Present

Alan Barefield, SRDC
Bo Beaulieu, SRDC
Danny Ford, Tuscaloosa Alabama
Hank Cothran, University of Florida
Steve Issacs, University of Kentucky
Dave Lamie, Clemson University
Ed Jones, North Carolina State University
Sally Maggard, CSREES
Bill Molnar, Clemson University
Emily Shaw, SRDC
George Smith, University of Tennessee
Greg Taylor, Texas A&M University
Deborah Tootle, Chair, Louisiana State University
Louis Whitesides, South Carolina State University
Tony Windham, University of Arkansas
Bill Woodrum, West Virginia State University
Mike Woods, Oklahoma State University

Welcome

Deborah Tootle called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Central.

Review of December minutes

Deborah asked the committee to review the minutes, there were no changes.

Advisors Report

Joe Zuplena has a conflict and could not make the meeting, but he sent Emily a note that if the committee has anything to take forward to the Extension Directors' to let him know.

CSREES Report

Sally announced that CSRESS are in the process of hiring a program specialist. This person will have strong credentials, possible a young Ph.D. or definitely masters who is interested in developing. This person will be assigned to work with Sally and Maurice Dorsey. The job description has the individual working with community and economic development, regional liaison & regional groups, and NACEP rural development centers. He or she will be on conference calls and help with planning meetings.

Washington, DC Meeting May 22-25

The meeting is on May 23rd noon to May 25th at 4:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at the NASULGC office located at.1307 New York Avenue.

Sally had a conference call on Friday with the North Central group. The group wants to network with the committee cross regional conversations. The session can focus on cross region conversation where we can discuss indicators, plans of work, new CSRESS state liaison program, etc. We should also be thinking about the agenda.

Sally reported that External Portfolio Review Team that includes community development and economic development.

PLN Update: Annual Plan of Work

Deborah asked about the different modules and components for the Annual Plan of Work and talked about where we are and what do we need to do to keep on track.

Economic Diversity CECP Module

Alan talked about the home base business curriculum. A national team was put together to develop the cashing in on business curriculum. The curriculum is about 22 - 24 chapter. It is just in print form. Most of original team has retired and they are in the process of reformulating the team. The team will meet at NACEP next month. Emily has been working with the team on how to translate the chapters to CECP format.

Mike discussed the areas of business retention and expansion work around the South.
They developed training materials and utilized in training session. He also talked about the area of economic diversity related CECEP is the CARE (Creation Attraction Retention Expansion) Model. They drafted some materials.

eCommerce is another area of economic diversity. Bo and Mike were in discussion with Ray Montgomery and Minnesota people on using materials from the eCommerce national initiative to develop in CECP environment.

The committee discussed some issues they are having with CECP in taking materials and putting it in CECEP. Deborah will send a note to Joe Zuplena on the committee concerns. An option is to develop a systematic program to see what we have or don't have.

Natural Resources CECP Module

George stated that over a year ago, the team got permission from EPA to use their water shed education training package. The team took 15 modules from the water shed training package. Emily was to put in CECP format and put on the web for review. George will get someone from the University of Tennessee to help develop the module.

Leadership and Civic Engagement CECP Module

Brian is absent.

Decision Making CECP Module

Deborah stated that the team is talking about asset mapping materials. Has great curriculum materials; just getting up to the next level is a stumping block.

Community Services CECP Module

Community Services are also having problems.

Content Outline for Certification Program

Deborah said that the problem the content outline for certification program is time.

NACDEP Update

Breakfast meeting Tuesday 2/14

The committee still wants to have the breakfast meeting.

Southern Regional Meeting Thursday 2/16

Sally informed the committee that the North Central group is meeting for dinner on the February 14th from 6:00-9:30 pm in the 3rd floor boardroom. The group wants part of the meeting to look at multi-state programming and outcomes and indicators. The group wanted someone from the southern center could talk about accountability and evaluation structure that you are building.

Bill suggested NACEP conference move to another week. Emily stated 2007 NACEP is being scheduled for April or May.

Emily gave the topics of the draft of the agenda.

Hank questioned how we build the strength of the organization?

Hank will talk to Cynthia on where NACEP is going.

SRDC Updates

SRDC Strategic Planning

Bo stated that SRDC is ready to start awarding the $2,500.00/state for strategic planning on state rural development summit, focus group, or roundtable that involve critical rural development issue in the state. Bo needs the names to identify team for roundtable. Bo is missing principal or investigators from Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia.

eXtension Entrepreneurship Initiative

Bo explained about the eXtension Committee of Practice. This is a group organized for Extension Entrepreneurship efforts met in December. There are about twenty people from across the country on the committee to look at more concrete products to develop in 2006. Part of the proposal calls for the creation of a regional research teams.

eCommerce Extension Initiative

Mike stated that the national advisory committee for eCommerce Extension Initiative met in January in Atlanta. The team reviewed proposal for round two funding. Two proposals were funded out of eight. Round One Funding from last year had five proposals.

Hurricane Summits I and II

Bo said that the center worked with the farm foundation, CSRESS, and rural sociological society hosted a summit in December with about forty people. The group is interested in creating a multi-state research effort. SERA (Southern Extension and Research Activity) which is an exchange group, talked about research and extension concerns. Bo will give a copy of summary of the minutes for research and extension to Sally and Bill.

SRIR Sustainable Recovery/Katrina Effort targeted to small businesses

Latino-Hispanic Working Group

Bo stated that NACEP is hosting a meeting with about 12 people on Monday at 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. The meeting is for research, extension and outreach to address diversity with Latino and Hispanic citizens.

SIRD Update

Emily stated that after rescheduling, the agenda was tweeted to 1 full day and 2 half days.
The meeting is April 24-26, 2006 for the southern region.

Other business?

No other business.

Meeting Adjourned at 10:40 a.m. Central.