Present
Alan Barefield, SRDC/Mississippi State University
James Barnes, Louisiana State University
Bo Beaulieu, SRDC
Gae Broadwater, Kentucky State University
Brian Calhoun, Virginia Tech
Hank Cothran, University of Florida
Jenny Fertig, West Virginia State University
David Hughes, Clemson University
Steve Isaacs, University of Kentucky
Ed Jones, North Carolina State University
Dwight Landreneau, Louisiana State University
Ruth Lebron, University of Puerto Rico
Cheryl Lloyd, North Carolina State University
Sally Maggard, CSREES
John McKissick, University of Georgia
Shirley Pope, Alcorn State University
Emily Shaw, SRDC
George Smith, University of Tennessee
Joe Sumners, Auburn University/Alabama Cooperative Extension System
Greg Taylor, Texas Cooperative Extension
Sandra Harris Thompson, Florida A&M University
Deborah Tootle, University of Arkansas
Louis Whitesides, South Carolina State University
Michael Wilcox, University of Tennessee
Noland Williams, Kentucky State University
Tony Windham, University of Arkansas
Bill Woodrum, West Virginia State University
Mike Woods, Oklahoma State University
Joe Zublena, North Carolina State University
Visitors
Steve Halbrook, Farm Foundation
Bill Hubbard, Southern Region Extension Forester
Welcome and Introductions
Mike Woods, chair, opened the meeting and welcomed everyone and asked for self-introductions.
Updates
Advisor's Update
Joe Zublena reported that eXtension is moving forward. There are now 21 Communities of Practice. It will go public in February. There are currently five CoPs online with over 5 million hits. Volunteer CoPs have been created. The vision of eXtension is becoming a reality.
A resource directory of bio-energy education is in the works. A committee is being formed to develop the directory.
USDA/CSREES Liaison Update
Sally Maggard congratulated the group on a successful year of work. The rural development roundtables are remarkable; enough cannot be said about the great work taking place around the South. The listening sessions on entrepreneurship are being regarded as among the best work in stakeholder input.
The budget for 07-08 is flat. We may see some increases in bio-energy funding.
SARE will be celebrating their 20 th Anniversary with a conference scheduled for March 25-27, 2008, in Kansas City, MO. The RRDCs are working on a session showing the link between community and economic development and sustainability, possibly bringing in past Sustainable Community Innovation Grant recipients with Farm Foundation travel support.
PLC Update
Gae Broadwater welcomed new members to the group. PLC did a nice job hosting a newcomer event, featuring an overview of acronyms and history of the organization.
NACDEP Update
Mike and Gae represent NACDEP on the GALAXY III planning committee, which will take place in Indianapolis, IN, September 15-19, 2008. The call for proposals should be posted soon. NACDEP has the opportunity to facilitate three 90-minute sessions as an organization; additionally, members can submit for general sessions.
State Updates
For the third year states were asked to submit reports electronically before the meeting. The compiled report is available here. Those that did not submit a report may post at a later date.
Status of Annual Plan of Work
Mike asked that each member review the current plan on the PLN site with intentions to update before the end of the meeting.
Farm Foundation Tour Update
Steve Halbrook reported to the group that 45 people recently participated in the Farm Foundation tour of three Delta communities: Bolivar, TN; Helena/West Helena, AR; and Greenwood, MS. Approximately half of the people were from USDA Rural Development, while the rest of the group was made up of people from Washington D.C. and nonprofit advocates for rural America. The idea was to get these people to understand what is happening on the ground, to see government programs in action. The tour was focused on illustrating how grassroots people and organizations implement government funding programs.
National CRED Update
Gae Broadwater, co-chair of this effort, reported that the group is working toward developing a strategic directions document for CRED. A task force has been formed to craft a strategic visioning document; the group of approximately 20 individuals will meet Oct. 1-3 in the Minneapolis area. The group includes regional center representation as well as representation from key stakeholder groups within Extension CRED.
CECP and Moodle Training Update
Alan Barefield reported to the group about the CECP Steering Committee meeting from the night before. CECP is now being transitioned into eXtension as has been intentioned all along. eXtension has contracted with Remote-Learner.net to host Moodle as a learning management system for use by eXtension Communities of Practice, by the professional development community, and by various Extension institutions nationwide. Michael Wilcox and Emily Shaw attended a Moodle training in Nashville earlier this month. As part of their training, they took the Watershed management course that George Smith initiated and began moving it from the CECP format to Moodle. Pending the conversion and uploading of the tests, the course will be available at http://courses.extension.org (an eXtension login is required).
Appointment of Nomination Subcommittees
Officers and PLC Representative
Louis Whitesides will become chair, and Brian Calhoun will rotate into vice-chair. Our committee needs to appoint a new secretary. Additionally, we need a new 1890 PLC representative to replace Gae who is rotating off (Tony Windham is the 1862 rep). Mike appointed a nomination committee of Bo, Hank and Gae. The committee will present their recommendations later in the meeting.
NACDEP Nominees from the South
Mike Woods, Alan Barefield, Jenny Fertig, and Louis Whitesides will serve on this nominating committee.
Other Business
The group recognized Bo's 10 year anniversary with the Center.
Southern Rural Development Center Report
Strategic Planning Effort
Hard copies of the strategic planning document were passed out; Bo asked that these be distributed to those participating in the roundtable sessions in each state. Requests for additional copies should be directed to Emily Shaw. The electronic version is posted on the SRDC website at http://srdc.msstate.edu/sp/blueprint07.pdf. Bo asked states that had roundtables to share outcomes from the sessions and how they have used the data. What happened as a result?
Based upon the strategic plan, a two-year training plan needs to be developed. Bo led the group in a discussion of training priorities and delivery modes. A committee was formed to work on "CD 101" (formerly CDI); it was proposed to offer it in Spring 2008. Those serving on the committee will be Hank Cothran, Gae Broadwater, Alan Barefield, Steve Isaacs, Deborah Tootle, and the SRDC staff.
Sandra and Gae will research and identify educational programs within the Extension system that address distressed and low-wealth communities. Their goal will be to develop a resource listing of options and then training opportunities highlighting best practices identified during research.
New SRDC Communication Plan
Emily Shaw provided an update regarding the Center's new communication plan. All communication products will be consistent regarding layout, color, etc., as featured in the Center's strategic planning document. The website will also be revamped. Changes to the site reflect a desire of Center staff to make the site more user friendly.
New Policy Series
Also, the Center will launch a new policy series that will have the format of a fact sheet and will feature "hot topics" of interest. The group then had a brainstorming session to identify potential topics and authors. The results are available here.
CD Resource Pages/"New Agent Toolkit"
Bo discussed the possibility of providing a "toolkit" to Extension faculty that would include 2 page resource sheets on varying CD topics. Bo asked leaders to identify 10 to 12 topics that should be overviewed. Once a listing has been formulated, SRDC staff would then look to see what is available and what would need to be created. Additionally, Bo requested help identifying educational resources for each new priority for the revamped website.
Southern Regional Extension Forester Update
Bill Hubbard, Southern Regional Extension Forester, provided an update on activities. There will be a training on Woody Biomass Outreach September 11-12 in Atlanta, Georgia. More information can be found at www.forestbioenergy.net.
Regional Aggregate Performance Indicators
Deborah Tootle will begin to develop an aggregate set of performance indicators from the individual states' 2007 Plans of Work located at http://www.reeis.usda.gov/portal/page?_pageid=53,545081&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&smi_id=41. Deborah will work with Sally on this and will distribute a draft through the listserv.
Hispanic SERA
Bo provided an update on the status of the Hispanic SERA, which is currently seeking SERA status. Copies of the proposal were distributed to the group. It is expected that the SERA application will be approved.
Health SERA
Alan Barefield and James Barnes updated the group on the Health SERA 19. They will be meeting September 10-12 in Atlanta. An agenda and fact sheet were distributed to the group. Also, it was noted that Bobbie Clark is developing several CECP modules on health, and that the SERA group will be considering joining this effort.
eXtension Entrepreneurship Update
Bo showcased the eXtension Entrepreneurship site, which was just released as a "soft launch" on August 20. State leaders were asked to register for the Entrepreneurship Community of Practice (CoP). Bo encouraged leaders to post questions and research articles to the site.
E-Commerce Curriculum Update
The Center has now received drafts of the curricula funded in 2005 and is expecting drafts of the 2006 curricula very soon. All curricula is or will be reviewed by a specialist. The hopeful release date for the first round of these curricula is this fall. More information can be found on the e-commerce website at http://srdc.msstate.edu/ecommerce/.
Identifying SRDC Impacts
Advocacy and supporters continues to be a need of the Center. One step being taken is to publish state success stories; four have been developed to date for Kentucky/Tennessee, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas (copies were distributed to the group). Bo expressed the need for support in the states; there is a need for determining a strategy for building support regionally in the event funding becomes a greater issue. Bo asked for volunteer program leaders to assist develop a strategy. Jenny Fertig, Greg Taylor, Mike Woods, John McKissick, David Hughes, and James Barnes all volunteered.
Demographic Information Database
Bo recently met with EMSI; he provided a one-pager to the group with additional information. EMSI will develop a national demographic database for $20,000; a state data file should be around $2,000. Bo shared the information, for anyone interested.
Nomination Committee Reports and Elections
Officers and PLC Representative
(Louis Whitesides will become chair, and Brian Calhoun will rotate into vice-chair.) Michael Wilcox, University of Tennessee, was nominated for secretary (Motion: Hank; Second: Alan) and was unanimously elected. For our 1890 representative to PLC, Bill Woodrum, West Virginia State University, was nominated (Motion: Gae; Second: Deborah) and was unanimously elected.
NACDEP Nominees from the South
It was decided by this committee that the following nominations will be made by Bo, on behalf of our committee: Ed Jones, President-Elect; Hank Cothran, Treasurer; Deborah Tootle, Secretary; and Sandra Thompson, 1890 Regional Representative.
Information Items to Report to the Directors/Administrators
Committee information and action items are due to the PLC today. Having no action items, this committee submitted the following information items:
• Southern Region CD Training Plan - "Community Development 101" (Spring 2008)
• Southern Region CD Training Plan - Targeted Trainings (12-18 month training plan)
• Business Retention and Expansion (Fall/Winter 2007-2008)
• Entrepreneurship (Spring/Summer 2008)
• Public Deliberation (Summer/Fall 2008)
• Health Institute
• Southern Region CD Certification Plan
• National Strategic Directions for CRED
Certification
Deborah Tootle led a conversation on the certification program. Two issues came up: (1) the type of courses -- can we offer courses with credit and (2) can they actually get the courses that we list as required?
Annual Plan of Work
The group spent time reviewing the 06-07 AWP and developing the 07-08 AWP. Items for the 07-08 AWP include:
- Offer a Community Development Institute
Goal Date: May 2008
Planning Committee: Hank Cothran, Alan Barefield, Steve Isaacs, Deborah Tootle, Gae Broadwater, and SRDC Staff
- Offer BRE Training
Goal Date: February 2008
Lead trainer: Hank Cothran
- Plan/Offer Public Deliberation Regional Training
Goal Date: Fall 2008
Planning Committee: Bo Beaulieu and Joe Sumners
- Plan/Offer Entrepreneurship Training
Goal Date: Fall 2008
Planning Committee: Michael Wilcox, James Barnes, David Hughes, Jenny Fertig, Louis Whitesides, and input from regional team members
- Plan/Offer a Value-Added Training, possibly linked to the National Value-Added Conference in OK in Spring
Goal Date: Summer 2008
Planning Committee: Alan Barefield, John McKissick, and Steve Isaacs; Contacts: Phil Kenkel and Rodney Holcomb
- Plan/Offer E-Commerce Training
Goal Date: Fall 2008
Planning Committee: Michael Wilcox, James Barnes, David Hughes, Jenny Fertig, Louis Whitesides, and input from SRDC e-commerce advisory committee
- Develop a Certification Program
Goal Date: Fall 2008
Planning Committee: Deborah Tootle, Bo Beaulieu, and Hank Cothran
- Publish Toolkit Factsheets (6)
Goal Date: Fall 2008
- Gather information on distressed and low-wealth communities that could be used for a toolkit factsheet as well as a framework for a training
Goal Date: Fall 2008
Planning Committee: Sandra Thompson and Gae Broadwater
- Transfer the Watershed Course from the CECP Campus to the Courses Campus (Moodle)
Goad Date: Fall 2008
Planning Committee: Michael Wilcox and Emily Shaw
Bonnie Teater CD Educator of the Year Award
A selection committee was formed to review nominees; the committee will be made up of Gae Broadwater, George Smith, Bo Beaulieu, and Alan Barefield.
Closing Comments
The group thanked Mike Woods for his leadership over the past year as chair.