1997 Combined Report
Preface
This is a combined report of selected outreach and research activities, projects and
accomplishments of the four Regional Rural Development Centers and their partners in
fiscal year 1997. The RRDCs are linked to the land-grant institutions and seek to improve
the social and economic well-being of rural people. The variety of projects and diversity of
people and organizations involved in the work of the RRDCs attest to the impact of their work
and reveal how this work touches rural people and communities.
The RRDCs have two audiences for their services and products: direct users and end users.
Direct users are the professionals conducting research and developing and delivering educational
programs in land-grant and other educational institutions and organizations. End users are the
rural people and their communities who receive the benefits through the rural development research
and education professionals of the land-grant and other educational institutions and organizations.
This report is organized around five topics that have been identified as key issues for the mid 1990s:
- Improving Economic Competitiveness, Diversity and Adaptability
of Small and/or Rural Communities
- Linking Natural Resource Industries with Community and Environmental
Resources
- Increasing Community Capacity to Deal with Change
- Enhancing Self-reliance of Families and Communities
- Facilitating Development of Policies that Enhance the Well-being
of Rural People and Small Towns
Each of the RRDCs has devoted considerable resources over the past year to research and outreach
projects related to these key issues. (The RRDC that is conducting and/or sponsoring the project
s listed in parenthesis at the end of each listing.) While our main partners are within the
land-grant system, we also work with State Rural Development Councils, Resource Conservation
and Development Councils, and a wide range of private sector entities who share a concern
for rural people and places. In some cases the projects were collaborative efforts of all four
RRDCs and the program was national in scope.
The projects are described briefly to provide some insight into the number and diversity of people
involved in the development of RRDC programs, the links to other organizations and institutions,
the integration of research and outreach functions, the relevance to regional or national issues,
and the actual and potential effects on the well-being of rural people. The RRDCs support research that
directly informs education and action that is reflective and cumulative. The RRDCs work hard at
integrating research and Extension in the best tradition of the land-grant system.
Why Do the RRDCs Exist?
One-quarter of the nation's population live in rural areas. There is a need to invest in
research and education to help these people and their communities find viable alternatives
and opportunities for the future. The land-grant institutions have a long history of applied
scholarship and an established presence in rural communities dealing with rural issues.
For more than 25 years the RRDCs have worked across state lines with land-grant faculty to expand
this work and make it more readily available. With the dramatic changes at the end of the 20th
century, including economics with globalization and governments with devolution, research
concerning the alternatives for rural people and places is more important than ever.
Understanding Rural Development and Community Building
Programs designed for metropolitan areas do not adapt well to rural situations, nor do
agricultural programs solve the economic problems of rural communities. With the changes
in the 1996 Farm Bill, agricultural communities will need to become even more flexible
and more market responsive. Economic development is not the sole answer. The complex social
problems in rural areas make it necessary to strengthen the ability of rural leaders to
understand the effects of national and international policies and events on local communities
and to develop responses reflecting local needs, values and resources. This will require increased research
on rural issues as well as improved identification and education for community leaders.
Role of Regional Rural Development Centers
The four Regional Rural Development Centers support and strengthen individual state efforts
in rural areas by developing networks of university research and Extension faculty from a variety
of disciplines to address rural issues. Strategies for dealing with those issues are developed
by leaders across the region and the nation and are shared with rural communities via
conferences, publications and other educational activities and materials. Each RRDC has
the flexibility to adapt its program to meet the changing needs within its region. The RRDCs
collaborate with state, regional, and national public and private organizations and with each
other to leverage support from a variety of sources to supplement their regional and federal
funding and to increase program effectiveness. The RRDCs work in liaison with research and
Extension faculty; with state, regional and national policy makers; with community decision-makers;
and with other rural development professionals.
Rural Development Challenges
The RRDCs are organized to respond rapidly to rural needs in their regions and to collaborate
to provide interregional and national programs on critical rural development issues. Quick response
has given the RRDCs the opportunity to be productive in adjusting to constantly changing conditions.
However, the RRDCs face several challenges:
- Rapidly changing economic and policy settings where prior
knowledge of processes and products no longer hold.
- New cadres of professionals involved in rural development without access to training and research support.
- Increasing demands for accountability for all programs.
- Shrinking resources in the public sector requiring more individual and community self help.
- Increasing ethnic diversity and a rural population under 18 or over 65.
- Conflicts arising over the use of our natural resources and environment. Rural stake holdersare caught in
many of these controversies.
Addressing the Challenges
The RRDCs receive modest funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Cooperative
State Research, Education and Extension Service. Increasingly, private foundations and other
governmental agencies are also investing in the work of the RRDCs. Supplemental funding from these
foundations has been very important to effective RRDC work.
In July 1991 the Regional Rural Development Centers underwent a national review by the
Extension Service and the Cooperative State Research Service. The report of the review panel
strongly endorsed the RRDCs, saying they "performed an extremely valuable and useful catalytic
role in research and Extension programs ... If the centers did not exist today, they
would have to be invented."
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