Present:

Rick Maurer, University of Kentucky
Bonnie Teater, Southern Rural Development Center
Alan Barefield, Southern Rural Development Center
Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center
Gregory Taylor, Texas A&M University
Hank Cothran, University of Florida
Gae Broadwater, Kentucky State University
Dana Glenn, West Virginia State University
Charles Shephard, Alcorn State University

CECP Project

• Gae will get back on the project and will work on the core competencies. Public Issues might have a template. She will submit suggestions to the list.
  

Regional Training

• Twenty-Three people attended the Economic Impact Analysis Training in Oklahoma City (attendees from both land-grant and non land-grant institutions)
  
  
• Rural-Urban Interface Conference: Because some states have tight travel budgets, this will be promoted heavily in Kentucky.
  
  
• GIS: Bill Cooke, a new hire at Mississippi State University who will be working with CRD tentatively offered to come to Little Rock to design a training session on smart growth.
  
  
• Leadership Plenty/Pew Partnership for Civic Change: A team is going to Colorado Springs. They will get free training and materials and bring the information back with the goal to design regional trainings. We will discuss how to proceed with this at the meeting in August.
  
  
• Bo asked if there are some trainings which should be repeated. Rick noted the on-line materials are very helpful. Bo will make a list of past, current and possible future trainings and send it to the group for discussion.
  

SRDC/SARE Innovations Grant

• This applied research project will look at sustainable communities with $70,000 from SARE and $20,000 from the SRDC.
  
  
• Some proposals have already been funded. The quality of the proposals was very good this year
  

PLC Update

• Charles reported that the group met in Little Rock on December 9, 2002. There was a lot of discussion surrounding Communication and Information Technology and the effect on CRD as far as the local government initiative. There was also discussion on the regional conferences as well. They might have to revisit the goals and objectives in the Plan of Work.
  
  
• Group also talked about emerging issues such as homeland security and e-extension.
  
  
• There were some concerns from the 1890's on restructuring and leadership development. The reorganized structure is in place. An executive committee will be formed to represent all areas to help expedite some things. Carolyn Nobles will be the chair.

PLC Meeting

• Meeting is August 24-47 in Little Rock.
  

RCCI Institute

• Was held in March for 92 people who are involved in the two regions (North Central and Southern). The Community College presidents were very enthusiastic. The web site is being refined.
  
  
• The Community Colleges want good resource information on program evaluation and economic development. Alan asked the group to let him know if we have any information about Community College resources.