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Building Communities
Practical Tools and Information
Kathy Tweeten, director, NDSU Center for Community
Vitality
NDSU Extension Service, community
economic development specialist
This newsletter is meant to share practical tools and
information to assist you in your important role in community and
economic
development work. We welcome comments on current letters plus encourage your
advice for future articles.
Kathy
Content
► Editorial- Renewable Energy and the Community
► Generation Tourism - North Dakota Tourism Conference
►
Rural Leadership North Dakota Accepting Applications
►
NEW: Online Food Entrepreneurship Lessons
► Economic Development Finance Professional Certification Program
► What is Horizons?
Editorial – Renewable Energy and the Community
You undoubtedly have heard the words “renewable energy” or “cellulosic ethanol” or “switchgrass” or “biomass” or … . So what does all this have to do with community development? The renewable energy movement will change the face of rural America. New and different types of jobs will be available, people will be moving into communities that haven’t seen new residents in a long time. Existing community norms will be challenged, but many rural communities will be revitalized. This could be a wonderful opportunity for communities that are willing to embrace change and prepare for the growth that could happen. Communities with up-to-date strategic plans and active involvement from a broad scope of the people who live there, are receptive to change and accepting of new people and cultures, and work together to prepare for the future will thrive in the new bioeconomy.
Sincerely,
Kathy Tweeten
NDSU Center for Community Vitality Director and
Community Economic Development Extension Specialist
Generation Tourism - North Dakota Tourism Conference
Source: North Dakota Division of Tourism
Culture, heritage, customer service and more are the key topics of the 2007 North Dakota tourism conference to be held April 29 through May 1 at the Best Western Doublewood Inn in Fargo. Speakers include Lalia Rach, a motivational speaker, trend forecaster, innovator and visionary. She is a trusted consultant, popular moderator and internationally recognized speaker who is widely regarded as knowledgeable, practical and humorous; Berkeley Young, president of Young Strategies Inc. and a specialist in travel/tourism marketing, management and retail; Bill Geist, a consultant who has provided cutting-edge consulting services to destination marketing and management organizations across North America; and Tom Isern, an NDSU history professor who has worked with our NDSU Extension Center for Community Vitality for the past year to provide assistance to three North Dakota communities wishing to develop and implement strategic plans to build community vitality through arts and heritage. Go to www.northdakotadestinations.org to review the full agenda and register for the conference.
Rural
Leadership North Dakota Accepting Applications
Rural Leadership
North Dakota – Supporting Agriculture and Community Development is accepting
nominations and/or applications for the class of 2007-09. RLND is a two-year
interactive study and travel program dedicated to producing graduates with the
vision and commitment to lead themselves, organizations, communities and North
Dakota. This dynamic leadership program emphasizes the development of leadership
skills while sharing important and divergent information about critical issues
facing North Dakotans.
During the two-year program, participants attend 10 workshops throughout the state and take a six-day study tour to Washington, D.C. They learn how to think critically and creatively, work with people, communicate effectively, use technology, shape rural policy and find innovative ways to fund local and regional development. They use the skills they learn to create and implement a project that benefits their organization, community or region.
For information on how you can nominate someone for the program or apply to become a participant, please call Marie Hvidsten, NDSU Extension RLND director, at (701) 231-5803 or see our Web site at www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/rlnd.
NEW: Online Food Entrepreneurship Lessons
Source: Julie Garden Robinson, food and nutrition specialist, and Kathleen Tweeten, community economic development specialist, NDSU Extension Service
Are you ready to be a food entrepreneur? The NDSU Extension Service has developed nine online lessons to help you determine if a food business is for you. The lessons are:
Go to www.ag.ndsu.edu/foodent/entrpnr.htm for more information.
Economic Development Finance Professional Certification Program (EDFP)
The EDFP is a rigorous, four-course training series that explores the skills essential for the successful practice of economic development – business credit and real estate finance analysis techniques, loan packaging procedures, negotiating and problem-solving skills, and deal structuring techniques.
The EDFP certification program on business credit analysis is being offered April 23-27, 2007, at the Doublewood Inn in Bismarck. To register for the class, call (701) 222-0929.
What is Horizons?
Horizons is about movement and change: from waiting to leading, from talk to action, from poverty to prosperity, from a few to many, from despair to hope, from indifference to pride. Horizons is a community leadership program aimed at reducing poverty in 23 small, rural communities in North Dakota. The NDSU Extension Center for Community Vitality delivers this educational program and Lynette Flage, NDSU Extension leadership specialist, coordinates it. The program aims to help these communities faced with economic decline and demographic change to explore perceptions about and sources of poverty, build stronger community leadership and involve the entire community in building a plan for its future. The Northwest Area Foundation sponsors the Horizons program. For more information, go to www.ag.ndsu.edu/ccv and click on Horizons.
