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December 2004 Volume II, Number 10

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! PRAY FOR PEACE &
For those who serve near and far!

Compiled by Deb Miller Slipek, News Finder Extraordinary &
Jane Leonard, MRP President & Editor
IN THIS ISSUE:
- 2005 Summit
- across The Field
- Policy
- Funding updates
- Training, Events and Conferences

2005 MINNESOTA RURAL SUMMIT – Save the Date! Spread the Word! – July 28-29, 2005, St. John’s University, Collegeville.

The theme for 2005 is “The Great Reconnect.” We’ll be showcasing efforts that bridge community and economic resources between rural and urban Minnesota, that bridge diverse cultures and shared heritage, and that bridge our spirit and will to strengthen and sustain our communities, our regions, and our state.

We are happy to announce that registration costs will be lower than in past years to encourage many persons from all across Minnesota to attend and network. Inexpensive accommodations are available at St. John’s, as well as traditional hotel accommodations nearby in Waite Park and St. Cloud. The central Minnesota location, directly off of Interstate 94, will make it much easier to access, as well.

Look for more information to come in upcoming newsletters, the Minnesota Rural Partners website, and special mailings. In the meantime, if you would like to help plan the Summit, and aren’t already on the planning committee, please contact Jane Leonard at jleonard@minnesotaruralpartners.org. Also contact us with presentation ideas and sponsor possibilities.

ACROSS THE FIELD - Translating Talk into Action - by Jane Leonard

In the New Year ahead, Minnesota Rural Partners will continue its advocacy of small business development and entrepreneurship as the keystone for 21st century community and economic development. We are forging ahead with BizPathways.org and FinanceAvenue.org as one of several online foundations of Minnesota’s Entrepreneurial Gateway. We’ll also continue our work to support broadband use, not for infotainment – but for true gains in economic opportunity and idea-sharing.

As the economists at the Center for the Study of Rural America at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank tell us, “economic assets such as cheap land and labor have traditionally been foundations for a region’s economy – but no longer will they ensure regional prosperity in a rapidly globalizing economy.” The irony is that as competition goes global on the commodity side, entrepreneurs with unique innovations and value-added products can and do create local jobs, wealth, and growth. But we often ignore or overlook them, even as they exist right before our eyes – because they seem too small to make a difference.

Both entrepreneurship and smart use of technology can make a huge difference for our communities. Part of it is a change in attitude by those of us who consume goods and services. Can we pledge to buy locally produced goods and services whenever possible, to support those closest to home? Or support local businesses through investment strategies such as revolving loan funds and catalyst grants?

I was inspired again to think and act this way when I attended the Farmers’ Market training session at the Initiative Foundation in Little Falls last week. Ken Meter, an applied economist who teaches at the University of Minnesota and runs the Crossroads Resource Center, laid out very clearly what the benefits of local, small-scale farming and marketing were, to farmer and community alike. He’s given his presentation to other states and in other countries. It’s about time we listened to his common sense here. The savings and income he’s talking about run in the millions and billions of dollars across regions – not nickels and dimes. Plus, like their city counterparts, the small-scale entrepreneur-farmers also bring a quality of life to a community and region that can’t be manufactured – it’s sincere and authentic. We’ll be working on featuring this, and other rural-urban resource bridges, at the 2005 Rural Summit in July.

POLICY

--The following is a brief synopsis of the FY 05 Omnibus spending bill for key programs in USDA and U.S. HUD. For more information, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app05.html.

USDA
Good News
The Rural Community Development Initiative is increased. A new fund to assist in preserving rural rental housing is created with $3 million.

Bad News
Section 502 direct loans are reduced from $1.36 billion in FY 04 to $1.15 billion in FY 05. Section 515 is reduced by $16.5 million to $100 million.

U.S. HUD
Good News
Congress rejected turning Section 8 into a block grant to states. It split the program into two parts, funding each with a slight increase, i.e. voucher renewals for $13.4 billion and project-based for $5.2 billion. Section 4 capacity building was level funded at $30 million.

Bad News
CDBG was cut by $206 million to $4.5 billion. HOME was cut by $64 million to $1.9 billion. Rural Housing and Economic Development shrank by $1 million to $24 million. HOPE VI survived down $5 million to $144 million. Elderly housing, disabled housing, homeless assistance, lead paint abatement and fair housing all lost funding.

FUNDING

--The Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has opened the FY 2005 funding round of the Technical Assistance (TA) Component of its CDFI Program. The Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) is on its website at www.cdfifund.gov. Subject to final appropriations, the CDFI Fund anticipates awarding approximately $2 million in TA grants this round. The application deadline January 25, 2005.

--CDFI Fund Announces Opening of FY 2005 Financial Assistance Program

Subject to funding availability, the Fund expects to award approximately $22 million with an approximate $2 million set-aside for Category I or Small and Emerging CDFI (SECA) applicants. Applications will be due February 24, 2005 and applicants will have the option of submitting an entirely paper application or one that includes both paper and electronic sections.

The application form is on the Fund’s website. All applicants must register on the CDFI Fund’s website: http://www.cdfifund.gov/myCDFI/Registration/RegisterUser.asp.

--The USDA’s Rural Housing Service has $6 million available to intermediary organizations in the Rural Community Development Initiative. The grants provide financial and technical assistance to nonprofits. Grantees must match the funds. The deadline is Jan. 25, 2005. See Federal Register, 10/27/04, pp. 62639-48 or visit http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rhs/rcdi/index.htm. Contact William Kenney, RHS, 202-720-1506, william.kenney@usda.gov.

--2005 DNR Grant Applications Available: Applications are available for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 2005 local grants, trail grants, cooperative water recreation grants, and Minnesota ReLeaf grants. These grants help local governments, organizations, and individuals create partnerships with the DNR to fund projects that protect natural resources and provide outdoor recreation opportunities.

Programs include regional park (outside the metro area); natural and scenic areas; outdoor recreation (local park); conservation partners; environmental partnerships; local trail connections; federal recreational trail; regional trail (outside the metro area); fishing pier; public boat access; and Minnesota ReLeaf grant programs. These matching grants fund projects such as natural area acquisition, local park development, trail connections or trails for long distance travel, water based recreational facilities, parks that provide regional natural resource-based outdoor recreation opportunities, habitat improvement, environmental improvement, forest health protection, community forestry assessment and tree planting.

Application materials may be downloaded from the DNR Web site at www.dnr.state.mn.us Click the "Grants" heading and find the appropriate grant program for your project. To obtain the application packet by mail, write to: Local Grants Program, Department of Natural Resources, Office of Management and Budget Services, Box 10, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4010.

TOOLS AND MISCELLANEOUS

-- CFED released its 2004 Development Report Card for the States. Available online at http://drc.cfed.org/, the annual report card benchmarks the 50 states against one another in an array of factors that influence economic vitality. This is the 18th annual report card. Because the report card gathers a wealth of comparative economic data, it can provide you a powerful tool for conducting research (all raw data are publicly available, searchable, and free) and advocating for effective policies at the state level.

--The Microfinance Gateway Library provides publications you can use! Each month, the Microfinance Gateway adds valuable material received from industry participants to its online library of over 3700 documents. In the month of November, 76 new documents were added to the Gateway repository. Of these documents, 37 were published in 2004 alone. Each of these publications can be downloaded at no cost from www.microfinancegateway.org. Listed below are titles published in 2004 only for your easy reference. To subscribe to Library Updates mailing list, please visit: http://microfinancegateway.org/content/newsletter/subscribe.

--Money Smart, a FDIC curriculum on basic financial literacy, can be helpful as we assist other cultures in using our systems. Several adult education and Workforce Center agencies in our communities refer to this curriculum in their classes. A free copy of Money Smart is available at www.FDIC.gov

--A free copy of “Learning the Language of Money” is available online at: http://www.deed.state.mn.us/youth. The publication is a cross-cultural guidebook that relates to the Money Smart curriculum and looks at financial literacy in the customer’s country of origin. The guide examines how these systems shape the customer’s values and perspectives of the American financial systems.

--The 2005 Playbook – Building Entrepreneurial Community Champions – a game plan for increasing the support for entrepreneurship in your community – is printed and available. Please contact Jane at jleonard@minnesotaruralpartners.org for instruction on purchasing the book.