August 2005 Volume III, Number 8

Compiled by Deb Miller Slipek, News Finder Extraordinary &
Jane Leonard, MRP President & Editor

IN THIS ISSUE:

- Across the Field: On vacation finally
- Policy
- Funding
- Meetings & Conferences
- Tools & Miscellaneous

ACROSS THE FIELD, by Jane Leonard
ON VACATION, FINALLY

Deb, our great gatherer of funding information and programs, is in Germany and Poland as this goes out, looking for long-lost relatives and trying to keep track of active children. I am soon to be on the beach, reading a mystery and not worrying about cell phone calls and emails. Everyone should take a break in August because that’s when you need a deep sustaining breath before school starts again and before everyone gets busy, busy, busy. Except now everyone is busy ALL THE TIME. So let’s slow down. There’s enough anxiety in the world to go around and maybe if we were ….s t i l l …. for a long moment and just breathe (it’s supposed to be good for you, breathing, that is), we could do better at figuring out how to deal with the constant challenges thrown at us every day.

I want to take this moment to thank again EVERYONE involved in the recent Rural Summit at St. John’s University. Thanks to the sponsors and presenters, and special thanks to our families who helped us and to all the volunteers. This was a lean operation: we depend on volunteers to make the Summit work every year. There’s no big organization behind it -- just a bunch of good-hearted, and small, mostly non-profit organizations these days. We had so many children and youth helping, too, so the next generation is learning on the job what leadership means in serving others, having a great time at it, and making a difference for our great State of Minnesota. Check out the evaluation summary compiled by our friend Rae Montgomery from the UM Extension Service (it’s being posted on www.minnesotaruralpartners.org on the Summit link). Our hard work was worth it, according to a very enthusiastic return of evaluation forms from participants.

After a little down time, Minnesota Rural Partners will be helping convene several other meetings this Fall that may be of interest to you:

In October: the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, the Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota, and MRP will be co-hosting a round of community workshops on “Energizing Entrepreneurship and Hometown Competitiveness,” led by keynote speakers Don Macke and Craig Schroeder of the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship in Lincoln, Nebraska. Dates are October 12 at the Holiday Inn in Willmar – October 13 at Cabela’s in Owatonna – October 18 at the Saw Mill Inn in Grand Rapids – and October 19 at the City Hall in Red Lake Falls. The workshops run from 8:30 to 3:30, cost is $25 to help cover lunch and refreshments.

The workshops will include listening/feedback opportunities for the further development of the Minnesota Entrepreneurial Gateway system. Please help us spread the word and watch for registration info at www.minnesotaruralpartners.org after September 1.

And on November 16 & 17 – the Blandin Foundation will be convening a statewide broadband conference in St. Cloud, the first in 10 years since the 1995 statewide “Grassroots Call to Action: Telecommunications for Rural Minnesota” conference, also held in St. Cloud. Look for more information at the Blandin and MRP websites within the next few weeks.

And being planned – the second annual Digital Junction – Digital Justice Conference on community informatics sometime in November or December and the Freeman Lecture series, on farm and food policy, also slated for December, 2005.

For now, we’re off to enjoy a little time off. Enjoy what’s left of your summer, too!

POLICY

-- Main Street Economist - "Rural America's New Path to Workforce Skills" is now on the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, Center for the Study of Rural America website. In the July issue of The Main Street Economist, Jason Henderson and Stephan Weiler discuss how two-year associate degrees have given many rural workers valuable new sets of skills that set them apart from metro workers. www.kansascityfed.org/RuralCenter/mainstreet/MainStMain.htm

FUNDING

-- COMMUNITY WIND ENERGY REBATES The Minnesota Department of Commerce has just received funding from the Legislative Commission on MN Resources to offer two community wind energy rebates of $200,000 each for installing a utility-scale wind turbine (900 kW or larger) to be installed and operating by June 30, 2007. "Community" is defined as owned entirely by non-taxable entities (combined ownership is possible) such as schools, government, tribes, non-profits, etc. An official notice will be put in the State Register in the next month or so for potential projects to request an official information packet (which is not yet available), with applications due 60 days thereafter, but this is an unofficial notice for those who can take advantage of the funding and wish to prepare their project for the rebate.

The University of Minnesota-Morris and Carleton College were recipients of $150,000 ebates in the previous biennium and both installed 1.65 MW turbines. For more information contact Mike Taylor of the State Energy Office at 651296-6830 or Mike.Taylor@state.mn.us

CONFERENCES & MEETINGS

-- The Fall 2005 Community Development Academy is coming up Sunday, September 18 to Friday, September 23, 2005, at the Mercy Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The Community Development Academy is a series of three courses offered by the University of Missouri Community Development Program focusing on hands-on activities to develop skills needed for effective work in community settings. To find more information, check out http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/commdev/cda/cda.htm.

-- The 2005 Minnesota Counter-Offensive: A Rural Summit of Methamphetamine Intervention, Tuesday, November 1, 2005 at the St. Cloud Civic Center, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The is the first statewide conference on this important issue, co-hosted by the Initiative Foundation and the Hazelden Foundation. To be placed on the conference mailing list, contact Kelly Deter at kdeter@ifound.org before August 25 or email info@ifound.org

MISCELLANEOUS

-- Institute for Technology Development Takes Orton's Community Mapping Program to the Next Level. The Orton Family Foundation announced that the Foundation's award-winning Community Mapping Program moved to the Institute for Technology Development (ITD), a Mississippi-based nonprofit research institute affiliated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Building on the Foundation's work to design and implement this place-based youth education program - newly renamed CMaP - ITD will apply its background in technology and product development to dramatically expand the program's reach to youth and communities across the country.

-- Youth Community Video Program Takes Off with the Rural School and Community Trust. The Orton Family Foundation announced that the Foundation's Youth Community Video program moved to Rural School and Community Trust (RSCT), a national nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the quality of education and community life in rural America. Building on the Foundation's efforts to design and pilot this place-based student leadership program, RSCT will make the Youth Community Video program and high school curriculum nationally available through its expanding network of communities and schools. To learn more about The Orton Family Foundation, visit www.orton.org

-- A new website www.community-wealth.org, partially sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, provides information about the broad range of community wealth strategies, policies, models, and innovations. The site is built upon the proposition that above all, practitioners, policy makers, academics and the media need solid, cross-cutting information and tools that can help them to understand and support the expansion of these institutions.

-- Local Initiatives Support Corporation has released two new technical guides to help nonprofits working to preserve affordable rental housing. Preservation of Affordable Rural Housing: A Practitioners' Guide to the Section 515 Program is intended to describe the RHS 515 program as it exists today, some of the challenges associated with preserving Section 515 properties, and some successful preservation strategies.

Recapitalizing Affordable Rental Housing is intended for nonprofit owners of affordable rental housing who need to recapitalize their properties, or who are contemplating the purchase and rehabilitation of existing affordable rental housing. Topics cover how and why to work with other partners, project-based Section 8 contract renewal issues, issues particular to HUD Section 202 properties, available financial resources, an in-depth discussion of capital needs assessments, and special regulatory issues that can shape a recapitalization strategy.

Either guide can be downloaded electronically from LISC's website at: http://www.lisc.org/preservation, and printed copies can be ordered at publications@lisc.org.

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