From the Desk of Ken Martin, AD / Community Development

Welcome to our August issue of the CD e-newsletter.  Our last two issues were 13 pages in length and concern has been raised that the newsletter is getting too long. We are going to work to keep the newsletter to a manageable length that makes it easier for you to review the information quickly.  Longer articles will be introduced with a few descriptive sentences with a link to the full article, allowing you to decide whether and when you want to read the article.  To read the rest of this article, click on the following link: http://www.comdev.ohio-state.edu/pub/cdauge-%20newsletter_ken.pdf

Purpose and Process in Extension Education

Where Does Community Development Fit In? The central purpose of extension education is often--and rightly--viewed as individual learning and development.  Given this purpose, how does community development fit in?  To share and learn more about how we can address this issue, register for the ‘Building Community Through Multi-Disciplinary Approaches: An All Extension Conference’ to be held on September 7, 2006.  Aside from interesting roundtables discussions in the afternoon, you’ll hear Scott Peters of Cornell draw from a study of extension history and from a rich collection of contemporary practice stories to show why and how individual and community development can be integrated in mutually reinforcing ways across Extension’s program areas.  Register at  http://www.comdev.ohio-state.edu/sept0706.html

Explore Opportunities and Share Program Highlights- Nov 28-30, 2006

Mark your calendar now for the OSU Extension CD Study Tour being planned jointly with Penn State Cooperative Extension and West Virginia State University Extension .  Look forward to more specific details in future CD newsletters.  Direct questions and/or concerns to planning committee members:  Joe Konen, Jerry Thomas, and Greg Davis.

Extension Knowledge Economy Website

The Extension Knowledge Economy Website is designed as a clearinghouse for helping Extension Professionals move forward with the Extension Initiative “Building Human and Social Capital to Enhance the Knowledge Economy.”  The site is designed to provide resources and communication links both internal to Extension and for clientele. Resources include curriculum related to the Knowledge Economy; informational resources including podcasts; factsheets and white papers; papers and posters from the May 2 OSU Campus wide Knowledge Economy Conference; a weblog to discuss issues relating to the knowledge economy and finally updates regarding activities of the Extension Knowledge Economy Team. Please do a few things: 1. Visit the website at http://knowecon.osu.edu/   2. Think about ways you could contribute to the initiative   3. Contact the names listed to provide materials that will populate the site. For further information contact Bill Grunkemeyer at grunkemeyer.1@osu.edu or Jerry Thomas at thomas.69@osu.edu

Business Incubators

Is your community or organization considering including a business incubator in your economic development mix? Do you think an incubator can help you create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods or commercialize technologies? NBIA is pleased to announce the publication of Developing a Business Incubation Program: Insights and Advice for Communities, the first comprehensive discussion of issues related to incubator development. Topics covered include:  understanding the incubation concept; conducting feasibility studies; business planning for the incubator; fund-raising; and implementation and start-up.  Developing a Business Incubation Program, new from NBIA Publications, costs $60 for NBIA members and $80 for nonmembers. You can purchase it securely online at www.nbia.org/store or by phone at (740) 593-4331.

ESP Excellence in Extension Award Nominations

This annual award, sponsored by Epsilon Sigma Phi and OSU Extension, recognizes a superior Extension Educator with a cash award of $1,000, plus the addition of $1,000 to the base salary.  Nominations can be submitted by faculty, staff, clientele, or emeriti.  Any Extension employee who is a current member of Epsilon Sigma Phi is eligible for this award.  The award can be received one time only.  To nominate someone, complete a nomination form, found at: http://ohioesp.osu.edu/forms/forms.htm
Click on Excellence in Extension Award.  The nomination form will ask for examples of excellence in teaching, research, and service.  You will also need to include a nomination letter.  Please take the time to nominate an outstanding colleague for this award.  Remember, those who are not nominated have no chance of being recognized for what they have achieved.

Eminent Domain

Peggy Kirk Hall, Director of Agricultural & Rural Law, The Ohio State University summarized for the Land Use Team the Ohio Supreme Court decision on the Norwood case. The case challenged the City of Norwood's authority to take private property for an economic development project on the basis that the neighborhood was "deteriorating".  This is the first state case since the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo case, which raised significant controversy over the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes.  The Court's holding is a clear reinforcement of private property rights and a reduction of eminent domain power.  In the decision, the Court: prevented the use of eminent domain for this situation, overturning the appellate court's decision;  declared part of Ohio's eminent domain statute unconstitutional; created a higher standard of court review for eminent domain cases;  and held that economic benefit alone is not a sufficient basis for use of eminent domain authority.  The lengthy (58 pages) decision is at:   http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/0/2006/2006-Ohio-3799.pdf

Compare Your City with the Best

Money Magazine has identified the 10 Best Places to Live in America for cities with population from 50,000 and up.   If your community meets Money's threshold criteria, you can easily use their web site tool to see how you measure up to the Best Places evaluation.  Here is how to do it: 

• Access the following web page:  http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/
• Go to compare cities, and click on (more)
• Identify the state and city that you want to compare with the top ten (there are 20 Ohio city choices in their database)
• Click on "Add" and the city you chose will be compared to the top ten for each criteria

You can print out these comparisons and share them with your community to spark a lively discussion of community and economic development issues!  Please contact Myra Moss if you have any questions, or encounter problems accessing this information.

Journals seek Papers about Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development

October 1 is the abstract deadline for two separate calls for papers addressing the connection between sustainable agriculture and community development. A special issue of the journal “Community Development” is seeking papers on Connecting Community Development and Sustainable Agriculture: Sustaining Community Innovation. This theme stems from the Sustainable Community Innovation Grants program, which is supported through a partnership between SARE and the RRDCs in the Southern and Northeastern Regions.  Papers may highlight impacts from the grant program or they may explore the conceptual framework that guides successful community innovation strategies. Additionally, a special issue of “Southern Rural Sociology” (SRS) is seeking papers on sustainable agriculture and the quality of life in rural communities.  This special issue of SRS will focus on sustainable agriculture and community and how the two intersect in the South.  Both calls can be viewed at:  http://www.southernsare.org.

Grant Opportunities

1.    Support for Social Change Initiatives:  Unitarian Universalist Association’s Fund for a Just Society  makes grants to nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and Canada that are addressing issues of social and economic justice. Grants are provided to projects creating systemic social change through collective action. Priority is given to groups of people organizing to create change in the economic, social, and political structures that affect their lives. Projects are welcome that are less likely to receive conventional funding because of the innovative or challenging nature of the work or the economic and social status of the constituency. Applications deadlines are March 15 and September 15, annually. Visit the website http://www.uua.org/uufp/funds/fjs.html for more information.

Focusing on Authenticity

Focusing on Authenticity--What is it anyway? How do we know what is authentic? Who’s telling the story? What is the story? Whose story is it? How is authenticity presented or portrayed? Why does it matter? Authenticity has become a necessary element and marketing piece—maybe even hype--for successful heritage tourism. It may be hard for most of us to define, to put our finger on, but some of us would claim to know authenticity when we see or hear it! The “Focusing on Authenticity” article was written by Extension CD Specialist Deanna Tribe and History Professor Ivan M. Tribe to accompany the Ohio’s Hill Country Heritage Area regional gatherings in 2005. It has since been published in the Hill Country Voice. You may access (and download) the article at the web site of Ohio’s Hill Country Heritage Area, http://www.ohiohillcountry.org/. An expanded fact sheet with critical thinking questions and action projects is being prepared. Contact Deanna Tribe, tribe.1@osu.edu, for more information.

Culinary Tourism

Check out this new resource about a relatively new niche in the tourism industry. Culinary Tourism: the Hidden Harvest is written by Erik Wolf, President and CEO of the International Culinary Tourism Association, published in 2006 by Kendall/Hunt. The subtitle says that this book (59 pp.) highlights a “dozen hot & fresh reasons how culinary tourism creates economic & community development.” It’s a very interesting read and provides lots of ideas for enhancing tourism development—and gives a label to those of us who enjoy novel dining experiences while traveling! Click here for more of  this article: http://www.comdev.ohio-state.edu/pub/cdauge-newsletter_tourism.pdf