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August 28, 2008
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CD Colleagues: Greetings!
I hope everyone is continuing to have a great summer. There a lot of CD stuff happening. Check it out!
Thomas W. Blaine
Associate Professor
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As most of you know by now I was recently appointed Interim Assistant Director for Community Development effective August 15th. Greg Davis, who I was sharing this position with over the past year, is back to his assignment as Leader, Community Economics and Business in the Department of Agriculture, Environmental, and Developmental Economics. Greg is a great friend and supporter of the Community Development program area and will be leaned on from time to time for his expertise. Please wish him well in his endeavors.
Over the next year I will be emphasizing the need for all of us to serve our clientele needs by teaching, developing curriculum, conducting programs and applying research that is relevant to the OSU Extension Strategic Plan. Community Development resources will continue to be channeled to teams that have developed approaches, or would like to develop approaches, to addressing relevant community development issues.
I also want to mention that the All-Extension CD Event that was originally scheduled for September 4th has been postponed. A number of factors leading to this decision related to strains on travel budgets, the transition that has just occurred with leadership of the CD program area, and the need to focus on OSU Extension Strategic Planning Issues. We will be incorporating the agenda into the CD Annual Retreat which will be held in the last week of January 2009 in Columbus. Details are being worked on for this retreat and will be released soon.
Take care,
John B. Conglose
Associate Professor
Interim AD/Community Development
OSU Extension
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Communities throughout Ohio have struggled to maintain a vital economic mix in their central business districts. Many are unsure of what actions, policies and organizations can help them achieve their goals. To help address these issues, The Central Business Districts: Measures of Success project was conceived and funded in Summer 2007 by OSU CARES (an initiative of Ohio State University Extension and The Ohio State University to expand faculty, staff and student partnerships with communities throughout Ohio); OSUExtension-VanWertCounty; and the Department of AED Economics.
Over the past year:
· over 500 rural and exurban communities in the Great Lake states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio were studied;
· existing economic, demographic and geographic data were used to determine the contributing factors to retail and service sector success within rural and exurban communities;
· communities were grouped by size, location relative to urban area, highway access, population growth/decline, and county seat status, for example;
· community leaders were interviewed to gain insights into successful strategies for different types of communities;
· research findings were tested against a case study community (Van Wert, Ohio).
Based on the findings The Central Business Districts: Measures of Success Extension outreach program aims to help community leaders identify proven strategies for strengthening local retail and service business development in the central business district. The program is being piloted with up to two communities in Fall 2008, and will be fully released in early 2009. If you are interested in learning more about the findings and/or the pilot program opportunity, please contact Nancy Bowen (bowen-ellzey.1@osu.edu), Jill Clark (mailto:clark.1099@osu.edu),ordavis.1081@osu.edu). More info can also be found at http://ag.osu.edu/Redirect/www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/programs/ComRegEcon/cbd.htm
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On Thursday, July 24th, the Van Wert County OSU Extension Economic Development Group hosted an “Algae Informational Seminar” featuring a presentation by Ross O. Youngs, President and CEO of Univenture in Marysville, on Univenture’s “Algae Initiative”. Speakers also included Dr. Joseph Hager of EMTEC and Ron Erd, of Independence Bio Products, who spoke on the growth and application of algae and algae byproducts, and potential economic impact. The seminar, which attracted 50 interested individuals from throughout the state representing higher education, advanced energy, industry R&D, and entrepreneurs, included Q&A and a brown bag networking lunch. The purpose of the seminar was to introduce advanced energy opportunities to our region, including the algae biodiesel and bioproducts industry that has the potential to create jobs and help to diversify and grow our rural economies.
Extension is currently working with stakeholders including Univenture, EMTEC, the Green Belt Coalition and VantageCareerCenter to develop a business plan that would support and encourage existing business investment or startup of new businesses connected with the algae industry in the Van Wert region. Please call Nancy Bowen, Community Development Educator with the OSU Extension Economic Development Group at 419-238-2999 with questions on this initiative.
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National Convening on SUBPRIME LENDING, FORECLOSURE and RACE
October 2nd - 3rd, 2008
Hyatt Regency, Columbus, OH
The Kirwan Institute is holding a convening of advocates, researchers, policy makers, funders and other key stakeholders to explore the racial dimensions of the crisis and identify the critical solutions needed to address this significant civil rights challenge. Subprime lending, surging foreclosures and instability in the housing market threaten to severely widen racial disparities and damage the entire U.S. economy. The goal of the convening is to identify solutions from leading thinkers and key stakeholders in the various domains impacted or implicated by the crisis.
http://www.kirwaninstitute.org/connect/mail.php
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The ninth annual Ohio Farmland Preservation Summit will take place Oct. 2, 2008 from8:15 a.m. - 4 p.m., at the new Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau
4-H Center on The Ohio State University campus in Columbus. Citizens, farmers, landowners, local officials, land trusts and other interested parties are invited to attend. Registration for the event closes Sept. 17th.
This year’s summit theme, Bonding Ohio Together, will highlight speakers from successful township, county and nonprofit programs, who will provide examples of collaborative land-use strategies. Keynote speaker, David Kline, who is a farmer and Amish minister, as well as author and publisher of Farming Magazine, will speak to his many perspectives and experiences in working toward farmland protection in Ohio. The day will feature break-out sessions on a variety of topics ranging from landowner basics, statewide land-use policies, creative funding sources, and agriculture in the local economy.
Registration forms and fee of $40, which includes lunch, are due Sept. 17th. Forms are available at http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/oda3/admn/farm/admn_farm_summit.stm or by calling 614-728-6210.
The summit, which is the largest farmland preservation gathering in the state, is co-hosted by a planning committee that includes the Ohio Department of Agriculture, American Farmland Trust, Otterbein College, the Tecumseh Land Trust and Ohio State’s Center for Farmland Policy Innovation and Agriculture and Resource Law Program
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Last September, the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) and the Ohio Department of Health co-hosted “RHIOhio: Bridging the Digital Divide” conference in Athens. This rural health information technology conference was a great success, due in part to the partnerships that were established, including Ken Martin’s participation in the planning committee and as a speaker on behalf of OSU Extension. This conference is going to occur this year in October. Please try to attend.
“RHIOhio: Building Partnerships for Change”
Ohio’s 2008 Rural Health Information Technology Conference
October 13-14, 2008
OhioUniversity, Athens, OH
Web site: www.oucom.ohiou.edu/rhiohio
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Place a hold on your calendars for an In-Service on Real Money Real World, November 21st at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. This In-Service is open to all Extension Educators, program staff and your community partners. The planning committee is working out the details and more information will be coming soon. This training will have offerings for those who are new to Real Money Real World as well as those who have been delivering the program and are looking for new information. Questions or suggestions can be directed to: Bill Harris harris.12@osu.edu or Nancy Hudson hudson.2@osu.edu
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Ohio MarketMaker was launched mid-March 2008 and has already recorded more than 317,000 hits. Your help is needed to encourage even more Ohio producer and buyer participation. This easy-to-use web-based resource for all businesses in the food supply chain was launched through the collaboration of Ohio State University Extension and OARDC, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), Ohio Farm Bureau, and the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT). MarketMaker is a national network of state websites connecting farmers and processors with food retailers, caterers, chefs, and other food supply chain contacts. The network has one of the most extensive collections of searchable food industry related data in the U.S. Each State’s site allows users to query, map and locate data on producers, buyers, farmers’ markets, wineries, meat processors and more. The site also includes census demographic data and a buyer-seller forum to help “make connection that work.” Ultimately, the connections made through Ohio MarketMaker lead to transactions, ongoing business relationships, and activity that contribute to development of Ohio’s economy.
Thanks to the support of the initial collaborating organizations, Ohio MarketMaker, http://ag.osu.edu/Redirect/www.ohiomarketmaker.com/, is accessible on a no-fee basis to all Ohioans. Julie Fox, Julise Strawser and Maurus Brown recently made a presentation to CountyCommissioners. You can learn more at Farm Science Review, Small FarmCenter, Thursday, Sept. 18th at Noon, fox.264@odu.edu .
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At Galaxy III in Indianapolis, the work of OSU Teams will be featured in a poster on Sept. 16th, 12:30 - 4:00 p.m.
To help entrepreneurs benefit from the features that make Ohio unique, OSU Extension provided High Performance Team Training that brought together statewide teams of specialists. Members from the Ohio Direct Marketing Team and the Ohio Tourism Team collaboratively leveraged resources for research and education. This poster illustrates various situations and how the teams came together to build remarkable partnerships, leverage resources, and develop research-based programming that results in significant outcomes, fox.264@odu.edu .
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As Extension organizations address more diverse audiences, an increasingly complex funding mix, and rapidly evolving technologies, the field of entrepreneurship offers principles to improve performance. At Galaxy III in Indianapolis, Sept. 17th, 1:30, CD Specialist Julie Fox will present results from a study that examined theelationship between organizational entrepreneurship and organizational performance within the U.S. Cooperative Extension System, fox.264@osu.edu
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The American Fisheries Society accepted for publication in Fisheries the article, “Ohio’s 2006 Lake Erie Charter Fishing Industry.” The article describes the state of the charter industry based on Ohio Sea Grant research survey work. This is the sixth of a series of socio-economic surveys of the Ohio Charter industry conducted by Ohio Sea Grant beginning in 1985. It is also the sixth time the results of the surveys will appear in Fisheries. Estimates of the Great Lakes charter industry based on past Sea Grant surveys conclude that the industry sustains 331 full-time jobs and generates $16.7 million in annual sales.
Fred Snyder is the PI on a Great Lakes Sea Grant Network grant entitled, “Preparing Coastal Communities for Climate Change: Translating Model Results to Prepare Ports, Harbor, and Storm water Management Facilities in an Era of Climate Variability and Scientific Uncertainty.” The two-year $300,000 proposal includes nine research and extension Co-PI’s from SevenGreatLake states. The work will focus on estimating climate change impacts on the harbors of Toledo, Ohio and Duluth/Superior, Minnesota/Wisconsin.
Frank Lichtkoppler is a Co-PI on a Great Lakes Sea Grant Network $52,500 Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) Education and Outreach grant. The one-year grant involves educators from all eight Great Lakes states and will focus on “Teaching with GLOS” curriculum development and “Great Lakes Mashups” training to use innovative web mapping tools to support sustainable management of Great Lakes resources
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