Present:
Gae Broadwater, Kentucky State University
Rick Maurer, University of Kentucky
Alan Barefield, University of Tennessee
Deborah Tootle, Louisiana State University
Sally Maggard, United States Department of Agriculture
Mike Woods, Ohio State University
Chris Sieverdes, Clemson University
Harry Strawn, Auburn University
Larry Arrington, University of Florida
Bonnie Teater, Southern Rural Development Center
Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center

Minutes of November 30, 2001 meeting were approved as written.

Federal update (Sally Maggard) - Restructuring of CSREES (USDA)

• Efforts are underway to integrate programs across mission areas.
• A coordinating council has been formed to facilitate this.
• Dan Kugler and Sally Maggard represent CSREES on this committee.
• One of the main questions is "How do we draw on the strengths of all parties effected by the CSREES service?"
• Overall capacity building focus should embrace the entire USDA.
• New deputy for Economic and Community Systems, Alma Hobbs, asserts that we (CSREES) need to be broader than 4-H.
• Sally Maggard will draft programmatic areas to build the capacity of young people.
• Rural schools and other rural educational institutions are key pieces of this system.
• All of the capacity building pieces should be assembled to build a broad based community capacity building system.
• It is very important that the Economic and Community Systems (ECS) area be integrated with other areas (Agriculture and Natural Resources, 4-H, Family and Consumer Sciences).
• ECS should assist in addressing Natural Resource and Environmental issues.
• ECS should increase efforts with watershed management councils.
• The Community Resource Development (CRD) area is the cornerstone of the work performed by specialists in the other program areas.
• A national interest in CRD is being developed.
• The southern region is positioning itself as a leader in providing the type of training that everyone working in this area should receive.
• Farm management curricula has been redesigned to include web based and remote learning components. This group will be meeting in May.

Extension Committee on Policy update (Rick Maurer)

• ECOP is trying to determine how they can be more flexible.
• A feeling exists that the Extension base programs may not meet current or future USDA strategies.
• One proposal of the ECOP Program Leadership Committee is to eliminate base programs and to develop national teams to provide leadership for addressing current and emerging issues.

Bonnie Teater made the suggestion that new ECS Deputy Administrator, Alma Hobbs, be invited to the Community Development Committee Meeting in Orlando on Sunday, February 24 at 1:00 p.m.

Sally Maggard - The Regional Rural Development Centers and the specialists and researchers working with those centers need to develop closer working relationships. The Southern Center and its faculty especially needs to work with the Northeastern and Western Centers to help them organize committees such as this one.

The Cooperative Extension Curricula Project is being pulled together by Ron Brown. Questions include:

• What can be pulled together to support staff?
• What needs to be made available to the public?
• How can the components of the curricula be "broken down" to facilitate complex searching algorithms.
• A proposal (or at least observations) will be presented to the Southern Program Leadership Committee at the August meeting in Nashville.

If there is interest in developing programs to address the needs of Spanish speaking clientele, contact Gae Broadwater at Kentucky State University or Nyda Torres at the University of Florida.

SARE/SRDC Community Innovation Grant Program (Bo Beaulieu)

• There were sixty-four proposals submitted; only about fifteen truly synthesized sustainable agriculture and community development topics.
• Southern SARE and the SRDC are trying to garner funds to support seven projects.

Chris Sieverdes - There is a need to pull together an agribusiness curricula.

KY/TN Institute for Sustainable Development (Rick Maurer and Alan Barefield)

• Multi-state, multi-state community and economic development conference.
• Approximately thirty agents and area specialists have registered.

SRDC - (Bo Beaulieu)

• SRDC Board of Directors have approved an Associate Director position for the SRDC.
• This person will also work with the Community Development section at Mississippi State.
• Position is contingent on funding from the Ford Foundation for a program partnering with rural community colleges to address rural economic and community development issues. The final proposal must be submitted to the Ford Foundation by May 1; funding will likely be in place by June or July.

Meeting adjourned.