December 2006 - Volume IV, Number 12
Compiled by Deb Miller Slipek, News Finder Extraordinary
& Jane Leonard, MRP President & Editor

IN THIS ISSUE:

ACROSS THE FIELD
RURAL COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTER
FUNDING
MEETINGS
RESOURCES
OPPORTUNITIES

ACROSS THE FIELD, by Jane Leonard
On Our Way Rejoicing
Early this month, I was privileged to be in the audience at Concordia College in Moorhead listening to the 80th annual Concordia Christmas Concert, “On Our Way Rejoicing.” My nephew, Thomas, made it into the freshman choir this year, and the combined choirs, orchestra, and bell choir gave a truly heavenly tribute to the holiday season. The immense talent of these nearly 500 young people gave me renewed hope for the New Year and many years ahead. It may be naïve, but I think if people would stop for even a short period of time and listen to such reflective music, or take in other arts – creations that come from deep in our souls – we might more quickly find ways to forgiveness and peace with others -- in our lives, our communities, country, and world.

Here at Minnesota Rural Partners, that is our holiday wish to you – to go on your way, rejoicing at the many blessings you have and the good people we can all be. We know there is much work ahead, to right the wrongs, to overwhelm the hate and selfishness that can tie our world in knots. “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” asked Eleanor Roosevelt in 1946, in her “My Day” newspaper column, written in Berlin, Germany, about her visit to Frankfort and the Zeilsheim Jewish displaced-persons camp. We will act to prevent human misery when we start listening to the music in our hearts. The music directs our minds to act with the enduring kindness of the human spirit.

FUNDING

--The Blue Cross Foundation/Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is accepting letters of inquiries for Healthy Together: Creating Community with New Americans and Growing Up Healthy: Kids and Communities grants programs. The Healthy Together program focuses on health and immigrant integration. The Growing Up Healthy program seeks to engage community-based health, early childhood development, housing, and environmental groups in improving the health of Minnesota youths. Eligibility is limited to governments and 501(c)3 nonprofits serving Minnesota residents. For information on these programs go to: http://www.bluecrossmn.com/bc/wcs/groups/bcbsmn/@mbc_foundation/
documents/public/mbc2_programs.hcsp

--The Federal Home Loan Banks have announced a change in the regulations governing the Affordable Housing Program.  They will now allow Affordable Housing Program funds to be used to support revolving loan funds and loan pools.  The amendments to the Affordable Housing Program regulations can be viewed by visiting www.fhfb.gov or see Federal Register, 10/6/06, pp.59261-99. Contact Charles McLean, Federal Housing Finance Board, mcleanc@fhfb.gov,  202 408-2537.
 
--The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published an Early Registration Notice (http://www.hud.gov/utilities/intercept.cfm?/
offices/adm/grants/earlyreg.pdf) for potential applicants applying for funding under HUD's competitive grant programs. It is available on Grants.gov. It provides information to help applicants better understand the electronic submission process required for funding applications. To assist applicants, HUD has developed a brochure on how to register. The Registration Brochure is at http://www.hud.gov/utilities/
intercept.cfm?/offices/adm/grants/regbrochure.pdf.  It also has a brochure to assist in finding and applying for grant opportunities. Find and Apply Brochure: http://www.hud.gov/utilities/intercept.cfm?/
offices/adm/grants/findapplybrochure.pdf).   To download these or for more information, visit www.hud.gov. 

--Fiscal Year 2006 Fire Prevention and Safety Grants are sponsored by the US Dept. of Homeland Security.  Applications are due January 12, 2007.  The Fire Prevention and Safety Grants (FP&S) are part of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG). The purpose of these grants is to enhance the safety of the public and firefighters with respect to fire and fire-related hazards. The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program’s Fire Prevention and Safety Grant (FP&S) is to reach high-risk target groups in order to mitigate the high incidences of death and injuries.

There are two areas of activity that can be funded through the Fire Prevention and Safety grants: The Fire Prevention and Safety Activity and the Firefighter Safety Research and Development Activity. Applicants may submit only one application per application period and include either one or both activities. Applicant eligibility requirements for each activity are stated in the program guidance.

Eligible applicants for this activity include fire departments, and national, regional, State, local, or community organizations that are recognized for their experience and expertise in fire prevention or safety programs and activities. Both private and public non-profit organizations are eligible to apply for funding in this activity. For-profit organizations are not eligible to receive a FP&S grant award. For more information go to:  http://www.firegrantsupport.com/fps/

--The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has $3 million available for grants to reduce childhood lead poisoning. The maximum grant size is $100,000 and the funding is available to nonprofits, public agencies, Indian tribes and local governments. The deadline is January 12. For more information, visit http://epa.gov/lead/pubs/nofa2006.pdf

--The Pay It Forward Foundation was established to inspire students to realize that they can change the world. Pay It Forward Mini-Grants are designed to fund service-oriented projects that are identified by youth as activities they would like to perform to benefit their school, neighborhood, or greater community. Schools, churches, and community youth groups may apply for mini-grants of up to $500 Applications are reviewed three times per year. The next application deadline is January 15. For more information, visit
http://payitforwardfoundation.org/educators/grant.html

--Applications for the 2007 Rural People, Rural Policy initiative cohort are due January 22, 2007.  For details, including application materials, visit
http://www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?tabid=75&CID=274&NID=61&LanguageID=0 Rural People, Rural policy is a multi-year initiative that is connecting and equipping organizations across the country to become stronger, more organized policy actors for rural America.

--The ConAgra Foods Foundation is accepting grant proposals from nonprofits addressing child hunger, arts and culture, community development and health and human services. The application deadlines are the last working days of January, April, July and October, annually. Visit  www.conagrafoods.com/company/corporate_responsibility/
foundation/community_guidelines.jsp   
 
--USDA Rural Development Rural Business Enterprise Grants (RBEGs) have a deadline for first submissions in Minnesota of Feb. 15th.  The RBEG's purpose is to develop small and emerging private businesses in the rural area. Small is considered less than 50 new employees and less than $1m in projected gross revenues. Public bodies and private non-profits are eligible to apply. The individual business person is not the applicant but could get a loan from the public body such as a city, county or Indian Tribal Government which would be the actual recipient of the grant to create the loan pool.  If you want to create or add to your revolving loan pool, you have to identify the businesses (the ultimate recipients) that will receive the loans and include their business plans. If your application is less than $100,000, it scores higher than those that ask for more.  Besides revolving loan funds, the other purpose of the RBEG is to fund technical assistance (such as business counseling, feasibility studies focusing on business possibilities -- with those specific businesses identified). If a specific business is not identified you may want to consider a Rural Business Opportunity Grant instead. For more information on the program contact the Rural Business staff at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/mn/Offices/stateoffice.htm

MEETINGS

--Local Energy/Local Opportunities will be held January 16 & 17, 2007 in St. Cloud presented by the Minnesota Project and Minnesota's Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs).  Be part of getting renewable energy and energy efficiency projects up and running. Come learn about successful projects and get connected to the ideas, resources, and expertise you need to bring clean energy to your community.  Wind, solar, ethanol, biodiesel, geothermal, efficient cooling, heating and lighting, fuel-efficient cars and more will be covered.  Optional in-depth energy workshops and an evening reception on January 16th followed by the daylong conference on January 17th featuring keynote speakers from the Rocky Mountain Institute and WCCO-TV (Don Shelby).  $32 - $42. Details and registration at http://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/conference-registration.html

-- Marketplace for Entrepreneurs will take place January 17, 2007 at the FargoDome in Fargo, ND. Marketplace offers participants a variety of workshops and exhibits relating to starting a business, entrepreneurship, finding funding, inventions, etc. For more information call Marilyn Kipp at 701/663-0150 or go to http://www.marketplaceforentrepreneurs.org/.  

--Certificate in Volunteer Leadership in Willmar and Worthington.  Earn your Certificate in Volunteer Leadership by completing an 8-topic training series in three days.  Gain a way to demonstrate your expertise and professionalism to employers, peers and the community.

Willmar: Thursday, January 25, Thursday, February 22 & Thursday, March 22, 2007 -10:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.  Training Location:  Bremer Bank, 500 Willmar Avenue SE, Willmar, MN 56201 Second Floor Conference Room. 

Worthington: Wednesday, January 17, Wednesday, February 21 & Wednesday, March 21, 2007
10:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.  Training Location:  Nobles County Courthouse,   315  10th Street, Worthington,  MN 56187 Farmer’s Room

Cost (includes lunch): 
•     All three days. Full Certificate series (8 sessions):  $105 MAVA members*  $159 non-members
•     One day only :  $41 MAVA members, $67 non-members
Limited number of reduced price scholarships available. Contact MAVA at 651-255-0469 or office@MAVAnetwork.org for information

RESOURCES

-- Nearly 100 Minnesota communities have benefited from a Minnesota Design team visit since 1983. Yours can too! The MDT process is a visit to your community by a volunteer team of architects, landscape architects, planners, and other community design professionals. The MDT believes that a community’s future is comprised of the physical, social, environmental and economic values its citizens embrace. The work of the MDT involves translating these values into sustainable design ideas the community can implement. For more information, go to http://www.minnesotadesignteam.org or call Judith Van Dyne at (612) 338-6763 x216 or email at:vandyne@aia-mn.org  

--Designing the Future: Community Strategies is a community assessment process sponsored by the College of Design at the University of Minnesota in partnership with the UMN Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. The purpose is to provide a process for rural communities to identify strengths and unique features by visiting a comparable community. This is accomplished by viewing another community through the eyes of a first time visitor and understanding impressions of visitors to your community.  These insights can help communities evaluate and target ongoing planning and goal setting efforts to serve as the basis for community action.  Selected communities will receive $2000 as start up funding to begin work on the project they design as a result of the assessment.

Proposal must be emailed to or postmarked on or before January 15, 2007 to Sherri Gahring. If you have questions, please contact Sherri Gahring at sgahring@umn.edu or telephone at 612-624-1708.

-- The state of Minnesota released a new budget forecast.  You can see the forecast document and related information at the Minnesota Department of Finance’s website at www.finance.state.mn.us
 
--You can now file with the FCC to get a license for a full power non-commercial radio station. For the first time in almost 20 years the FCC is planning to grant a limited number of licenses in 2007. There are almost no opportunities for new radio frequencies in the top 50 U.S. markets, so Rural America is slated to add more. Stations which preserve cultural heritage, develop youth and community programs, or program in Spanish or other native languages will earn extra points. To find out more and access free advice from an experienced technical assistance agency, go to http://www.prometheusradio.org, or call Sam Gallant at 202-739-9265.

--Poverty rates have historically been greater in nonmetro than metro areas. USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) has studied the potential impact of adjusting the official poverty measure for cost-of-living differences. This adjustment reverses the rankings of metro and nonmetro poverty. So it would have important implications for the geographic and demographic distribution of Federal funding. See the current issue of Amber Waves for this and other reports from the ERS. http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/November06/Features/Adjusting.htm.
--HUD has released the 2005 American Housing Survey. The book contains data on all types of occupied homes as well as vacant housing. It covers the age, sex and race of householders; income; housing and neighborhood quality and costs. It also includes data on mortgages, rent control, rent subsidies and reasons for moving. For more information or to view the report , go to http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/ahs/ahs.html or order a copy from HUD User by calling 800-245-2691.
-- Facts about Rural Transportation
•     Rural roads comprise 80 percent of national road miles (3.1 million rural road miles) and carry 40 percent of vehicle miles traveled.
•     Some 50 percent of rural roads are paved; 90 percent are two-lane or less.
•     City and county governments are responsible for 95 percent of unpaved and 55 percent of paved roads. Approximately 40 percent of county roads are inadequate for current travel.
•     Fatalities on rural roads occur at a rate of 2 ½ times greater than on all other routes. The five states with the largest number of rural, non-Interstate traffic deaths between 1999 and 2003 were: Texas, California, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
•     More than 1.6 million rural U.S. households do not have access to a car. The highest proportion of carless households is in the south, southwest and parts of Alaska.
•     Nationwide, over 90 percent of individuals on public assistance do not have a car.

Sources:
- Federal Highway Administration. “Planning for Transportation in Rural Areas.” http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/rural/planningfortrans/2ourrts.html.
- The Road Information Page (TRIP), “Growing Traffic in Rural America: Safety, Mobility and Economic Challenges in America’s Heartland.” March 2005.
http://www.tripnet.org/RuralRoads2005Report.pdf.
- Economic Research Service, “Rural Transportation at a Glance.” January 2005. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/AIB795/AIB795_lowres.pdf.
--For information on rural EMS and other emergency medical transportation, see the RAC’s Emergency Medical Services information guide at:
http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/ems/.
For more information on coordinating transportation services see:

- Toolkit for Rural Community Coordinated Transportation Services from the Transportation Research Board, which examines strategies and practices used to coordinate rural transportation services, and identifies model processes used for local coordination efforts in rural communities. 
http://www.trb.org/publications/tcrp/tcrp_rpt_101.pdf. .

- Rural Transportation.org offers links to information on workshops for rural community transportation coordination, as well as general information and useful web links for rural transportation planning and development issues. http://www.ruraltransportation.org/

--New Program – Artists Access to Healthcare (AAH).  It’s hard enough to be a starving artist.  It’s even worse if you are an ailing one with no insurance.  According to recent U.S. Census data the U.S. free-market system leaves about 47 million Americans – of all occupations – without health insurance.  Recent state budget cuts also have trimmed many people off the rolls of the state’s low-cost MinnesotaCare plan.  If you are an artist, underinsured and in need of healthcare there is a new program if you have access to transportation.

Two non-profits -- Springboard for the Arts and Neighborhood Involvement Program (NIP) -- are collaborating on a new program called Artists Access to Health Care (AAH) in order to address the problem.  Artists must fill out an application, plus send in an artist’s statement, work samples or résumé and then receive a voucher to access healthcare at the NIP clinic in Minneapolis.  For more information click on http://www.springboardforthearts.org/Services/AAH.asp   AAH is a program of Springboard for the Arts, 308 Prince Street, Suite 270, Saint Paul, MN 55101.  Their phone number is:  651-292-4381.

OPPORTUNITIES

--USDA National Needs Fellowships, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia. 

National Needs Fellowships for Masters Degree in Agricultural Economics with a multidisciplinary specialization in rural community sustainability.   This fellowship is unique in focusing on the sustainability of rural communities. Using a spatial focus, which places the community within an economic network, a social network and an ecosystem, the program combines cutting edge theories and methods with research and community experiences to address sustainability challenges.  Fellows will receive an annual stipend of $18,000 for two years. Two Fellowships are available for studies beginning Fall, 2007, and two Fellowships are available for Fall 2008.

National Needs Fellowships for Doctoral Studies in Agribusiness Management and Sustainable Agriculture. This fellowship is for doctoral studies in agricultural economics with a multidisciplinary curriculum that combines neoclassical, new institutional and organizational economics with training in sustainable agriculture, rural sociology, political ecology, and applied ethics. The purpose is to promote a perspective that balances an economics approach to sustainability with a broader one encompassing concerns for environmental stewardship and social justice. Three Fellowships with an annual stipend of $24,000 are available for Fall 2007 enrollment.

Application Information and Procedures

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or native residents of U.S. territories. Applicants must be committed to rigorous study in agricultural economics and academic standards must be met to maintain eligibility. Fellows will receive tuition waivers, health benefits and some support for travel and other research expenses.  Application forms for admission and information about graduate studies in Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri are available at the website http://dass.missouri.edu/agecon/grad/.  Review of applications will begin immediately for Fall of 2007.  For more information about the Masters Fellowship, contact Judith Stallmann (stallmannj@missouri.edu; 573-882-6455). For more information about the PhD Fellowship, contact Harvey James (hjames@missouri.edu; 573-884-9682).

EDITORS' NOTES: If you have news, announcements, job listings, etc., please send them to jleonard@minnesotaruralpartners.org. We also accept paid advertisements and sponsorships to support the creation of the newsletter. Minnesota Rural Partners is a non-profit organization – we ask you to consider the work we do and if you find value in it, please make an investment to help sustain that work. We receive no state or federal funding. We count on you to help us; please consider making a contribution to help support MRP.

Minnesota Rural Partners is a nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible.

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