Present:

Larry Arrington, University of Florida
Alan Barefield, University of Tennessee
Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center
Dana Glenn, West Virginia State College
Hank Cothran, University of Florida
Gae Broadwater, Kentucky State University
Sally Maggard, United States Department of Agriculture
Mike Woods, Oklahoma State University
Ed Jones, University of North Carolina
Sandy Dooley, Louisiana State University
Bonnie Teater, Southern Rural Development Center

Corrections to August Minutes (Gae Broadwater)

Gae asked if there were any correction to the minutes submitted from the Savannah meeting in August.

Sally Maggard had several corrections. The first was to add (Bo) SRDC/CSREES report must mention the pilot grants program. The second was to insert the following paragraph under #11:

Bo and Sally announced the new southern region competitive grants pilot program developed through a collaboration of SRDC and Southern-SARE: "Sustainable Community Innovation Grants Program." The program will support projects that strengthen both agriculture and Southern communities through explicit linkages between sustainable agriculture and community development.
Projects should pursue local strategies that link sound farm and non-farm economic development with agricultural and natural resource management and involve partnerships among relevant stakeholders - such as farmers, ranchers, researchers, community organizations, environmentalists, agriculture and community development professionals, entrepreneurs, and governmental and non-governmental organizations. The complete Call for Proposals will be released September 3, 2001, and will be on the web sites of Southern SARE at http://www.griffin.peachnet.edu/sare/callpage.html and SRDC at http://ext.msstate.edu/srdc/grant/srdc_sare.pdf. Proposals are due November 2, 2001, with awards of up to $10,000 per project to be made in early February 2002.

Under item 16. Joint Meeting with Other Committee, change the last line...it's the last line in the bullet with Bill Hubbard's report:

Sally also reported that a national multi-state research project is being discussed that will focus on connections between forestry and community vitality, and it may be initiated in the southern region.

In Item 12... the second sentence has an extra "lead to".

The corrections were discussed and will be posted under the official minutes on the website.

Administrative Advisors Report (Sally Maggard)

None

Southern Director's Meeting Report (Larry Arrington & Bo Beaulieu)

Larry Arrington and Bo Beaulieu discussed the proposal "Expanding the Community Development Capacity of the South's Land-Grant University System- A Comprehensive Extension Community Development Training Strategy" at the Southern Director's meeting. Bo Beaulieu gave a report at the meeting and said the Director's response was positive. They particularly liked the competency based training idea and he (they) were given the blessing to go forward with the project. The plan was sent out to Mike Woods to have the team look over. A concern was raised over the number of face-to-face trainings. Bo said there are seven or eight web-based initiatives and the trainings could be modified to include web-based training.

Bo asked for everyone to look at the proposal and make sure it accurately portrayed what the individual teams sent in. He mentioned it is heavy on economic diversification because many states place a high emphasis on economic/community development.

Bonnie Teater asked if new technology would be needed in the CRD group. Who has the equipment? Scott Loverage in the North Central Region has experience - a web-based course on tourism. The equipment can be purchased for less than it costs to travel. Larry was a real advocate at meetings.

ECOP/PLC Committee Report

There have been 192 requests for presentations for the Orlando meeting in February of 2002. October 15 will be the notification date.

USDA/CSREES (Rick Maurer)

None

SRDC Update (Bonnie Teater & Bo Beaulieu)

Bo said he and Neal Flora went to New York to meet with representatives from the Ford Foundation. The meeting was postponed due to the events of September 11. Even though there was no formal meeting, informal discussions occurred. The hope is that SRDC will be asked to work with rural community colleges. Ford may help with resources to do a pilot project involving workforce preparation.

Sally has also had discussions with Ford regarding community college economic development activities. Mentioned having the regional centers be responsible for training community college staff and faculty. Ford Foundation efforts usually target areas where there is persistent poverty.

Other Items

Fund for Rural America: Gae said the KY/TN partnership was funded.

Gae also asked for any subgroup that has not submitted information to do so.

Sally suggested we take time to look at "Food and Agricultural Policy -Taking Stock for the New Century", the first formal statement from the new Secretary of Agriculture.

Bo, Mike and Neal will be discussants at a session at the Agriculture Outlook Conference in February 21-22. They will talk about community and economic development issues for the futures. There will also be a session focusing on women and community vitality

Bo said 84 people had signed up for the e-commerce conference. The will be someone from the Virgin Islands there.

20 people have signed up for the Health Institute.

The next conference call will be on Friday November 30 at 10:00 am.

The conference call was then adjourned.