlenty training in St. Louis this spring.

Sponsors