Preparing For the Future: A Guide to Community Based Planning
SRDC 2007

Gene L. Theodori, Sam Houston State University

Across the nation, the desire for rural and small town community and economic development stakeholders to solve local problems and reduce socioeconomic disparities is increasingly recognized by state policymakers, local elected officials and citizens. Moreover, the need to attract and retain sufficient levels of human capital in rural areas to improve the overall quality of life is often a major priority for many communities. In the southern United States, county Extension agents (hereafter referred to as CEAs), particularly those located in nonmetropolitan counties, are increasingly being called upon to provide leadership for community and economic development efforts.

Improving Board and Organizational Effectiveness: Nonprofit Organization Board and Staff Training for Nonprofit and Faith-Based Organizations
SRDC 2002

Christopher M. Sieverdes, Clemson University
Erin P. Hardwick, South Carolina Association of Nonprofit Organizations

This nonprofit board and staff training curriculum was designed to show the best practices for operating nonprofit and voluntary organizations efficiently and effectively in a changing society.

Mapping the Assets of Your Community: A Key Component for Building Local Capacity
SRDC Series #227, June 2002

In this material, a procedure for mapping the assets of a community is described. The approach is one that has been developed by John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight in their book, Building Communities From the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. It is a process that can be used in any community, and offers an effective strategy for involving a variety of people and organizations in helping bring about improvements in a communities.While this document embraces many of the key concepts advanced in the Kretzmann and McKnight volume, we seek to extend their work in two important ways. First, we offer a creative strategy for uncovering the pool of individuals who have the ingredients for taking on greater community leadership responsibilities. Second, we discuss the role that community asset mapping can play in promoting the type of community development that is concerned with engaging local people in community enhancement efforts.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Public Conflict Resolution
SRDC Series #221

Ronald J. Hustedde, University of Kentucky
Steve Smutko, North Carolina State University
Jarad J. Kapsa, Universtiy of Kentucky

This manual is a train-the-trainers tool. It is designed to be taught and used primarily by Extension educators, community officials, and citizen leaders. The basic goal of the manual is to give workshop participants the applicable knowledge and skills to help teach others how to identify, understand, manage, and when possible and desirable, to resolve conflicts within their own communities. The materials that follow and the training sessions themselves are resources and guides. It is not our intention for Lemonade to be taken as a map on how to educate people to deal with conflict. These are concepts and skills that training participants can adapt to meet the needs of their constituency. Just as every community faces unique conflicts, so must the precise manner in which we confront and deal with conflict be of its own design. We hope you leave this training with (at least) two things:

• Different ways for understanding the sources and forms of conflict; and
  
  
• Concrete skills for addressing it.
  
  

Community Choices: Public Policy Education ProgramSRDC Series #214

Lionel J. Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center
Kenneth Bolton Jr., Southeastern Louisiana University

The Community Choices program is designed to engage communities in a systematic assessment of the linkages between its human resource attributes and its economic development opportunities. Purpose and Objectives:

• Produce concrete results at the local community level.
• Engage local community residents in a dialogue and assessment of the linkages between economic development opportunities and the human capital attributes of their community.S
• Strengthen residents' understanding of the complex set of policy issues associated with human capital resources and economic development options
• Provide a forum for exploring alternative strategies for dealing with these issues
  
• Clarify potential impacts associated with these policy issues.

Ca$hing in on Business Opportunities: A Guide to Building a Home-Based and Micro-Business Program
SRDC Series #210

The Ca$hing in on Business Opportunities Curriculum is designed to be used by educators who work with home-based and micro-businesses. The curriculum is comprehensive, covering a wide array of topics of interest to current or potential business owners. Each chapter follows a basic format consisting of a leader’s guide, (with goals and objectives, a narrative, handouts, and transparency masters). Also included with the curriculum are disk with Power Point presentations of the transparencies. The curriculum is intended to be used to be used in a variety of educational ways, including:

• As a reference tool for educators
• As a reference tool for entrepreneurs
• As a single topic short course
• As a multi-topic workshop
• As a comprehensive course
  
• Whatever is the most effective way to meet specific educational needs.

The curriculum is written at a basic or beginning business level. Information should be added or deleted as appropriate for the various audiences, and local resource people or consultants should be brought in to supplement needed expertise when necessary. Extension educators are encouraged to adapt the information to meet the needs of the clientele. National recognized Extension experts in the area of small business development wrote each chapter. This curriculum includes several different styles and formats that reflect the personal preferences and approaches of the various authors.

The Ca$hing in on Business Opportunities curriculum was developed by the CSREES Home-Based and Micro-Business National Design Team as a part of the Communities in Economic Transition National Initiative.

To Purchase the Ca$hing in on Business Curriculum CD, please email publications@srdc.msstate.edu

Building a Foundation for Community Leadership: Involving Youth in Community Development Projects
-SRDC Series #199

Glenn D. Israel, University of Florida
Thomas W. Ilvento, University of Delaware, Graduate Assistant
Tonya Stringfellow, University of Florida

This handbook is designed to guide Extension agents, high school teachers, or adult leaders of youth organizations in creating and implementing their own youth leadership and community development project. The purposes of this project are as follows:

• To provide youth with a community service learning process so as to increase their understanding of their community, to improve their sense of empowerment, and to encourage participation in community affairs.
• To forge the school-community partnership and to develop increased community support for the school’s educational programs.
  
• To help community leaders and citizens address important local needs through the enthusiasm, knowledge, and labor contributed by youth. “I’m more likely to be involved because here I’ve been involved already and I want to see it keep moving.

E-COMMERCE-Impacting The Way We Do Business!Proceedings sponsored by the Southern Rural Development Center, Farm Foundation, and Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, the E-Commerce conference is a professional development opportunity for Extension professionals.

The proceedings provide an awareness and overview of e-commerce issues relating to communities, agribusinesses, and small businesses through three concurrent educational tracks --- eCommunity, eAgriculture, and eBusiness. This conference brought together Extension professionals from the Southern region to learn about resources, curriculum, information and experiences related to e-commerce from Extension programs across the country and the private sector.