Dr. Gaines Smith is the new Interim Extension Director, succeeding Dr. Steve Jones who has accepted a position with the North Carolina Extension Service. We miss Steve and wish him well, but we are certain that Gaines will do a good job for our organization. Dr. John Adrian is the newly elected Chair of the AU Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.

The ACES Community Resource Development staff have remained quite active since the last Program Committee meeting. Some representative activities are listed below:

Intensive Economic Development Course. This course is going on as we speak with a full complement of participants. Since there are about 500 graduates, substantially all of Alabama’s local economic development professionals are alumni of this course.

Community/Organization Strategic Planning. Work with community and organizational strategic planning continues at the rate of about four plans per year. The Southeast Alabama Trails regional tourism promotion organization recently participated in a strategic activity led by Extension. Another effort involving a small Jefferson County town is being initiated jointly with the Birmingham Regional Planning Commission and other partners

Workforce Development. The ACES Workforce Development Specialist has an active program which includes components aimed at meeting the needs of youth and various types of adult clientele. This individual is also involved in workforce aspects of other community development programs such as strategic planning and building sustainable communities

Sustainable Communities Concept. Extension is one of the partners with the AU Economic Development Institute in a contract with the City of Eufaula to develop a sustainable community plan. One of the outside underwriters is Audubon International.

Radon Project. The Alabama Radon Education Project is now directed by an economist from the ACES CRD staff. This project involves 12 of 15 Zone I counties as designated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The goals are to promote radon-resistant new construction and radon mitigation of existing homes. Underwriters include the Alabama Department of Public Health and EPA. This program has won several national awards.

Economic Impact of Health Services. This is a joint initiative of Extension and the Alabama Office of Rural Health. It employs IMPLAN and other tools of economic analysis to estimate the impact of designated health facilities such as rural hospitals on the local economies. Such information is quite valuable to local policy makers.

ACE Communities. The Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) is a proposed. program involving Extension and several funding partners. This concept is under consideration by several government agencies. Under the proposal, eight communities per year would be involved. Communities would receive accelerated leadership development and strategic planning assistance. Subsequently, they would have access to enhanced technical and financial assistance in implementing measures included in the strategic plan.