Rural Renewal Monitor

Free land the key to small towns' growth?

Casey Francis — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:27:53 +0000

The Des Moines Register | By Mike Kilen, mkilen@dmreg.com | November 15, 2009

Manilla, Ia. — A drive down Manilla's main street looks all too familiar in depopulating rural Iowa: Empty storefronts passed only by the fall's dusty harvest winds.

But this western Iowa town of 800 people, which has lost 20 percent of its population since 1980, hasn't given up hope.

On the east edge of town, a 12-home development is full. Last week, new roads and utilities were completed for a 16-lot development next door.

It happened because home builders got a good price.

Free.

The city offers free land and suspends property taxes for five years for those who build a home in the developments, a throwback to how plains states were homesteaded in the 1800s.

"We gave up attracting business a long time ago. Instead, we will be a bedroom community," said Nyle Gruhn of the Manilla Economic Development Corporation.

With Denison and Carroll a short drive to jobs, the town took a demand-side approach.

"We had to find our little niche, and right now that will be to get people to live here," said Mayor Pat Wuestewald. "Then, hopefully, the retail will follow."

Along 10th and 11th streets, shiny new one-story modular homes are lined up in neat rows in the hopefully named Sunrise neighborhood.

"Too good a deal to pass up," said Dwayne Pittman, a retiree who was the first to get free land in 2002 and moved from Adel. "The cheapest lot we could find in Adel was like $40,000."

It was such an attractive offer that his son built a home next door.

"Once you get a little community established, people think, 'Gosh, I want to be out there,' " he said.

The foundation was poured Thursday on the first home in the new development.

Across the street, retired farmer Dale Bueltel also said he might not be living in town without the free land.

"All that was here were older homes, which would have been cheaper to buy but not after you made all the improvements," he said.

Manilla's seven-year effort began as the free-land idea was taking root in Kansas and Nebraska. Marquette, Kan., offered 80 lots and Kenesaw, Neb., 15.

"The cities will ultimately have the rewards of increased population and that land eventually goes on the tax rolls," said Mark Tomb of the Iowa League of Cities. "Some in Kansas are even based on the number of people in the house. They are really trying to get kids for the local school district."

The "mini-homestead acts" are working, said Kim Preston of the Center For Rural Affairs in Nebraska. But to be successful, jobs must be available within a reasonable driving distance and the city must have money to buy the land.

Few Iowa towns have followed Manilla's example, although the oft-flooded town of Chelsea did offer three free lots in 2002.

And south of Manilla in Marne, Mayor Randy Baxter bought two lots and donated them to launch the free land program in 2006. He figures they are worth $5,000 each.

Marne's total of four lots are part of a long-term goal to increase the population from 149 to 200.

Recent census estimates show Marne's population has dropped to 141, and only one of the lots has been taken.

"It's never going to be a land rush," Baxter said. "But it's a good place to start."

It attracted Kelly Jensen, 22, and her fiance, Aaron Williams, from nearby Atlantic two years ago. Now they live in a small ranch-style home with a wood deck overlooking the sleepy town.

"It would have never crossed my mind to live here," Jensen said. "I love it."

The couple was required to appear before the City Council for approval. Free land doesn't come without promises.

To get the 200-by-150 lot in Manilla, the home can't be a trailer and must be at least 1,400 square feet.

City officials estimate the improved lots with roads and utilities installed are now worth $20,000. The city of Manilla bought the land from a farmer, using money from its city-owned utility company.

Gruhn, of the Manilla Economic Development Corporation, says he thinks the town's population has grown since the 2000 census, but 2008 American Community Survey population estimates show a decline of 31.

And in Tiny's, the small, wood-floor grocery on Main Street, owner John Blom says the free land hasn't done him any good.

"I can't think of a person who lives there that are customers of mine," he said. "They shop in Denison."

But there is hope. Add another 16 homes, and who knows?

"You get up to 900 or 1,000 people and the next thing you know, you might need a little drugstore or hardware store," Gruhn said.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091115/FRONTPAGE/911150342/Fr...?

Can Designers Stamp Out Rural Poverty?

Casey Francis — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:39:50 +0000

FastCompany.com Blog | By Michael Cannell | October 13, 2009

Plans for a national design center to help alleviate rural poverty will be solidified when 60 designers, corporate leaders, foundation heads, and journalists meet next month for the2009 Aspen Design Summit. The event, sponsored by the AIGA and Winterhouse Institute,is a strategy session for the social design movement.

The prospective design center will be based in Hale County, Alabama, one of the poorest areas in the country. The county was chosen because it already hosts a number of similar efforts, including Project M, Teach for America and Rural Studio, a group started by the late Samuel Mockbee to help Auburn students design and build structures for poor communities in Western Alabama, including the Harris House shown above.

The center would serve as a collaborative hub and a laboratory for design ideas that could be used in Alabama or elsewhere, according to William Drenttel, a founder of the Winterhouse Institute and editorial director of Design Observer. "If ever there was a place where synergy might occur, this is it," Drenttel said. "For example, Rural Studio is planting a vegetable garden at its headquarters. HERO (Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization) is planting a vegetable garden on the backside of main street. It wouldn't take a lot to create a food initiative." The center might also collaborate on infrastructure for health and education, house students working on local projects and direct design tourists to local works.

A dozen or so designers, including John Bielenberg (above), founder of Project M, will detach from the main group next month to develop a concept and business model for the center. "We're trying to create a fleshed out strategic outline with enough initial work that we can actually make something happen in 24 months," Drenttel said.

The Aspen summit, which is backed by the Rockefeller Foundation, will also explore ways in which designers might help a UNICEF project to make classrooms safer and more conducive to learning and how designers might aid sustainable alternatives to the U.S. food industry. Participants include Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, Robert Fabricant, vice president of Frog Design, and Allan Chochinov, editor of Core77.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/michael-cannell/cannell/can-designers-st...

First White Spaces Network Brings Broadband Internet to Rural America over Unused TV Broadcast Airwaves

Casey Francis — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:28:55 +0000

Industry Leaders, Including Dell, Microsoft, Spectrum Bridge and the TDF Foundation, Join to Improve Education, Economic Opportunity and Quality of Life for Claudville, Va. Residents

BusinessWire | October 21, 2009

BUSINESS WIRE)--For the first time in the U.S., unused TV broadcast channels freed up by the transition to digital TV are being used to wirelessly deliver high-speed Internet connectivity to business, education and community users. These unused frequencies are commonly referred to as TV white spaces. Under an experimental license granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Spectrum Bridge designed and deployed a wireless TV white spaces network to distribute broadband Internet connectivity in Claudville, Virginia. To ensure that Claudville residents can make the most of this new high-speed connectivity, Dell, Microsoft and the TDF Foundation contributed state-of-the-art computer systems and software applications to the local school, as well as the town’s new computer center. As a result, Claudville residents have already begun to reap the benefits of joining the online community.

“Earlier this year, Jonathan Large, a member of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors, testified before the Subcommittee I chair about the need for broadband service in rural communities like Claudville,” said Congressman Rick Boucher, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. “I am pleased that Spectrum Bridge, Dell, Microsoft and the TDF Foundation are presenting an innovative and promising solution by providing high-speed Internet services to the residents of Claudville through white space technology. I hope that Claudville will become a model for delivering broadband services to more rural communities in a cost-effective manner in the future.”

TV white spaces are vacant channels in the television band and are ideal for sending broadband signals across long distances and for penetrating walls, trees and other objects. These TV white spaces hold enormous potential for expanding broadband access, particularly in rural and other underserved areas.

“Our students and teachers did not have access to computers or broadband connectivity until now,” said Jerry Whitlow, administrator of Trinity Christian School. “The advantages these new technologies bring to our classrooms will be numerous, including expanded research and information resources, greater understanding of important world events and access to new distance learning opportunities.”

The TV white spaces network is providing the “middle mile” link between the wired backhaul and the WiFi hot spot networks deployed in Claudville’s business area as well as the school. The same network is also providing last mile broadband connectivity directly to end users.

Roger Hayden, Director of Claudville Computer Center and Chairman of the Patrick County Broadband Task Force said, “We have been working for many years to help the people of Claudville get high-speed data services that urban areas take for granted. The citizens here are directly benefiting from the digital dividend created by availability of TV white spaces frequencies. Being able to leverage a TV white spaces network that covers Claudville’s residential, business and the surrounding areas is a major step towards meeting this goal.”

Signals delivered over TV white spaces can cover large areas and are unlicensed in keeping with a November 2008 FCC decision, so device-makers and network operators using TV white spaces frequencies take precautions to prevent interference with licensed television broadcasts. To ensure that the use of TV white spaces in Claudville does not cause interference with local TV signals, the network is controlled by Spectrum Bridge’s intelligent TV white spaces database system. This database assigns non-interfering frequencies to white spaces devices, and can adapt in real time to new TV broadcasts, as well as to other protected TV band users operating in the area.

“Due to its availability and range, TV white spaces have proved to be a very cost-effective way to distribute high-speed Internet in this heavily forested and hilly rural community,” said Peter Stanforth, CTO of Spectrum Bridge. “The non-line of sight conditions, coupled with long distances between radios, would have posed significant challenges to existing unlicensed alternatives. TV white spaces could prove to be invaluable to those striving to bring broadband access to underserved and unserved rural communities.”

TV white spaces hold promise for other rural communities in Virginia and throughout the country, as well as underserved areas, such as some inner cities. The rapid adoption of TV white spaces rules will allow industry to respond to government initiatives that seek increased broadband penetration on the state and national levels.

"Thanks to innovative leaders such as Dell, Microsoft, Spectrum Bridge and the TDF Foundation, Virginia students in every corner of the Commonwealth have a chance at a 21st century learning experience," said Governor Timothy M. Kaine. "Broadband access in particular has the potential to dramatically improve quality of life for our citizens while ensuring our students have the tools they need to succeed. My thanks to Congressman Boucher for his continued leadership and commitment to advancing the lives of the citizens of Southwest Virginia.”

To discover what white spaces channels are available in your area, the Web site ShowMyWhiteSpace.com offers a free search tool that lists all open white spaces channels at any address in the U.S. This site also contains white spaces news and information, as well as links to FCC documents and other valuable white spaces resources.

About Spectrum Bridge Inc.

Spectrum Bridge is making wireless spectrum more available, accessible and productive for everyone as part of its Universal Spectrum Access solutions. Named to Fierce Wireless’ Fierce 15 as one of “the most innovative and smart emerging companies in the wireless industry,” the company is privately held and headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida. For more information, contact us at (866) 598-7426 or visit SpectrumBridge.com.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they need and value. For more information, visitwww.dell.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About TDF

TDF is a Washington DC-based venture capital fund dedicated to building industry-leading companies that solve important problems in the Communications sector. TDF established the TDF Foundation to focus on bringing broadband access and computing technology to low-income and unserved communities where it will have a meaningful impact and where results are measurable.

Contacts

Fusion PR
Bennie Sham, 212-651-4219
bennie.sham@fusionpr.com

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091021005394/en

Suddenly, America digs farming

Casey Francis — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:06:39 +0000

The Huffington Post's 'hot organic farmers' and the Internet social game FarmVille may be signs of a growing interest in growing things.

Los Angeles Times - Opinion Section | By Meghan Daum | October 29, 2009

Farming, which many city folk once associated primarily with children's books and distinctive if not entirely flattering tan lines, is suddenly in vogue. Never mind that most of the food we eat comes not from cozy acreages reminiscent of the setting of "Charlotte's Web" but from big corporate operations. Never mind that census data tell us that fewer than half of family-run farms show a positive net income (in other words, most farmers need day jobs). Even though farming no longer quite makes it as "a way of life," it's somehow become the next best thing (or maybe an even better thing): a lifestyle.

Perhaps it started with last year's reality dating show, " Farmer Wants a Wife," which spent eight weeks assaulting viewers with footage of low-rent Carrie Bradshaws chasing chickens in an attempt to win the heart of an improbably chiseled Missouri farmer. That show didn't exactly achieve "Bachelor"-level ratings, but a few weeks ago, when the Huffington Post featured a photo gallery of "hot organic farmers," the response was so overwhelming that it did yet another spread. From a pallid hipster growing organic vegetables on a Brooklyn rooftop to a strapping Californian whose specialty lettuce crops are bathed in golden sunlight, the photos suggest that running a farm -- at least the kind that appears far removed from pesticides, corporate contracts and furtive meth-cooking in abandoned barns -- is very similar to modeling for the Sundance catalog.

"We think organic farmers are rock stars and heroes," the site says. "And nothing is sexier than someone who likes to get dirty and supports the great food revolution."

Readers are encouraged to vote on their favorite farmer. The front-runner as of this writing: a sweet-looking young Vermont woman leaning over a produce-filled truck bed in very short shorts and a tank top that might reveal more of her anatomy than she perhaps intended. Forget rock star: Farmers are so hot they could date rock stars.

But no reality show or Internet photo gallery can compare with the most unexpected Internet craze in recent memory: FarmVille. Launched on Facebook last June by the video-game developer Zynga, the social game now has nearly 60 million users, making it the most popular game on Facebook and, according to Zynga, the fastest-growing social game of all time.

Internet social games are well known to be habit-forming, but a recent spate of news coverage has suggested that FarmVille is roughly as enslaving as heroin. Users report missing work, abandoning friends and setting their alarms to wake up several times during the night so they can make the moves necessary to advance in the game.

And what particular thrills do those moves generate? Harvesting crops, of course! And buying seed and livestock and trees and buildings with virtual coins (extra coins can be purchased with real-life credit cards). And helping neighboring farmers with chores. And getting really excited because a cow wandered onto your farm. Is your blood racing yet?

After creating an avatar, a player is given six plots of land and the opportunity to cultivate various food products, some of which grow in a matter of hours and will wilt if not harvested on time (thus the need to get up in the middle of the night). Roaming animals such as a pink cow that produces strawberry milk and an ugly duckling that turns into a swan can be adopted and cultivated for profit (in a loving, free-range sort of way). Ribbons are awarded for such achievements as adding neighbors to your farm, putting decorations up on your farm and fertilizing your neighbors' crops. You know, just like in real farming.

There is, to put it mildly, a curious dichotomy in the fact that tens of millions of people are losing sleep over virtual crop rotation while the refrain about Americans' growing waistlines and junky diet grows louder by the day.

Are we to infer from the FarmVille phenomenon that people are finally switching their allegiances from Swiss rolls by Little Debbie to Swiss chard by Mother Earth? Or does FarmVille simply represent a subculture of Internet-savvy hipsters who, like the agri-hotties on the Huffington Post, say less about what is actually happening than about what some people think is cool at this particular moment?

Michelle Obama's organic garden may generate photo-ops, and in L.A., community gardening and gleaners harvesting your fallen apricots may be all the rage, but it's hard to imagine that an organic vegetable patch in every yard will become the Obama administration's version of "a chicken in every pot." (By the way, Herbert Hoover never actually used that slogan. It was drummed up by advertisers to sell the idea of prosperity.)

As refreshing as it is to see farmers glamorized in the media instead of, say, strippers, it's worth asking if games like FarmVille bode well for the future of the American diet or inadvertently contribute to its demise. After all, nothing goes better with Internet games than prepackaged food that doesn't require stepping away from the computer. Meanwhile, a whole generation just might grow up believing that strawberry milk comes from pink cows. Hey, maybe agribusiness should start working on that.

mdaum@latimescolumnists.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum29-2009oct29,0,2987190.column

Rural Amenities from the ERS/USDA Briefing Room

Casey Francis — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:53:57 +0000

From the USDA's Economic Research Service Briefing Room

Overview

The rural outdoors has become a major asset for rural communities—and a key advantage that some rural areas have over urban areas. The rural outdoors can be enhanced through the construction of recreation facilities, but undeveloped rural landscapes have appeal on their own, both for recreation and as attractive places to live. This briefing room looks at the appeal of rural landscapes, the importance of forest landscape preferences, and the role of scenic amenities across the rural-urban continuum.

Vist the site below for the full briefing:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/RuralAmenities/

Subpar Broadband Stifling Small Businesses?

Casey Francis — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:39:05 +0000

The FCC estimates that it could cost more than $350 billion to wire the U.S. with high-speed Internet access.

Inc.com | Article By Josh Sprio, Photo by iStock | October 22, 2009

From e-commerce and video conferencing to multimedia, businesses depend heavily on fast broadband connections to run their day-to-day operations. But many areas of the country, particularly rural and remote locations, still have insufficient speeds for these kinds of bandwidth-hogging transactions.

An Federal Communications Commission task force is considering an attempt to standardize broadband speeds of anywhere from 768Kbps to 100Mbps for the entire nation. However, many believe that 768bps will not be fast enough, while 100Mbps may be too expensive to implement. The estimated costs of these plans range from $20 billion to $350 billion.

"Both [speeds] are wrong, the real answer is in between," says Devon Koch, the owner of Foresthill, California-based wireless-broadband provider Exwire. "Let's choose a speed that's reasonable and that takes care of today's and tomorrow's needs, and can be done in a reasonable time frame."

Koch believes that the lower end of the broadband spectrum would leave customers unsatisfied and the higher end would make it unrealistic to expand the coverage as broadly as the FCC seems to want to.

But for some companies, faster is better. "The faster it gets, the better it is for our industry, says Mike Feuer, chief business officer of Mindsmack, a New York-based media design firm that produces video for the web.

Feuer believes there may be a solution for the FCC: "If they could come up with a new compression technique that would get more [data] through the wormhole," he says, "then we'd be able to get the kind of quality that we want."

Start-ups have a vested interest in getting the more rural areas of the country fully wired because areas away from urban centers are the cheapest places to start a business. "If you're a start-up, why would you incur the gigantic capital cost of renting space in a city," says Elliot Gold, president and teleconferencing analyst at TeleSpan Publishing, an Altadena, California-based publishing and consulting company, "when your customers are anywhere at the end of a wire."

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2009/10/broadband.html

HHS Secretary pushes health care reform for rural America

Casey Francis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:43:08 +0000

Legislation would make insurance and providers more accessible

The Salt Lake Tribune | By Christopher Smart | October 28, 2009

The health-care crisis in this country is felt nowhere more than in rural America, where a lack of providers and affordable insurance coverage leaves many without needed treatment or in a financial bind.

For example, one in five farmers in the United States is in "medical debt," according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled the new report, "More Choices, Better Coverage: Health Insurance Reform and Rural America," in a conference call with journalists Tuesday, and said health-care reform legislation now making its way through Congress would provide more choices and affordable care to 50 million Americans who live in rural areas.

It also would provide incentives to attract doctors and nurses to the countryside locales.

Many rural residents are self-employed, work for small businesses, or are part-time or seasonal, according to the Obama administration report, and that leaves them far less likely to have employer-sponsored health care benefits. Beyond that, rural residents have higher rates of chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

"All too often, the American health insurance system provides limited coverage and leaves rural Americans particularly vulnerable to falling through the cracks," the report says.

But Sebelius said reform legislation would alleviate that. "People without health care coverage will be able to get it," she said. "Those with pre-existing conditions could not be denied coverage."

Among other things, Sebelius said the legislation would create a health insurance exchange to broaden competition for families to compare health plans and determine which one is most suitable and affordable. A public option could be part of that scenario.

In addition, reforms would limit what insurance companies could charge in co-pays and other out-of-pocket expenses, she said.

Also, the Health and Human Services secretary said proposed legislation would provide a sliding scale tax credit to help small businesses in rural areas to provide benefits for workers.

Among the health care challenges in rural areas is that there are only 36 primary-care physicians for every 10,000 people, according to the report. Urban areas have about twice that number.

But Sebelius said reform legislation would invest in the National Health Service Corps, which would fund grants, scholarships and loan repayments for doctors, nurses, dentists and mental health specialists who locate in rural areas.

"The biggest winners of health care reform will be rural Americans," Sebelius said.

csmart@sltrib.com

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13654293

Melstone drug, hardware store hopes to survive with help from the community

Casey Francis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:11:31 +0000

The Billings Gazette | By Lorna Thackeray | October 19, 2009
Photo by Larry Mayyer

MELSTONE - On a miserably cold October morning, Barney Richter dropped by Lazy JC Drug and Hardware here looking for an onion and a carton of milk.

"Got to get the chili going," one of the town's newest homeowners said with a smile as he headed toward coolers in the grocery section.

Proprietor Anne Coles greeted him by name from in front of the mirrored back bar that has graced the rambling brick building since it opened as a drugstore in 1912.

"How's Barney today?" she asks as employees bustle through, restocking shelves with a truckload of supplies that arrived the night before.

Richter, a heavy-equipment operator who lives most of the year in a town 20 miles south of Sacramento, Calif., bought a house and three lots in Melstone in 2007 and is fixing up the property.

When he's in town, Richter said, he's in the store at least once a day for groceries or supplies. On a freezing night last week, he bought two heaters. The next day he was back for pipe and other plumbing supplies needed to fix a broken water system.

"It's a great little store," he said. "This store has everything."

The Lazy JC and Melstone remind him of what his small California town was like 40 years ago.

"This is how I grew up," he said.

The store is one of the last businesses in the town of about 140 on the northeast edge of Musselshell County, and it is far and away Melstone's oldest business. It opened its doors just four years after the town was founded as a stop for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1908. The year its walls went up, the entire business district of the once-thriving railroad town burned to the ground. City fathers decided that all new commercial buildings would be constructed of brick, Coles said.

Everyone who has lived or visited Melstone since has some memory of the store, which boasted the town's first - and for a time - only telephone. The original phone booth still stands in a back corner.

Adele Field, a freelance writer who returned to her family roots from Los Angeles two years ago, remembers sipping soft drinks at the old soda fountain when she visited Melstone as a child. "You could come in and get cherry Cokes and chocolate Cokes for a nickel," she said.

The marble face of the soda fountain, now cracked, still holds a place of honor in the store, though soft drinks are no longer dispensed.

Field works one day a week at the Lazy JC.

"My joy is working here," she said. "It's wonderful to be out among people. It's my lifeline to work here on Saturdays. This is our social-networking site."

Everyone from the early-morning kaffeeklatsch to the ranchers and hunters who rely on the Lazy JC for almost every foreseeable need, value the store that has been part of the community for generations. About 100 of them drop in on an average day looking for one thing or another.

Locals began to worry about what would happen to the community lifeline if Coles decided to retire. Coles, 60, has had the store for sale on and off, but has had little response. Her husband died of heart disease in 1996, and the last of her six children graduated from Melstone High School in 2000. None of the children or her 10 grandchildren lives in town now.

Keeping the business

During the last three years, area residents have come up with a plan to transform the store into a cooperative and keep it operating once Coles steps aside.

Almost a third of the populace was involved in a project beginning in 2006 to define community needs and goals. Small grants from the Northwest Area Foundation helped groups working with the Montana State University Extension come up with ideas.

A proposal by Becky Jennaway was one of the first to gain traction. She suggested that the community form a cooperative to buy and operate the Lazy JC. With the help of the Montana Cooperative Development Center in Great Falls, a steering committee recently finished the paperwork necessary to get the co-op rolling.

Nine hundred letters went out earlier this month to current and former area residents advising them of the attempt to buy the store. Those who live in-state were offered the chance to purchase common stock for $250 a share or preferred shares for $2,500. By law, they can't ask people who live out of state to purchase shares, but nonresidents can buy them, Field said. Field is a member of the steering committee.

The committee estimates that it will need to raise $500,000 to buy the store and its inventory and keep it operating for three years. Under the business plan, Coles would remain manager of the store until she retires and a new manager is trained.

Holders of common stock would have a vote in how the store is run. Field said the Lazy JC would not become a members-only store, but shareholders may be entitled to special sales. As an incentive, the Lazy JC Cooperative is exploring buying some items in bulk so that its members can take advantage of the savings. With the letter informing residents about the stock sale, the co-op included an offer to participate in a bulk purchase of fencing supplies.

Coles is excited about community commitment to keeping the store open after she is gone, but admits it will be wrenching when the time comes to turn over the reins - not that she has any intention of doing that anytime soon.

"Other than my knees that hurt a lot, I'm in good health," she said. "I have my home here and I'm going to stay as long as I can still do the work. I enjoy what I'm doing. I just want to make sure that if I can no longer do it that there will be someone here to keep it going."

Coles works at least 80 hours a week and has one full-time and five part-time employees. Store hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. six days a week, and from 6:30 to 10 a.m. on Sundays. On Sundays, she's often in Billings picking up supplies and visiting grandchildren.

After 24 years with only a few days off at a time, Coles said she wouldn't mind a little more time to spend with grandchildren in Great Falls and Billings. She'd also like to see a brother in Finland.

Business bounces back

Coles may love what she's doing, but putting the store back on its feet was a hard slog for the whole family. Coles, her husband, Ben, and their six children - the youngest just 3 years old - moved to Melstone in October 1985, when Ben's job at the elevator in Molt ended. They saw an advertisement for the store and decided to make the investment.

"When we took over 24 years ago, it was ready to close its doors," Coles said. "We had no idea how bad it was."

Hardware supplies hadn't been replenished in 10 months and about the only sales were of pop and cigarettes. Discouraged customers had learned to shop elsewhere.

"Building the business back up was a long, slow process," she said. "It took years to get some of them back."

They started by restocking three rooms set aside for hardware. A truck arrives once a week with new supplies. Then three times a year, the Coles sent out a sales catalog to help draw people back to the Lazy JC.

"We really worked on the hardware side," Coles said. "That's the really important part for people around here. When they get into a project, sometimes they come in several times a day to get something they need. It saves them a lot of money in traveling back and forth."

Having everything in stock - fencing, plumbing, electrical, painting and building supplies - became a point of pride.

"My husband and I always hated it when we didn't have a part someone asked for," she said.

Make room for food

At first, the Coles didn't carry much food, but when the grocery store closed in the early 1990s, they tore down a wall and made room for more staples. Now customers don't have to drive long distances to buy eggs, milk and bread.

The huge store also carries hunting supplies, including warm socks and clothing. Racks of wildlife T-shirts and other Melstone souvenirs are on display. Customers also can find school and office supplies, over-the-counter drugs, shampoo and toothpaste, cleaning supplies, toys and small appliances.

Locals can come in for last-minute birthday presents and wedding gifts and can choose from a table filled with Halloween decorations. There are greeting cards for every occasion, as well as supplies to wrap or bag a gift.

Overshoes can be found in the back, and employee Vickie Stensvad will cut customers a piece of glass or mend a broken screen. Gardening and automotive supplies are available, as are rope and chain and animal feed. The broad variety was especially appreciated by customers for miles around when the hardware store in Roundup closed for two years, Coles said.

For all its isolation, Melstone is a crossroads for this sparsely populated Eastern Montana landscape, she said. Forsyth is 67 miles away, and it's 35 miles to Roundup. Custer is a 45-mile drive and Mosby is nearly that far away.

"We draw from all of that," Coles said.

There are new signs of life within the picturesque Musselshell River valley. A few new households have moved into Melstone, and dozens of potential customers are buying 160-acre tracts in nearby subdivisions, Coles said.

And when new residents need a roll of duct tape or a box of nails, the Lazy JC will be there.

"This store is just such of a vital part of the community, we want to see it continued," Field said.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_9...

Facebook draws a growing crop of farmers

Casey Francis — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:55:11 +0000

Many in the ag industry are using Twitter
and blogs to communicate, educate.

Fresnobee.com, The Fresno Bee | Article by Robert Rodriguez, Photo by Mark Crosse | October 11, 2009

With a hand-held video camera, a computer and 800 cows, Barbara Martin of Lemoore is letting the world into her life as a dairy operator.

No, it's not a new reality television show. And Martin isn't craving her 15 minutes of fame.

But she is joining a growing number of farmers and others in agriculture who are using social media tools to communicate with each other, send out information and educate the public about agriculture.

Dairy operators have become especially skilled at launching Facebook pages, blog posting and using Twitter, a microblogging site.

Martin uses all three to tell the public about the family's 800-cow dairy. She launched her blog, "A Dairy Goddess's Blog," in late August.

When Barbara Martin shoots a video for her blog where she is known as Dairy Goddess, she just goes out and finds her favorite cow, Chica, holds the camera and narrates what is on her mind. She uses social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook to connect with dairy people across the U.S.

For Martin, using social media and blogging is a way to dispel some myths about farmers and encourage a greater understanding of the slumping dairy industry.

She's blogged about everything from fixing the pricing structure for milk to sharing her childhood memories about growing up on a farm. Her most recent post is a video diary about her heifer Chica.

Martin and other dairy operators say their critics such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have used the Internet's power to portray them as cruel, greedy and corporate.

PETA has posted videos on its Web site showing animals being neglected on a Pennsylvania dairy.

"I want people to know about the people and families who run dairies in this country," said Martin, a third-generation dairy operator. "This is not a factory farm. We are a family who cares about their animals, and I want to show that."

Cindy Zimmerman, who co-owns a Missouri-based new media company with her husband, Chuck, said much of what's driving farmers to use Twitter, Facebook and even YouTube is the desire to raise the public's awareness about agriculture.

She said many consumers still don't understand the role farming plays in the economy and the challenges farmers face, including weather, pests and low prices.

"These new tools have become a way for the individual farmer to get their story out to the public," Zimmerman said. "And for some, this has become a way to connect with people that they never would have been able to do before."

Although it may be too early to tell whether Twittering farmers are changing public opinion, the effort to use social media shows no signs of slowing.

Among those who use social media is motivational speaker and new-media adviser Michele Payn-Knoper.

More than 2,000 people follow her posts on Twitter.

Payn-Knoper of Indiana hosts a session on Twitter called AgChat every Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m., and she averages 100 to 200 participants. She's had as many as 500 people participating.

"Social media has become such an incredible information platform for farmers and agriculture," Payn-Knoper said. "And many are seizing that opportunity."

Payn-Knoper said more dairy operators are joining Twitter and Facebook largely because the industry has sponsored seminars on the topic. Other agricultural industries have been slower to latch onto the new technology.

Bob McKellar of Ivanhoe is a newcomer to Twitter. McKellar's Family Farm Fresh uses the site to promote its community-supported agriculture operation.

The farm delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to people who sign up and subscribe. Its Twitter site updates customers with the latest offerings or asks people whether they prefer plums soft or crunchy.

McKellar, a farmer for more than 30 years, admits he doesn't know how to use Twitter, but he fully understands its potential. One of his employees does the Twitter posts.

"I have a computer and a cell phone, and to be honest with you I know very little about either one of them," McKellar said. "But what I do know is that these new ways can help reach people like we haven't been able to do before."

University of California cooperative extension specialist Matthew Fidelibus uses Twitter and Facebook to share his research on grapes with farmers.

State budget cuts have made it tougher for some UC farm advisers to reach growers through field meetings or personal visits to farms. To reach more farmers, Fidelibus has posted Twitter updates on how to deal with a recurring problem of powdery mildew, a fungal disease common among vineyards.

And while Fidelibus has become a regular on Twitter, his raisin farmer clients haven't quite caught up.

"The demographic of the raisin farmers we deal with is skewed more toward older growers, so we are not sure if they use this sort of technology or not," Fidelibus said. "But if we can dispel some of the myths about using Facebook and Twitter, then the potential to reach people could be huge."

The reporter can be reached at brodriguez@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6327.

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1670850.html

Rural Restaurants Serve Online Appetizers

Casey Francis — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:57:48 +0000

Small town restaurants are finding that social media sites spur customers to the door.

DailyYonder.com | By Pamela Price | October 2, 2009
Fast Food Maven/Daily Yonder Rural restaurants are luring diners with online gift certificates and twittered tips about daily specials. Lori Sears-Martinez is amused that her coworkers have labeled her “The Mad Twitterer.” The marketing manager of the Scenic Loop Cafe in Leon Springs, Texas, joined the popular social media web site Twitter only a few months ago, and she already has a respectable following of a few hundred people.

“When I started, I realized that many restaurants weren’t using Twitter yet," said Sears-Martinez, "but I kept hearing about it, even on the radio. So I told Christy [Knight, the restaurant’s owner] that if I can figure this thing out, then I might be able to make it work for us in a big way.” Sears-Martinez uses her Twitter account to post information about the cafe's specials and give away gift certificates. Her notes, called “tweets,” consist of short messages no longer than 140 characters. She deems it, “a form of word-of-mouth marketing that you just can’t pay enough for.”

For now, Twitter.com is a free service—and that enhances its appeal, especially for businesses with tight marketing budgets in rural or semi-rural communities. It helps, of course, to be situated in a region where social media is both popular and accessible.

Sears-Martinez says, “As a business right now, in this economy, we’re really watching our money, so we’re looking for places to connect with our customers and get results fast.” She notes, “We’re seeing an increase in our dining numbers, and I think there’s a tie between that and our being on Twitter.”

Situated in the hills northwest of San Antonio, on an historic stage-run-turned-roadway, the Scenic Loop Cafe is a true “destination” restaurant, so reaching the restaurant’s target market—professionals and families—involves extra effort and a dash of creativity. After all, with the exception of ranchers and folks inhabiting the smattering of shiny, upscale new subdivisions that now encroach on the surrounding ranch land, few people are going to stumble past Scenic Loop Café heading out to lunch or home from soccer practice.

Pamela Price Lori Sears-Martinez taps new customers to the door of the Scenic Loop Cafe in Leon Springs, Texas, using the social media website Twitter. “People are looking for authentic, locally owned restaurants," says Sears-Martinzez. "Chains have their place, but we’re special." The cafe has been open at this spot for eight years. "It was ‘we’ll build and they’ll come.’ They did, but I looked at Twitter as a way to get our buzz back. And it worked,” she says. Sears-Martinez "follows" about 500 Twitter users (meaning, she receives an automated stream of 500 people's latest messages).

“We use it as a filter," Sears-Martinez explains. "Before I follow someone with the account, I look at user profiles and only follow locals. I don’t follow people that don’t have bios. I don’t want to hear about someone’s partying. That’s why I said ‘no’ to MySpace.com. We’re not after teens.”

Up the road apiece in Boerne, Texas, Shawn Bonner spent much of the summer tweeting on behalf of the original Hungry Horse Restaurant. Though in contrast with Scenic Loop Café, the Hungry Horse is located near the small town’s busy center, Bonner regards Twitter as “ a great complement to our traditional advertising efforts.”

Today a sign near the homey restaurant’s front door encourages customers to find and follow the Twitter account. Bonner personally discovered the site’s marketing potential at a lunch meeting of Boerne's Chamber of Commerce. “I’d heard about it, and when I learned more about it, knew we could try it.” Bonner launched the Hungry Horse’s account in June.

Pamela Price Shawn Bonner, pictured on left, twitters for the Hungry Horse Restaurant in Boerne, Texas, and has made a believer of owner Steve Artale. The restaurant’s owner, Steve Artale, supports Bonner’s efforts. “Shawn ate a salmon burger, liked it, and had a little dialogue about it on Twitter,” says Artale. “We saw more people come through that day. Then we had someone say ‘I saw that tweet about the salmon burger and tried it. It’s good.’ I don’t use [Twitter] myself," Artale admits. "I like my phone. But I’ve been surprised that it really does reach people in their mid-20s to mid-40s. It seems to work.”

Experts think that restaurateurs may be at an advantage over other businesses when it comes to attracting followers via social media.

“With restaurants, people on Twitter know whom they might want to seek out and follow,” says Colleen Pence, owner of San Antonio-based Social Media Mentoring. Over the last several months Pence has collaborated with Texas Creative to assist several restaurants eager to test Twitter. “I encourage my clients to use their tweets not just to broadcast information but to also have conversations with their followers, to connect. It’s about relationship building, listening and engaging.”

Pamela Price Social media experts are advising restaurants to to spread the word about their Twitter sites through direct mail ads. Here the Hungry Horse posts a reminder inside the restaurant itself. Pence encourages clients to put their Twitter account information on traditional advertising materials, including direct mail. “I have a couple of restaurants that I’m working with who are thinking about putting it on their checks,” she says.

A certain amount of trial and error seems to be part of the social media marketing process. For instance, Pence is puzzling through why followers of an upscale restaurant responded strongest to a special Twitter-based offer made for free soup over one for sparkling Champagne. Meanwhile, Bonner is trying to figure out how to send tweets with her iPhone and inject additional personality; and Sears-Martinez has experimented with capitalizing upon her office’s proximity to the heart of the restaurant.

“This morning, I walked into the kitchen on my way to office. The cook was chopping red onions, and I teared up. So I tweeted about it,” said Sears-Martinez with a laugh. “Without a doubt, things here are made fresh!”

http://www.dailyyonder.com/rural-restaurants-serve-online-appetizers/200...

America's Coolest Small Towns

Casey Francis — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:50:01 +0000

Our Bookshop, Saugerties, N.Y. Brad DeCecco/braddececco.com

Every now and then, you stumble upon a town that's gotten everything right—great coffee, food with character, shop owners with purpose. These 10 spots have it all, in perfectly small doses.

By Yahoo Travel, various contributors

Cayucos, Calif.
(pop. 3,000)
serious waves and serious food

About halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Cayucos is everything you want in a mellow beach town — an anomaly on the increasingly built-up coast. While the vibe is decidedly relaxed, two things get residents fired up: serious waves and serious food. Surfer Wade Rumble bridges both worlds as owner of Rogue Wave Cafe, where most mornings, after drying off his board, he sells fair-trade, organic coffee beans. Just off Highway 1, Cayucos requires a dedicated detour, which has helped it remain untouched. "We have beautiful beaches and beautiful people," says Christa Hozie, who runs Brown Butter Cookie Company with her sister Traci Nickson; the duo make super-addictive sea-salt-topped cookies. "I came to visit three years ago and thought it was such a magical place," explains Hozie. Grace Lorenzen had a similar reaction. She moved back to the Central Coast from Seattle in 2002 and now manages the five-room Cass House Inn (from $165). The restored 1860s Victorian has a fitting soundtrack for the coastal town: the lulling surf. — Mario López-Cordero

Lexington, Virg.
(pop. 6,867)
right out of a Norman Rockwell

Locals often describe this 19th-century hamlet between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains as "right out of a Norman Rockwell painting." Lexington, about 50 miles north of Roanoke, is the kind of place where people are invested in making sure history is paid real respect. Take Hull's Drive-In Theatre: When the 1950s institution was in danger of closing in 1999, a group of 50 — dubbed the Hull's Angels — banded together to save it; they succeeded after raising an initial $10,000 selling popcorn. Meanwhile, family-owned B&Bs like the 1868 Magnolia House Inn dot Main Street (from $139). "It's like a movie set," says resident Siobhan Lomax. While history has a hold, modernity has entered in just the right way, in part thanks to Lomax, whose two clothing boutiques, P.S. Pumpkinseeds, and George and Bob, stock labels such as Trina Turk and Penguin. At the year-old Red Hen, chef Tucker Yoder, who trained at the New England Culinary Institute, creates dishes like pork belly with garlic scapes. The sense of community has proven fertile ground for his business — and family. "I have three kids, and I don't have to worry about them riding their bikes down the street," says Yoder. Norman Rockwell indeed. — Mario López-Cordero

Breaux Bridge, La.
(pop. 8,200)
big crawfish in a small pond

In the world's crawfish capital, an hour southwest of Baton Rouge, days revolve around Cajun meals and music. Locals two-step to upbeat zydeco tunes at places like Café Des Amis, a brick-walled space that's famous for its crawfish étouffée and where the dining room doubles as a dance floor. The music is what drew long-time New Orleans resident Ellen Wicker back to the area from Maryland five years ago. "I was out dancing, and I met a guy who knew of a B&B that was for sale," Wicker recalls. She picked up the converted 1860s French Creole-style house and opened Maison Des Amis, a B&B with a half-acre of landscaped gardens and a gazebo looking out on the bayou in the back (from $100). "Locals in Breaux Bridge are just friendly and generous," she says. "Right after the hurricane, families took in people they didn't know from Adam and put them up." While his New Orleans shop was being reconstructed after Katrina hit, decorator Patrick Dunne opened satellite locations of his culinary antiques store Lucullus in Breaux Bridge, upon a friend's recommendation. Now Dunne and his French bulldog, Clovis ("He's very much into zydeco"), split their time between city and country. Says Dunne: "It's fun being a big crawfish in a small pond." — Maria Ricapito

Tubac, Ariz.
(pop. 1,900)
galleries are framed by mountain views

Over the years, everyone from Spanish missionaries to maverick cowboys has called this high-desert town — 40 minutes south of Tucson — home. These days, you're most likely to find artists roaming the streets of Tubac, where dozens of galleries are framed by rugged-mountain views. "Not only is there no traffic, there's no traffic lights," says Dennis Rowden, who runs Spanish-meets-Western housewares store Pancho's with his interior decorator wife, Lorraine. While the Western charm is obvious, Tubac's sophistication is a subtler surprise. "People underestimate us," says jeweler Martita Foss, who moved to Tubac last year from southern California to work at the Tubac Center of the Arts, a 4,000-square-foot space for concerts, lectures, and gallery shows. "They may say, 'Oh, it's just an old historic town,' but we're really pretty hip." Foss discovered Tubac on a road trip with friends. "The light is amazing, and the sunsets are phenomenal," she says. The long wooden porch at the five-room Tubac Country Inn is the perfect place to see the orange-and-red-streaked sky at sundown as it casts its shadow on the area's cacti. Notes Foss: "It's not hard to see why painters and photographers have been drawn here." — Keith Mulvihill

Wallace, Idaho
(pop. 1,000)
a place that mines its own history

Preservation and industriousness are key in Wallace, a former mining town about 40 miles east of Coeur d'Alene in northwest Idaho, where every single building is on the National Register of Historic Places. Bicyclists setting off on the roughly 87 miles of area trails fuel up on huckleberry shakes at Red Light Garage, a café decorated with vintage musical instruments. The café is run by musician turned contractor Jamie Baker and his wife, Barbara, who have made a second career out of restoring Wallace's 100-year-old buildings. Their latest, Hercules Inn, opened to visitors this summer, and each of the four units has a kitchen (from $75). "Some folks would call this retirement," says Chase Sanborn, who ran a snowboarding-apparel company before opening Wallace Brewing Company, where you'll find him filling kegs seven days a week. — Jason Cohen

Saugerties, N.Y.
(pop. 5,000)
shop owners extend the welcome mat

Don't be surprised if you're invited into someone's house the minute you set foot in Saugerties, 100 miles up the Hudson River from New York City. Richard Frisbie operates Hope Farm Press & Bookshop out of his converted living room. "We're the book capital of the Hudson Valley," says Frisbie, who often shares anecdotes from some of his 3,500 books, which focus on the region. It's not uncommon for other shop owners to extend the welcome mat, too. In their two-story 1826 building, chef-owners Marc Propper and Michelle Silver serve homemade brown-sugar ice cream at long, wooden farm tables downstairs at Miss Lucy's Kitchen; upstairs they rent out two warmly inviting apartments, each with a kitchenette. Saugerties can feel so much like home for weekenders that some have made it official. On a mushroom-foraging trip in the Hudson Valley, friends Mark Grusell and Juan Romero decided to plant themselves for good and opened Love Bites Cafe, a cozy, 16-seat café with an open kitchen that serves dishes like coconut-carrot French toast with vanilla-citrus butter. — Thisbe Nissen

Mount Vernon, Iowa
(pop. 4,671)
art isn't confined to gallery walls

In Mount Vernon, about a 20-minute drive east of Cedar Rapids, art isn't confined to gallery walls. As you're driving in on Highway 30, a local artist's rendition of Grant Wood's American Gothic, splashed on the side of a barn, immediately sets the town's tone. And at an annual sidewalk-chalk festival, which takes place each May, hundreds of people put their stamp on more than 4,000 square feet of the main drag. "There's a certain amount of culture here that's not as unapproachable as in a larger city," says Matt Steigerwald, a chef from North Carolina who runs Lincoln Cafe, where dishes like the Carolina pork BBQ sandwich draw diners from all over the state. The unofficial clubhouse for Mount Vernon's creative types is Fuel, a 4-year-old coffee shop that doubles as an antiques store. Some of the shop's sofas, tables, and lamps are for sale, along with everything from ceramic tiles to handmade greeting cards. — Thisbe Nissen

Jacksonville, Ore.
(pop. 2,750)
a refuge from the tourist whirl of napa

Just across the border from California and 4½ hours south of Portland, this old gold-rush town is getting its second wind from liquid gold. With 17 wineries in the surrounding Applegate Valley, and a climate that's ripe for growing multiple types of grapes, Jacksonville is a refuge from the tourist whirl of Napa. Herb Quady is among the residents integral to the burgeoning scene. Quady, whose father, Andrew, produces dessert wines at Quady Winery in Madera, Calif., opened the Quady North tasting room in April. "There isn't anyplace in California that's nearly as cute," Quady explains of his move. "We're all about the bucolic southern Oregon life." The best way to tap in is at South Stage Cellars, which stocks bottles from nine area wineries. The Garden Bistro at the five-room McCully House Inn & Cottages showcases local growers of a different sort, with food products from 27 area purveyors, including cheese from the goats at nearby Pholia Farm (from $135). The lifestyle drew Constance and David Jesser, a chef and a commodities trader, respectively, from Sonoma five years ago to open Jacksonville Mercantile, where the shelves are filled with provisions like black-truffle-roasted almonds. — Jason Cohen

Rockland, Maine
(pop. 7,680)
sophistication mixed with saltiness

You'll find just enough sophistication to balance the saltiness of mid-coast Maine in Rockland (about an hour and a half northeast of Portland), where regional mainstays are reinvented every day. After honing her skills working for Perry Ellis in New York City, Beth Bowley was lured back to Maine four years ago. "Rockland is filled with folks who've seen what the world has to offer and want to be here," says Bowley, who opened the boutique FourTwelve, which she stocks with clothing and accessories like Sea Bags, made from recycled sails. Down the street at Suzuki's Sushi Bar, Japanese-born chef Keiko Suzuki Steinberger infuses freshly caught lobster, shrimp, and crab with modern Japanese flavors. Steinberger first came to Rockland to visit a second cousin but stayed after falling for her now-husband. As pleasant as a short visit can be, the real risk of visiting Rockland is that you'll do the same and need to move here for good. It's worth testing the waters by renting a house, which you can find 19th-century Capes for $125 a night. — Carole Braden

Whitefish, Mont.
(pop. 7,723)
ski bums and urban refugees congregate

After a frenzied stint on Broadway's 42nd Street, actor Luke Walrath was ready for a quieter pace. His actress wife grew up in Whitefish, about a half-hour north of Kalispell, so the two decided to make it their new home. "It's at once folksy and stylish," he says of the town, a 35-minute drive southwest of Glacier National Park. The couple cofounded the Alpine Theatre Project, which stages seven shows a year. At the foot of the Rockies, Whitefish has long drawn adventure seekers. To live out a rustic Montana fantasy, book a cedar-walled room at Good Medicine Lodge, which feels like a set from Legends of the Fall (from $95). — Kathryn O'Shea-Evans

See photos of these coolest small towns at BudgetTravel.com

Note: This story was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-29955069

NM bookmobiles: Books for those without libraries

Casey Francis — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:38:36 +0000

The Assoicated Press | By Sue Major Holmes | October 3, 2009

RAMAH, N.M. — It's the last stop of the day for Rural Bookmobile West, snugged up against a curb in a corner of the Ramah Post Office parking lot, where a few customers-to-be wait in their cars protected from looming dark clouds that smell of rain.

Inside the bookmobile, manager Wendy Roberts and assistant Toni-Lynn Hart scurry around, turning on the generator, snapping on lights, moving CDs to a low shelf and readying the card catalog — narrow boxes filled with cards from checked-out books.

In a digital age where news comes on cell phones and readers download e-books, three bookmobiles chug along the back roads of New Mexico, bringing a library to people who otherwise live without one.

The New Mexico State Library's on-the-road program is unique.

"There are no other state-run bookmobile programs that I am aware of," said Michael Swendrowski of Milwaukee, chairman of the subcommittee on bookmobiles for the American Library Association, which last year celebrated 100 years of bookmobiles. Nowadays, most are operated by cities, counties or regions.

Ramah, population 407, is the busiest of this three-stop day, which saw the bus-size bookmobile trundling along two-lane blacktops winding through pinon and juniper hills — an hour's drive or longer from the nearest library building.

The door opens and a half-dozen patrons board to return books, then everyone scatters to find something new to read or watch or listen to from the bookmobile's 3,500 to 4,000 titles, CDs, DVDs and magazines.

Teacher Phil Snyder has traveled six miles for the 90-minute stop.

He calls the bookmobile "an important part of the community."

Snyder reads mysteries, has learned local history from the mobile library and exclaims: "These ladies got Bill O'Reilly's latest book!"

Ten-year-old Christopher Maki sits on the gray carpet floor, thumbing through books. In previous trips, he's checked out ones on reptiles, caring for his turtle and how to make a radio.

Today, he's looking for something on origami and "anything that looks good" before checking out books on Frankenstein, dinosaurs and knitting.

One woman examines the mystery section for Santa Fe writer Michael McGarrity. "I'm missing 'Hermit's Peak,'" she laments. The title isn't there; the librarians say they'll look for it for next month's trip.

When they know a patron's interests — and that's more often than not — they'll suggest similar books.

"When you talk to people, you find out what they like," Roberts said. "Then you can bring books along that you think they might be interested in. Sometimes they're pleased and sometimes they say, 'No thanks, but thanks for bringing it.'"

They greet many customers by name — "You're only a stranger once," Hart said.

Many patrons know each other and offer advice about books.

Cindi Andersen of the rural Candy Kitchen area near Pine Hill has come to the bookmobile's second stop in the cracked asphalt parking lot of the Pine Hill Market where she works. She turns to another Candy Kitchen resident, Balance Gregory, who's also browsing.

"Balance, did you see this?" she asks, holding up "Astrology for Wimps." He laughs.

In the background is a steady "click-chunk" as books are checked out.

Automation is on the horizon, but for now, everything is handled the old-fashioned way — taking each patron's library card, then stamping material with a return date.

More than 1,000 people are signed up with Rural Bookmobile West, which once a month hits 36 communities, largely in the northwestern part of the state, putting about 2,000 miles on the odometer. Two others — Rural Bookmobile East and Rural Bookmobile Northeast — split the rest of the state and cover about the same amount of territory.

On this September day, 19 people who visited at Ramah took out 146 books and returned several dozen. Overall, 300 to 350 books were checked out.

The day's first stop was El Morro National Monument, where patrons include rangers and their families.

Ranger Richard Bacon said the bookmobile keeps a good selection of mysteries. He picked up his own books and special requests for a colleague who was off when the bookmobile came by.

Instead of windows, both sides of the bookmobiles have floor-to-ceiling shelves, tilted higher in front to keep books from sliding out along the road — although they sometimes fall.

"When you pick up two whole shelves full of books, you learn to miss the curbs," Hart said.

Roberts gives a tour: CDs on a low step, DVD and VHS movies close to the check-in, check-out counters behind the driver and passenger seats.

Racks on a narrow door hold magazines, including Native Peoples, carried because of northwestern New Mexico's large American Indian population.

Before leaving each stop, librarians reshelve as many checked-in books as possible for the next patrons, a flurry of bending down to low shelves and hopping on a stool for high ones, shuffling books to stuff more in.

"That's when librarians should retire — when the knees go," Roberts jokes.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jy-QffQahJk8Gnbsi13ZVf...

Neb. Lawmakers Told Action Needed for Health Care

Casey Francis — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:18:31 +0000

The New York Times | By the Assoiated Press | October 2, 2009

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- As the debate about how to make health insurance cheaper rages in Washington, Nebraska lawmakers were presented with a more fundamental problem Thursday: A shortage of workersthat could make it difficult to get health care at any cost.

Aging doctors, people living longer and needing chronic health conditions managed for extended periods, and more demand for health care should there be insurance reform are expected to compound an existing shortage that is especially acute in rural areas.

''Nebraska should act now,'' to address the problem, Dr. Keith Mueller told lawmakers during a public hearing. Mueller is an associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and director of the University Center for Rural Health Research, which recently released a first-of-its-kind study of Nebraska's health care workers.

The study said Nebraska's ratio of doctors, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives, chiropractors and podiatrists to the population is below the national average and 15 of Nebraska's 38 most rural counties have almost no health care providers.

Other findings show 50 of Nebraska's 93 counties have been designated by the federal government as having shortages of primary care professionals, and 45 counties have shortages of registered nurses. The report also said 25 counties lack enough dentists.

Only three counties -- Douglas, Lancaster, and Scotts Bluff -- have a health professional-to-population ratio above the national average. Mueller said Thursday that about half the doctors in the state will reach retirement age during the next decade.

Among the solutions suggested Thursday were retaining and expanding programs designed to increase the number of health care professionals, pumping more money into programs that help health care professionals with their education debts, and using technology and peer-support programs to make them feel less isolated in rural areas.

Overcoming some obstacles could require spending significantly more money to provide more educational opportunities.

For example, more students are enrolled in nursing classes -- about 4,320 -- than ever before, and schools are struggling to meet demand for the classes, said Steve Pitkin, chairman of the Nebraska Center for Nursing. Still, Nebraska had a shortage of more than 1,000 nurses last year and there could be a ''dramatic gap'' by 2020, he said.

In the mental-health field, 31 counties have one or no child behavioral health practitioner, said UNMC's Dr. Joe Evans, who has worked to provide rural areas with mental-health practitioners.

A change last year in state Medicaid rules, he said, has made it more difficult for so-called provisionally licensed mental-health practitioners, who have thousands of hours of training but aren't fully licensed, to get reimbursed for their work. In the past, he said, rural areas have heavily relied on provisionally licensed practitioners.

Lawmakers are taking a look at the Medicaid rule and whether it should be changed, said Sen. Tim Gay of Papillion, chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, which held Thursday's hearing.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/02/business/AP-US-Health-Care-Sh...

Patience urged on rural roads

Casey Francis — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:20:24 +0000

Harvest season, and potential traffic hazards, approaching

St. Joe News | By Andrew Gaug | September 23, 2009
Photo by Jessica Stewart of the St. Joseph News-Press

If people are out driving in rural areas this fall, they can switch on the cruise control and use the GPS for directions. But there’s no patience option to turn on when stuck behind slow-moving farm machinery.

This is one of the reasons this week has been declared National Farm Safety and Health Week. Due to the fall harvest season, drivers are warned to take their time, as there will be a higher volume of farm equipment on country roads this time of year.

According to the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health, based in the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health, more than 1,100 accidents occur annually between farm equipment and motor vehicles in the center’s nine-state region, which includes Missouri. In 2008, 186 accidents occurred in Missouri, according to the center’s traffic safety officials.

Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman for Troop H, which covers Northwest Missouri, Sgt. Sheldon Lyon said while those numbers exist for the whole state, he doesn’t see it as a huge problem in the area.

“Usually this time of year comes and goes without incident,” he said. “Periodically, we will see a crash involving (farm equipment) and a motor vehicle. But it’s not something I would say is a problem and makes this time of the year unsafe.”

Don Callow, a farmer and owner of Callow’s Fresh Farm Produce in Barnard, Mo., said most of the problems farmers see could be avoided if drivers yield.

“We just need them to slow down,” he said. “We go 15 to 20 miles per hour and they want to go 50 to 60.”

Though advances in farm equipment have made it more efficient for farmers in terms of size, speed and safety, problems still exist when drivers get stuck behind them, Richard Oswald, board chairman of the Missouri Farmers Union in Jefferson City, said.

“It’s a bigger challenge than it used to be,” he said. “Most farm equipment is a lot wider than it used to be.”

For example, a typical combine harvester takes up more than one lane of road, even when its grain platform, which is used to cut crops, is taken off.

Mr. Oswald said the drivers that he deals with tend to understand the situation and adjust accordingly.

“People within the farming community ... they cope with it pretty well,” he said.

Still, there’s always a few angry people, Mr. Callow said.

“I’ve had (drivers) honk at me and give me ‘the bird’,” he said.

While Northwest Missouri has been fortunate enough to have a lack of accidents between drivers and farmers, Mr. Lyon warns drivers that now is not the time to slack off.

“Be vigilant and watch for them. Especially on those two-lane, blacktop roads,” he said. “When you come up on that hill, slow down a bit. Always be prepared for a large, over-dimensioned machinery around the bend.”

Andrew Gaug can be reached at andrewgaug@npgco.com.

http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2009/sep/23/patience-urged-rural-roads/

Great Plains Are Great, Not Plain

Casey Francis — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:15:34 +0000

NPR.org blog: The Picture Show | By Claire O'Neill | September 30, 2009

I'll admit it: I haven't done much traveling in the areas west of the Mississippi and east of California. Translation: I haven't really seen much of my own country. I'll also sheepishly admit that when I think of that vast region, I envision dry grass plains and corn. Lots of corn. This ignorance of mine is exactly what photographer Michael Forsberg is trying to turn on its head. His work is in a new book called Great Plains: America's Lingering Wild and, needless to say, it put my mental images to shame.

Unfortunately, my ignorance is probably shared by many. This often neglected, underappreciated and misunderstood "region" of our country actually comprises a great majority of our land, and in just the past 100 years has undergone a dramatic transformation as a result of human migration and industrialization. It is now one of the most endangered landscapes in North America, and easily the least protected. So Forsberg teamed up with writer/biologist Dan O'Brien, writer/geographer David Wishart and former American Poet Laureate Ted Kooser to make us care about our big backyard.

Over the course of about four years, Forsberg trekked 100,000 miles across 12 states and three provinces, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, to produce the fieldwork for this project. Underwritten by The Nature Conservancy, this book shows both the splendor and the vulnerability of America's Great Plains. Corn? Ha!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2009/09/greatplains.html

Action plan to help keep rural life vibrant

Casey Francis — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:38:21 +0000

Yorkshire Post | September 25, 2009

Linda Lloyd is the chairwoman of Rural Action Yorkshire, which aims to help traditional villages to come to terms with modern challenges and issues. She talks to Chris Berry.

Church bells peal in the distance, smoke rises from chimneys and the obligatory tractor still drives through the village with clumps of awful smelly stuff falling off behind.

These are usually romantic images from a bygone era when steam trains wound their way through valleys, the district nurse arrived by bicycle and villages were full of people who had always lived there.

Times have indeed changed, even in those communities which look much as they did 30 years ago. What may seem similar on the outside is very different when you look closely.

Coming to terms with the changes in rural life and how communities can adapt and prosper is the new challenge for Linda Lloyd. She has been appointed chair of the county's community group, Rural Action Yorkshire, formerly known as Yorkshire Rural Community Council.

Linda lives with her husband, Mike, in Castleton, in the North York Moors and believes her experiences both in business and what she terms the third sector (voluntary organisations), as well as having lived in a rural location for the past 23 years, mean that she is ideally placed to assist other communities.

"I really think that once you've lived in a rural community, and have been involved with it as much as we have, that it gives you the life experience on what is happening in rural communities and what needs to be happening in villages such as ours."

But knowing what to do and being able to afford the time and effort financially is a major problem – and one that seemingly saw off both of the county's chief executives in Yorkshire Rural Community Council and the Humber & Wolds Rural Community Council last year.

Rural Action Yorkshire relies, like many primarily voluntary sector organisations, on government funding schemes and grants in order to keep going. Last year
was a particularly hairy time for the newly-named operation which has its base in Shipton, north of York.

"We had a sticky year in 2008 because a lot of funding streams came to an end, both from the UK government and the European Union. We don't have revenue-driven projects where you can sell and bring in hard cash. That's not what we're about."

With recent government news of further cuts likely within the next 12 months it seems that Rural Action Yorkshire may have its work cut out to survive. But Linda is confident it will.

"I live in a glass half-full world. You have to be on
your toes, always looking for new avenues, new grant schemes.

"Because we are first and foremost about helping communities, both rural and in some cases urban, we are constantly on the lookout for grants that are going to enable us to help them."

One of the ways Rural Action Yorkshire has coped with the funding problem is by working in partnership with others. "Communities come to us saying they have attracted funding but need our experience and knowledge about how to make things happen. So things have swung around a little and villages are now more empowered. The funding is still coming to us, but from the people who want to make good use of it and that is a very good thing.

"We have a very good track record with rural community buildings – everything from village halls to Scout huts and cricket pavilions. We look at all aspects of a hall, from its building to its contents, what to do with a roof, putting in disabled facilities and conducting energy audits, which can really help with heating bills.

"The village hall plays such a leading part in most communities. When you've got one you never want to lose it.

"In Castleton, our own village hall is used for everything from country dancing to local shows. You are hard pushed to find an evening when it isn't booked. It can also be a lifeline for the community, bringing in a little bit of revenue to keep the building going and providing a place where everyone can come together.

"Our other main core area is in assisting with parish plans. These are now called community planning and are great ways of finding out what the community really wants and needs. They are proving more popular every year and simply getting villagers to talk about their hopes and visions for the future of their community is proving very successful in bringing people together."

The attraction of the countryside as a place to live, away from the stresses of urban life, has proved immensely strong in recent decades. Linda understands the pressures this has put on community involvement.

"Half a century ago you could have finished work at five and been home for quarter past. Now there are many who live in rural communities but who finish their work in an urban area at six and don't get home until past seven.

"That means their involvement cannot always be as great as those who used to live and work in a village. But there are many who still play a full part no matter what."

Despite all the work the organisation has undertaken over the past 60 years, it remains relatively unknown. It's another of the challenges Linda and her team at Shipton are hoping to address. Membership of the organisation costs £35 a year, which seems well worth it just to find out what might be available and how they can help.

"Communities tend to join once they know about us and want advice on community buildings and putting together parish plans.

"Once they become members they tend to stay, but you can still go into areas where communities haven't heard of us. We have hundreds of member communities but I do think there are a lot out there who don't realise what we do."

www.ruralyorkshire. org.uk

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/country-view/Action-plan-to-help-keep.568...

How teachers, parents worked to make small rural CNY school one of the best

Casey Francis — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:07:44 +0000

Syracuse.com | By Alaina Potrikus | September 22, 2009

Camden Elementary faced low scores five year ago, but worked to turn them around.

View full size (Gary Walts / The Post)

StandardKindergarten teacher Mary Jo Britton works with her class at Camden Elementary School. The school is one of 314 schools named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. Five years ago, about 60 percent of the students at Camden Elementary School passed state literacy assessments.

Today, 90 percent of the students are passing with some students getting perfect scores.

It’s that kind of good work that lead the U.S. Education Department to name the school a Blue Ribbon School, one of 314 picked nationwide as the best schools. The rural school on the edge of Oneida and Oswego counties was competing with more than 120,000 public and private schools nationwide.

Camden Elementary, a 460-student building, is the largest of the sprawling district’s four elementary schools that serve families from Redfield to Rome. More than 40 percent of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch and a large number of students qualify for special education services.

Gary Walts, principal of Camden Elementary School, is pictured to the right. (The Post-Standard- Nick Pulizzi).

Building principal Nick Pulizzi said the district based its strategies for improving on research that students from low-income homes are less prepared than their more affluent peers when it comes to vocabulary.

“They’re literally coming to us with fewer words,” he said. “They understand less of the English language. We’re trying to fill the gaps as quickly as possible to level the playing field for these students.”

The building’s schedule now includes 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading, where students rotate between literacy stations aimed to help them with reading, writing, listening and comprehension.

“If we lay that foundation, they’ll be able to do anything,” Pulizzi said.

The community itself is also part of the equation. The small village north of Oneida Lake has more family-owned businesses than chain stores and no movie theaters or Starbucks, Pulizzi said. Many parents work for the local wire mills or the Harden Furniture operation in nearby McConnellsville.

“It’s a great place to raise kids,” Pulizzi said. “The community focus is on old-fashioned values.”

Fifth-grade teacher John Barker, who has taught in the district for more than two decades, said the answer comes down to willing students and parents.

“We have really good kids,” he said. “It sounds simplistic, but they come in here ready to learn. And the parents want what’s best for their kids.”

Camden Elementary School is one of 314 schools named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education (Gary Walts - The Post Standard).

Teari Holliday, who joined the school’s parent-teacher organization a year before her son entered pre-kindergarten, said she couldn’t think of a better place for her children, fifth grader Hunter and third grader Haleigh.

“It’s just like a family,” she said.

Less than a month into the school year, the newly renovated halls are filled with colorful murals, student artwork, noise from a Nerf football game in the gymnasium and the harmonic blend of a piano and young voices.

Pulizzi and Barker will travel to Washington, D.C., in November to accept the award and network with other districts. They’ll bring back a Blue Ribbon flag, plaque and hopefully some new recognition.

“This is a little community, and we are going to be on the national radar,” Pulizzi said. “We look at it as a victory for the entire community.”

Split Rock Elementary School in the West Genesee Central School District in Onondaga County also was honored.

Alaina Potrikus can be reached at apotrikus@syracuse.com or 470-3252.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/mt-preview-701963b3480911...

Farm tourism connects public to rural life

Casey Francis — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:19:35 +0000

AppealDemocrat.com | By Don Curlee |August 5, 2009

If agriculture is not California's leading industry, tourism is, and agriculture is adding significantly to the tourism agenda each day.

Tours in agriculture-rich areas, farm visits, festivals and other special occasions in rural areas, county fairs, wine tastings, farm shows, expanded roadside farm stands, bed-and-breakfasts and farmers markets are some of the many rural attractions. All of them appeal to tourists and offer a glimpse of California farm life.

Whether participation in these events is labeled as agriculture outreach or wide-eyed tourism makes little difference. The activity gives visitors a pleasant sense and feel of farm life and farm-fresh food and drink that they are sure to file away in their banks of pleasant memories.

Not every farmer is in a position to entertain tourists, but those who are seem to get a special kick out of sharing their lifestyles with strangers. And some farmers who aren't suited for that kind of exchange have wives who are. They get a unique thrill out of talking to visitors, often over a delicious piece of pie they baked the night before.

It is no surprise that wine producers in the Napa Valley have the inside track on hosting tourists. To start with, the Napa Valley is an extremely attractive spot on Mother Earth. Add to that an apparent affinity for wine tasting by a large segment of the population. These two plus a proximity to the heavily populated San Francisco Bay Area make for a crowded Highway 29 and the parallel Silverado Trail on weekends up and down the fabled valley.

Even though California's wine industry sometimes seems to forget that it is part of agriculture, visitors to winegrowing areas usually don't make that distinction. The fact that many Napa Valley winegrowers pursued careers unrelated to vineyard production before retiring or moving to a farm qualifies them in a special way to relate to urban visitors.

The natural affinity for wine tasting is serving as a foundation for wine tours, winery open houses and special events in Paso Robles and the Central Coast and the rapidly expanding winegrowing region around Lodi as well as the older, less flashy Central California wine growing districts in Fresno and Madera counties.

Since growers in the Temecula area, with the help of ag researchers, have banished the scourge of Pierce's disease carried by the notorious glassy winged sharpshooter, tourism is likely to make a comeback there. Goodness knows the region is not at a loss for population.

When the majestic beauty of California's mountains combines with agricultural production the attraction is irresistible. In Placer County, the Apple Hill area has been attracting fall visitors for nearly 50 years. Visitor numbers increase annually and the core of apple-related products attracts other farm-based endeavors as well as more visitors each year.

The experience has been similar in Julian, nestled in the gentle hills east of San Diego. And countywide in San Diego, agri-tourism is flourishing, promoted by the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Is it any wonder that one of the most recent expansions at Disneyland was farm-related. And they say Knott's Berry Farm which has become Disneyland's cross-county rival, began as a humble roadside pie stand.

Getting out and seeing the country means getting close to agriculture. Non-farm people are amazed at the openness, the freedom, the downright enjoyment and quiet satisfaction of farm living.

Interspersed with other columns about the pertinent issues of California agriculture in the months ahead, further emphasis will be given to individual farm-tourist attractions in the Golden State. You are welcome to come along for the read.

Don Curlee is an agricultural writer based in Clovis. His column appears biweekly. E-mail him at agwriter1@sbc global.net.

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/farm-86266-wine-california.html

UNL poll: Self-employment big in rural Nebraska

Casey Francis — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:59:07 +0000

North Platte Bulletin | September 5, 2009

People are pasting together bits and pieces of work during these tough economic times, according to a university poll of rural Nebraskans.

Self-employment continues to grow in rural Nebraska, the pollsters said.

For some years, Internal Revenue Service data has shown self-employment to be the fastest growing employment segment in rural America. In at least one recent year, it accounted for all net job growth in non-metropolitan Nebraska, said Randy Cantrell, a Nebraska Rural Initiative rural sociologist who’s part of the Rural Poll team.

The 2009 poll, conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, backs up those findings in a series of questions about employment. Surveys for the annual poll were mailed in March to about 6,400 randomly selected households in Nebraska's 84 rural counties.

The results are based on 2,852 responses.

One-third work two jobs

The poll found that 66 percent of rural Nebraska households had at least one full-time job contributing to their income, with 36 percent having one full-time job and 30 percent working two.

Of the rural households with at least one person working, 47 percent derived part of their income from self-employment last year.

"People are pasting together bits and pieces of work," Cantrell said.

"People are pretty resilient," added agricultural economist Bruce Johnson. "They're doing a lot of things to adapt to economic times."

Self-employment is especially prevalent in or near smaller communities.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents in or near towns with populations under 500 have some type of self-employment, compared to 34 percent of those in or near communities of 10,000 or more.

Sixty-five percent of the self-employed households in or near the smallest communities have a farm or ranch, 43 percent have an ag-related business, 45 percent have a non-ag-related business and 17 percent have a contract service to a company.

One-fourth of the households with self-employment get at least 76 percent of their income from self-employment. Fifty-six percent get less than half their total household income from self-employment.

No health insurance

Since households rely more on self-employment, they are less likely to have health insurance offered by an employer, "rural residents have a big stake in this health insurance debate," said UNL public policy specialist Brad Lubben.

The poll found 12 percent of working-age rural Nebraskans do not have health insurance. Sixty-eight percent have health insurance through job benefits, 16 percent have purchased insurance on their own and 5 percent have insurance through a government program such as Medicaid.

Landowners

The 2009 poll also explored trends in agricultural land ownership. Twenty-three percent of those surveyed reported owning some agricultural land. Sixty-one percent of those landowners are 50 or older. Seventy-six percent of ag land owners said they plan to keep their land for at least the next 10 years.

For rural Nebraskans, ag land is "not a speculative asset," Johnson said. "It's a long-term, enduring asset."

"For these households," Johnson added, "the relatively favorable income flows to agricultural land over the past few years have likely buffered them at least partially from the full brunt of the economic recession.

The Rural Poll is the largest annual poll of rural Nebraskans' perceptions on quality of life and policy issues. This year's response rate was about 44 percent. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent. Complete results are available online at http://cari.unl.edu/ruralpoll/report09.shtml.

The university's Center for Applied Rural Innovation conducts the poll in cooperation with the Nebraska Rural Initiative with funding from the UNL Extension and the Agricultural Research Division in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=17209&pageID=24

Alaska creates new rural education job

Casey Francis — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:41:37 +0000

Juneau Empire | By Pat Forgey | August 31, 2009

The state is hiring a new rural education director, hoping to boost performance at some of the state's struggling rural schools.

"We know that despite 50 years of effort, we're just not making the progress we need to make," said Larry LeDoux, commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development.

LeDoux is now interviewing applicants for the new position. The person will work out of the Juneau office but spend a lot of time traveling to outlying communities.

The new effort has won quick praise from observers such as Rep. Cathy Muñoz, R-Juneau, a member of the House Education Committee, which was briefed on the position at an interim committee meeting last week.

"I think it's definitely a positive development," she said.

The new director can help build connections between school boards, nonprofit organizations, Native corporations and rural communities, and keep their concerns on the forefront of thinking in the department in Juneau, LeDoux said.

In Alaska, rural often means Native, and LeDoux said working to improve Native education will be a significant part of the new rural director's job.

The idea is to help schools in those areas succeed, despite hurdles they currently face, he said.

"One of the missing ingredients is making sure that our indigenous communities are involved intimately in the education of their children," LeDoux said.

National Education Association-Alaska President Barb Angaiak praised the attention LeDoux was bringing to rural education in Alaska, and said she'll be watching who is hired.

The new rural director "needs authentic teaching experience in rural Alaska" with a teacher or administrator certificate, she said. Angaiak's union is affiliated with the National Education Association.

"They have to have a true grasp of what the issues are," she said.

The community support that Angaiak mentioned is something LeDoux said the new director will work on, trying to find ways that communities can help their schools succeed.

Communities need to take more responsibility for their schools; it sometimes seems that communities host their schools, rather than own them, he said.

Federal education reform efforts such as No Child Left Behind have compounded a problem of disconnect, he said. When local schools fail to meet annual benchmarks, the state can be required to take them over.

"We need more local control, not less," LeDoux said.

LeDoux said he knows the improvements can happen.

"Pre-Western contact, Alaska Native culture had one of the most precision education systems in the world," he said.

"They were able to effectively pass on hunting, religious values, customs, their entire culture, with such accuracy they were able to thrive in one of the harshest environments on Earth."

The new position is being funded out of this year's budget, as part of $800,000 the Legislature allocated to provide technical assistance to rural schools.

• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/083109/sta_488105295.shtml

Rising Sun's charm melds community of artists, rural life

Casey Francis — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:03:41 +0000

IndyStar.com | Article By Justin Jacobs, Photo by Jacob Kriese | August 30, 2009

RISING SUN, Ind. -- In the minute or two it takes to drive through downtown Rising Sun, you see all the requisites of small-town life: Main Street? Check. Absence of stoplights? Check. An abundance of flowers, wooden fences, tiny shops and all things quaint? Check on all counts.

But the town of 2,450 people differs in at least one regard: It is determined to transform itself into a community of artists.

The idea began in 1996, with the opening of the Grand Victoria Casino, a 40,000-square-foot boat on the Ohio River. Residents saw it as a chance to bring in tourists to the town's shops, hotels, restaurants and attractions. It didn't happen.

"We couldn't compete with the casino," said Sherry Timms, Rising Sun's tourism director. "If we pulled just 2,000 of those people, that'd be great. But we just can't compete with gambling. We don't have a critical mass."

So Rising Sun decided to look beyond its inherent charm to attract visitors. Amid the town's beautiful landscape and serene atmosphere, one distinct group of people stood out.

"If you look at artist colonies, they're located in pretty little spots like this," Timms said. "Places that are cheap to live, often in rural areas."

Oil painter Andrea Grimsley and harp maker William Rees soon answered Rising Sun's offer of free studio space and the chance to lead workshops, opportunities made possible by state grants.

A decade later, Rising Sun is filled with art exhibits, public art and frequent musical performances. But it still hasn't become a tourism mecca.

"We often joke here about Rising Sun being Indiana's best-kept secret," Grimsley said.

Rising Sun's most obvious art-ification is a giant piece of metal on the riverfront. Where Main Street slopes toward the river, a giant copper tree-shaped fountain sits, with the town seemingly arching out from it like roots.

"Some people hated (the fountain) at first because it didn't represent a person, place or thing in Rising Sun," said Bill Marksberry, who is both a high school custodian and the town's mayor. "But I say that fountain did its job. Because when was the last time you saw 15 or 20 people standing on the riverfront talking about anything?"

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090830/LIVING03/908300305/Rising+Sun+s...

Museum to help rural schools

Casey Francis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:49:33 +0000

The Jamestown Sun | September 1, 2009

Plains Art Museum is offering its educational outreach programming to under-served K through 12 teachers and students in rural regions and small towns in North Dakota and Minnesota for the 2009-10 school year.

Outreach programs do not have booking or shipping fees. They include:

PlansArt Case program which features Native American Indian artist David Bradley’s newly commissioned original artworks along with curriculum materials and other teaching aids.

Learning posters of artworks in the museum’s collection are available for classroom use and display. The posters highlight the museum’s permanent collection while providing curricula that meet National Standards for Arts Education.

The programs may be booked by contacting Pam Jacobson, curator of outreach, at 701-232-3821, ext. 127, or pjacobson@plainsart.org.

Both outreach tools are designed to be useful to schools and community groups in enhancing understanding and enjoyment of the arts, even where the services of an art teacher are not available. Online resources for teachers are also in development and are anticipated in early winter.

The Wyeth Foundation for American Art awarded a grant to the museum for its educational outreach programming. Outreach programs are also made possible, in part, by the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education, major funding from members of Plans Art Museum, The FUNd at Plains Art Museum, The McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature, the North Dakota Council on the Arts through an appropriation by the North Dakota State Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Plains Art Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums. It is located at 704 First Ave. N., Fargo. More information is available at 701-232-3821 or at www. plainsart.org.

http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/92961/

Rural Areas Perceive Policy Tilt

Casey Francis — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:39:32 +0000

Urban Bias Seen on Stimulus, But Ed. Dept. Vows Balance

Education Week | By Michele McNeil | August 28, 2009


Niesha Williams, 14, left, a freshman at Richmond Early College High School, fills out a comment form before a rural community forum with Arne Duncan, held on the campus of Richmond Community College in Hamlet, N.C., last month. —Jason E. Miczek for Education Week.

When U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talks about using merit pay to attract the best teachers to the classroom, he probably doesn’t have in mind a place like Richmond County, N.C.

In this rural community where the unemployment rate is nearly 14 percent and there’s no movie theater for miles around, school administrators say money isn’t the recruitment tool it is in the big city.

And when Mr. Duncan talks about states’ needing to embrace charter schools to give parents more educational options, he may not be envisioning places like South Dakota or Montana, where half the school districts have just a few hundred students—and little demand for public school alternatives.

Rural school advocates say the federal priorities emerging under Mr. Duncan—a former chief executive officer of the 408,000-student Chicago public school system—favor education improvement ideas that are best suited to urban settings.

Initiatives such as the Race to the Top Fund competition fail to recognize the distinctive problems facing rural districts, which serve some 13 million students, or about one-quarter of the nation’s public school enrollment, according to the Rural School and Community Trust, based in Arlington, Va.

“Both Duncan and [President Barack] Obama are so narrowly focused on inner-city solutions for education challenges,” said South Dakota state Sen. Sandy Jerstad, a Democrat from Sioux Falls and a member of her legislative chamber’s education committee.

The Obama administration’s push for charter schools is particularly bothersome to Sen. Jerstad and some other advocates for rural education. In South Dakota, more than half the school districts have fewer than 300 students, so rural champions question whether a new school would draw the kind of numbers needed to justify opening it. (In another such state, Montana, half the districts have fewer than 100 students.)

“Charter schools just don’t work for us,” Ms. Jerstad said, “and I hate to see the whole issue of charter schools be a criterion for federal funding.”

No Nationwide Solution

Rural educators stress that approaches such as charter schools that might work for urban districts may not work everywhere.

For example, small districts in isolated areas face big challenges when it comes to teacher and principal recruitment and to professional-development opportunities.

In addition, small districts don’t have the luxury of big central-office staffs and a host of curriculum specialists, which can be especially helpful in turning around low-performing schools—another priority of Secretary Duncan’s. ("Tight Leash Likely on Turnaround Aid," this issue.)

“A unique challenge is you have to have Jacks- and Jills-of-all-trades in the central office,” said June Atkinson, the North Carolina state superintendent of education. “And you may not be able to have specialists in math and English and other subjects.”

Mr. Duncan’s heavy emphasis on performance-based pay for teachers also ruffles a few feathers. Rural educators note, for instance, that merit pay may not work well for them if peer review is part of the evaluation process—if you’re the only math teacher for 100 miles, who’s going to review you?

But Mr. Duncan, writing in an Education Week commentary piece, responded to such criticism: “Rural schools shouldn’t let their unique challenges become excuses for keeping the status quo.” That rankled rural educators, too. ("Start Over," June 17, 2009.)

Those unique challenges can’t be ignored, others argue. “The biggest issues in rural education are getting great teachers, getting great school-based leaders and principals,” said George E. Norris, the superintendent of schools in North Carolina’s Richmond County, whose countywide district, located in the southern part of the state, is so large geographically that school buses travel 6,529 miles a day to transport most of the district’s 8,000 students.

Economic Distress

In Richmond County, residents say, people used to be able to make a good living in the textile mills or working for the railroad with only a high school education or less. But jobs began slowly leaving the area over the past few decades, and now Richmond County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, at nearly 14 percent. Even nascar left town several years back, leaving the county’s famed Rockingham racetrack nearly empty, delivering another economic hit to the area.

Now, graduates of Richmond Senior High School have few choices for jobs—the major employers are the school district, Wal-Mart, and a Perdue Inc. chicken plant.

“Mill work used to be prestigious, but now kids look at their parents collecting federal [unemployment] checks, and they wonder what else is out there for them,” said Cory Satterfield, the principal of Richmond Senior High School.

Secretary Duncan, who has been hopscotching the country on a “listening and learning” tour, has carved out time for stops in rural areas, including an Aug. 17 town hall with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture TomVilsack here in the town of Hamlet.

Members of the community peppered the education secretary with questions, but most of Mr. Duncan’s answers didn’t seem to distinguish the problems of rural districts from those of their urban counterparts.

In response to a question about recruiting teachers for rural areas, Mr. Duncan said: “Whether they’re rural or inner-city urban, I worry tremendously about ... teaching in underserved communities.”

As for recruiting good principals, he said: “It’s not unique to rural communities.”

However, Education Department officials say Mr. Duncan and members of his staff are making a concerted effort to make sure rural education issues are reflected in the department’s policies. Those actions include listening-and-learning meetings in several states, and development of a communications strategy that keeps rural challenges, such as teacher recruitment and retention, at the forefront during policy discussions, officials said.

‘Race to Top’ Concerns

One sore spot: some of the criteria by which states will be judged in the Race to the Top Fund competition.

The $4.35 billion fund, established under the federal economic-stimulus law enacted in February, will provide competitive grants to states for large-scale education improvement efforts. There are 19 criteria by which states will be judged, including whether they have charter schools and teacher merit-pay programs. ("Rich Prize, Restrictive Guidelines," Aug. 12, 2009.)

But the federal Education Department’s wish to have states and school districts embrace merit-pay plans may not have the desired effect of recruiting and retaining the best teachers, rural educators say.

“It is much harder to recruit here,” said Alva Ezzell, the principal of Monroe Avenue Elementary School, in Hamlet. “Most of the people we could get here are those who had ties to Richmond County. Even if we could offer them something like a signing bonus,they would come, and then they would go.”

Denise Juneau, Montana’s superintendent of schools, in a July 28 letter to Mr. Duncan, formally objected to the federal department’s use of charter schools as one metric by which states will be judged. She pointed out that only 6 percent of her state’s school districts have student populations greater than 500, while 54 percent have enrollments of fewer than 100. The state doesn’t have charter schools, which are publicly funded but largely autonomous.

“Montana’s rural context and economic status has made it challenging for many communities and the state to support the public schools we currently have, much less encourage the duplication of infrastructure a charter school would mean in most communities,” Ms. Juneau wrote in the letter.

But the department points out that whether a state allows charter schools is just one of the Race to the Top criteria and is only a preference on the part of the department, not an absolute requirement. States without charter school laws should still apply for a slice of the grant, said Joanne Weiss, the department’s Race to the Top Fund director.

“There’s nothing in the Race to the Top Fund that would in any way disadvantage states with large rural populations. We expect to see some variations in the types of applications we get and the types of solutions we get,” Ms. Weiss said in an Aug. 20 webinar presentation on edweek.org. “We’re definitely very concerned about helping to make sure rural schools have all of the different tools and supports to improve.”

Coverage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is supported in part by a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, at www.hewlett.org.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/02/02stim-rural.h29.html?tkn=U...

Farm matchmaking a way to preserve rural America

Casey Francis — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:12:17 +0000

Associated Press, Wisconsin State Journal | By Sharon Cohen | August 30, 2009

RICHLAND, Iowa — He quit his job and drove his wife and their four young daughters across country, a 21st-century pioneer lured to these faraway farm fields by the promise of a life-changing deal with an older stranger.

Isaac Phillips always wanted to be a farmer. But when he revealed his plans to some friends and colleagues at the Utah jail where he supervised inmate work crews, they said: a) don’t give up a steady job, b) you’re making a big mistake, and even c) you’re crazy.

Phillips knew the business he was plunging into was risky, that there were no guarantees for him in the Iowa hills. And yet, the family moved more than 1,000 miles.

“I thought I may never get a chance like this in my life,” Phillips says, two years into his new rise-with-the-rooster career. “I knew there was no way I could do this on my own.”

How did this thirtysomething Garth-Brooks look-alike, who had the drive but not the dollars, get started farming in Iowa?

He had an instant mentor here: John Adam, who planted his boots in this rich black earth as a 19-year-old newlywed and over the next five decades, helped raise four children, harvested corn and beans, bred sows and collected a wall of plaques and honors — and seed caps.

Now, the two men — the rosy-cheeked apprentice and the silver-haired, windburned teacher — are working together on Adam’s farm. One day, if all goes well, Phillips hopes to call part of this land his own.

This is farm matchmaking, a down payment on the future of rural America.

It’s an increasingly popular idea across the country as a growing number of states try to pump fresh blood into graying fields. Farmers are getting older and working later in life: The average age rose to 57 (from 55) and the ranks of the 75-and-up set increased by 20 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to a recent survey. Meanwhile, the number of those younger than 25 has dropped by nearly a third.

The high cost of getting started is intimidating, even for farming enthusiasts like Phillips.

So what to do?

Pair the two generations in special programs. Aspiring farmers then don’t have to dig themselves into a half-million dollar hole to launch their careers and can hook up with a farmer in his 50s, 60s, or 70s who can plan ahead. Ideally, the older ones won’t have heirs who want to follow in their footsteps.

If their personalities mesh, the two can become partners. Later, the hope is the established farmer will sell, rent or make some other arrangement that keeps the younger one on the land.

There’s a broader goal, too: Save the family farm. And a bonus: Put more kids in rural schools, pour more money into Main Street, preserve small towns.

No one sees this as the solution for stemming the exodus in rural America. And no one believes that turning over a farm is a let’s-shake-hands-and-close-the-deal proposition. It takes five to 10 years, maybe more. Even then, there often are financial and emotional minefields.

But Dave Baker, the matchmaker who united Phillips and Adam, is a true believer. It’s his job to connect fresh-faced wannabes from all over the country with Iowa farmers preparing for retirement — or merely pondering it.

“You’re not going to take it with you,” he tells the established farmers. “You can’t place the dirt in the coffin. ... Who else is going to have it? The highest bidder? How does that affect your community? How does it affect your family name? What do you want your legacy to be?”

More than 30 years ago, Dave Baker was pining for his own piece of land.

While stationed in the Air Force in Germany, he wrote to a distant relative in Iowa, asking him for a chance to rent some pasture when he returned.

Back home, Baker worked days and farmed nights and weekends, settling in slowly, buying a tractor and some cows one year, a bit more the next. It took 18 years to pay off his loans.

Now, he’s a farm matchmaker at Iowa State University, having worked on more than 30 matches in three years. (A few have fizzled.) It’s much like running a dating service, only land and livelihoods are at stake as Baker sifts through applications, searching for compatible pairs.

With Iowa having lost about a quarter of its farms in the last three decades, it’s no surprise this idea has taken root here — though several other states have taken similar steps.

In Oregon, a program started this spring that reaches out to aspiring farmers and those leaving agriculture, looking for possible partners. In Virginia, an online database tries to hook up the two generations. In Nebraska, there’s a match program and tax breaks for farmers who rent to beginners.

And in Washington state, a nonprofit group has 300 people eager to start (mostly organic) farming, and 65 landowners looking to give someone a try.

“There’s a lot of interest in helping young people get started,” says John Baker, head of the Beginning Farmer Center at Iowa State. “It’s just natural that you create some kind of clearinghouse so people can figure out how to do it.”

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Money and tradition can be powerful obstacles.

There are folks whose nest egg is their land and heirs who won’t farm, but won’t sell, either. And there are old-timers who, even with gnarled hands and arthritic legs, cling to a job that’s their identity and part of their bloodline for generations.

“It’s your mooring in life,” says Paul Lasley, an Iowa State sociologist who, along with five brothers and sisters, long ago chose careers off the family’s Missouri farm. “The land represents more than a business. It’s your home, it’s where you were raised, where you learned the values of watching your parents work, sweating in the summer, shivering in the winter ... where you learned the lessons of life.”

“For some people, it’s very difficult to sell,” he adds. “It’s almost like selling part of themselves.”

John Adam’s original plan was to build a big family farm.

His four children would be there, then the grandkids, three generations spread over 1,000 acres, breeding sows, harvesting corn, growing beans, working as a team during the day, sharing meals some nights.

He started small with his wife, Colleen — 10 cows, 20 sows provided by his father, also a farmer — and grew big (1,800 hogs). One day, he expected he’d pass the torch.

“That’s kind of the hope and dream of every farmer,” he says.

Then the farm crisis of the 1980s hit. Interest rates soared, land values plummeted, lives were destroyed. “The ’80s took the fun out of farming for everyone,” Adam says. “It ruined an awful lot of families.”

He survived, but when his two daughters and two sons “saw their mother and I struggling to pay the bills,” he says, they attended college and found good jobs. He wasn’t about to argue with their success.

But decades of heavy labor take their toll. Adam, who had a hip replaced twice, says he isn’t as agile or fast as he once was — something that’s apparent when he’s handling 500-pound sows.

His son-in-law works on the farm, but didn’t want to be the in-charge guy, Adam says, so he applied to Baker’s program. He interviewed two couples, but was sold immediately on Isaac and Katie Phillips.

Adam says his own kids “all gave their blessing” to the idea. And he has come to see the Utah couple as extended members of his clan.

“My theory has always been you really don’t have to be a blood relative to be considered family,” he says. “Family is someone who makes life more pleasant, and Isaac does that.”

In a way, Isaac Phillips won a lottery.

Only a few dozen Iowa farmers are looking for partners. Nearly 350 suitors are itching for a shot. Most are from Iowa, ranging from 18 to their 30s; others come from Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and several other states, even New York and California.

Phillips, the great-grandson of a sheep rancher in Utah, is no stranger to farming: He had done it in Utah, raised horses and bred hogs on the side. But it wasn’t enough to support a growing family.

As a sheriff’s deputy, Phillips had security, but not job satisfaction. He and Katie had long talks about trying to farm. But when they applied to the matchmaking program, he says, he thought the odds were too long to be chosen.

So when Adam phoned one night two years ago, Phillips was thrilled.

In Iowa, the Adams welcomed Isaac and Katie with a farm tour, showed them the Mormon church the Utah couple had already chosen and drove them to the school their girls would attend. Adam, who had been a school board member for more than 40 years, introduced them to the teachers, too.

For Isaac, there were some beginner’s jitters.

“I thought, ‘Am I smart enough? There are so many people who don’t make it,’” he says. “‘How can I guarantee I’ll have something for my family?’”

There was pressure, too, knowing his decisions would affect the Adams and workers on the farm. That’s where having a 45-year veteran made a difference.

“John really took me under his wing,” Phillips says. “If I tried to buy a farm out there and work it by myself, I would have been a nervous wreck, I really would. ... He’s not looking over my shoulder all the time. He gives me a little bit of freedom.”

Adam, in turn, is impressed with Phillips. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say he couldn’t do something,” he says. “He’s always willing to try.”

There have been a few “ruffled feathers,” Phillips says, but they’ve bonded, too. His daughters — he now has five, 10 months to 12 years — affectionately call Adam, “Grandpa John Deere.”

The girls quickly adapted to rural life; they help their dad feed the sows, then rush in to give mom “stinky hugs and kisses.”
As much as the family has settled in, the two men still have no written contract.

“I’m still trying to find my place,” Phillips says. “I feel a lot more comfortable with where I am and what I’m expected to do,” but, he adds: “Am I here as employee? ... Are people expected to look to me for answers? There still is a lot to figure out.”

Phillips finds himself feeling different ways, depending on the circumstances.

“Sometimes he (Adam) has to look back, and say, ‘Calm down,’ so it’s like a real father and son,” he says. “Sometimes he has to say, ‘I’m the boss. This is the way we’re doing it.’ ... But he looks out for me and my family and I look out for his business and family — and we both care a lot for one another.”

Phillips would like to own part of this farm one day and expand. As he looks far ahead, he even wonders if his daughters will share his love of farming and follow him. If so, great.

If not, he has another idea: Mentoring someone himself one day.

“There’s nothing better than seeing a dream come true,” he says. “I would love to turn around and do this for somebody else.”

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/463893

Getting Real About Rural Schools

Casey Francis — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:05:16 +0000

Rural Policy Matters | August 20, 2009

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters.

The Rural Trust has recently identified the poorest rural and remote small town school districts. We have also conducted extensive analysis of the impact of changes to Title I formulas and demonstrated that federal funding has been systematically reallocated from high-poverty small and medium sized districts, including both rural and smaller city districts, to large urban districts, many with lower poverty rates.

We have demonstrated that the poorest 10% of rural school districts have poverty rates higher than most of the largest urban districts. Together they serve more than 1.3 million students, with no racial/ethnic group constituting a majority (read more about them in High-Poverty Rural, Small Town Districts Concentrated in Distinct Regions). Despite their poverty these districts receive significantly less federal funding per student, and in most cases they also receive significantly less state and local funding.

The Rural Trust documents these realities, in part, because far too many public officials, media outlets, and organizations involved in shaping public life operate as if the most uninformed, but prevalent, notions about rural places were the norm: that they are simple and uniform, mostly white, mostly relatively prosperous, but nevertheless withering away because of their own irrelevance.

The reality is that rural places are diverse, complicated, and also essential to a healthy national economy and culture. Policies and practices based on simplistic ideas do real harm, especially in places where some combination of poverty, racism, deep-rooted economic inequality, and environmental degradation are part and parcel of both local history and current life.

But policies and investment based on good information and solid understanding could help turn things around even in those rural places where things are toughest, which is why they are the places on which Rural Trust focuses most of its attention.

Getting Real

The poorest rural schools are located in places with some of the most entrenched patterns of racial and economic discrimination and oppression in the country and in states where resources tend to be most limited and policy harshest toward poor people.

Schools in these districts often face high rates of teacher turnover, facilities trend toward disrepair, and basic supplies are frequently lacking. In many places, schools are the last public institution and play a pivotal role in community life. In others, schools have been closed and students are forced to make very long rides to large schools where they must deal with marginalization, lack of access to opportunities, pushout/dropout pressures, and schoolhouse-to-jailhouse disciplinary practices.

Yet in these poorest rural places exist resources and opportunities that could be more effectively marshaled. Many local people are involved in efforts to make things better; voter turnout in 2008 elections tended to be high in these communities signaling interest in electoral affairs. For many rural residents — including young people, loyalty to family, community, and local natural environment trumps personal economic ambition and they want to live in their communities and help them flourish.

In addition, schools are central institutions in rural communities that have untapped potential for engaging young people in efforts to make communities better places to live and for providing more challenging curriculum and educational opportunities.

Seeing Opportunity

Strong rural schools in very poor communities are an achievable goal because they already exist in some places. Such schools should not, however, depend on the extraordinary efforts of extraordinarily talented individuals.

Ensuring strong schools in the toughest places is a shared responsibility and achieving them will require commitment and investment at the policy level, from organizations interested in public affairs, and from the communities themselves.

To these ends we offer the following action strategies, each aimed at a different combination of policy makers and public officials, philanthropists and non-profit groups, colleges, and local community residents, all of whom are needed to ensure that students in the poorest rural places have a fair shot at educational opportunity and making their best contributions.

Fix the Title I formulas so that poor students in rural communities and small cities get as much federal money as poor kids in other places.

Bring rural people together so they can learn from each other and take collective action to address common concerns like teacher training, recruitment, and retention; school finance; harmful pushout/dropout and discipline policies; keeping schools in communities; educating burgeoning populations of English Language Learners; and improving college-going opportunities for rural students.

Explore and support legal strategies related to school finance formulas and to student-related issues like pushout, harsh and unfair discipline practices, and lack of equitable access to academic and co-curricular opportunities.

Support school staff and community residents to identify and use local resources to provide relevant and engaging curriculum that strengthens community life and improves educational opportunities and cultural awareness and respect for all students.

Elect strong and responsive local boards of education who are accountable to their public school constituents and committed to providing the best possible educational opportunities for all students in their district.

Conduct meaningful research on rural schools to inform policy decisions, support rural advocates and guide educators in their efforts to improve rural schools.

Communicate accurate information about rural schools and communities to policymakers, media, and community groups.

Rural children are a significant portion of our nation’s public school students. They live in all kinds of circumstances and deserve the same opportunities as students elsewhere. Creating those opportunities, especially for the poorest students in the poorest communities, requires new approaches. And that means that the people and organizations who make change must be willing to dispense with vague impressions of rural life and invest in solutions that are knowledgeable about and responsive to the real circumstances of rural communities in all their vast variety.

Don’t miss Groups Address School Pushout Crisis.

Read more from the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters

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http://www.ruraledu.org/articles.php?id=2281&utm_source=Rural+Trust+Cons...

Baby Boom Migration Tilts Toward Rural America

Casey Francis — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:58:34 +0000

Baby boomers, poised to retire, are expected to increase rural and small-town populations, bringing both additional benefits and costs.

Amber Waves | By John Cromartie
Peter Nelson, Middlebury College

	The size and direction of migration patterns vary considerably by age, and baby boomers are increasingly migrating to rural destinations.
	If baby boomers follow migration patterns similar to those of their predecessors, the rural population age 55-75 will increase by 30 percent between 2010 and 2020.
	Local economic development strategies aimed at attracting more jobs will likely have little effect on the migration decisions of baby boomers searching for a better quality of life.

As Americans age, their likelihood of migrating, their reasons for moving, and their destination choices shift dramatically. Baby boomers—born between 1946 and 1964—are entering a stage when moves to rural locales increase, especially to areas with scenic amenities and lower housing costs.

“Boomers” have already demonstrated an affinity for moving to rural and small-town destinations, compared with older or younger cohorts. They led a short-lived rural “rebound” in the early 1990s despite being at an age when career-oriented motivations strongly influence migration decisions.

Today’s 83 million boomers, ranging from age 45 to 63, represent a fourth of the total U.S. population. There has never been such a large share of the workforce approaching retirement. By comparison, 42 million were age 45 to 63 in 1990. Boomers are now poised to significantly increase rural and small-town elderly populations by 2020, with major social and economic implications for their chosen destinations.

Migration Patterns Change With Age

Each individual or family makes unique migration decisions, but commonalities exist at different life stages that affect the number of people moving and their destination choices (see chart). Migration rates for children (who mostly accompany parental moves) decline to very low levels during high school, and then rise precipitously. Most migration occurs when people are in their twenties, as they finish college, make initial career decisions, serve in the military, form families, or simply act out of a sense of restlessness. Urban destinations dominate among young singles seeking jobs, social opportunities, and creative cultural environments.

Migration rates decrease steadily and shift geographically through a person’s working-age years. Individuals and families settle down as career decisions become more firm. Married couples with children place a higher premium on residential space, better schools, feelings of personal safety, and other qualities associated with suburban settings.

As they age toward retirement, Americans are much less prone to move than in their youth, but those that do are much more likely to move to the countryside. Many “empty nest” couples begin seeking leisure and recreational opportunities, lower housing costs, and a slower pace of life. Quality-of-life considerations begin to replace child-rearing and employment-related factors in decisions about when and where to move. For older Americans, rural migration is highest early in the retirement process and declines sharply as health care needs increase.

Many people develop strong ties to particular places over an extended period, such as while vacationing or visiting family and friends. Thus, retirement-related migration may progress slowly over several years rather than occur as a discrete, one-time event. Couples often purchase a second home or simply visit the same location annually or on weekends with their children, then visit more often and for longer stretches as children leave home. Beginning in the 1990s, the Internet has greatly facilitated work from more remote locations and contributed to an increase in permanent moves to second-home destinations. Areas that are popular as recreation and tourist destinations are increasingly favored as permanent residences.

Baby Boomers Have Rural Ties Despite Suburban Upbringing

Baby boomers have followed well-established, age-related migration patterns, but at times have shown more of a preference for rural destinations than older and younger cohorts. Their early childhoods coincided with a massive wave of rural outmigration and suburbanization. Many of their parents had come of age in the countryside during the Depression and maintained rural connections while raising urban and suburban families. These hometown ties have had an enormous influence on the baby boomers’ subsequent migration decisions.

As they entered young adulthood, baby boomers faced increased labor and housing market competition, due both to economic trends and the unprecedented size of their cohort. They responded demographically by postponing marriage and delaying childbearing. They responded geographically by migrating from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West in record numbers and increasing their migration into nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) counties. Overall, they still favored metro destinations as they aged through their twenties, but not as strongly as older or younger cohorts did.

The economic recessions of the 1980s hit rural areas harder than urban areas and contributed to a resurgence in rural outmigration. Urban migration surged for baby boomers in their late twenties and early thirties, especially to large metro centers that were regaining economic momentum lost in the 1970s. In the early 1990s, baby boomers again increased migration to rural areas, stimulating recreation-based economies and boosting population growth in the intermountain West, the southern Appalachians, the Upper Great Lakes, and other scenic locations.

In 1995, baby boomers were age 31-49 and still strongly career oriented. Much of their nonmetro migration was fueling rapid suburban expansion into nonmetro counties adjacent to metro centers. Many of those moving to more remote settings were able to use expanding airline services and the Internet to stay connected to urban-based employers and customers.

More Baby Boomers Heading to Rural Areas

Younger members of the baby boomer generation are still in the middle of child rearing, while those in their fifties are more likely to be empty nesters. Employment considerations still exert a strong influence on their collective migration decisions but will decrease sharply in the next decade. Baby boomers are increasingly drawn to areas with the right combination of scenic amenities (varied topography, relatively large lake or coastal areas, warm and sunny winters, and temperate summers), recreational or cultural opportunities, and reasonable housing costs. The presence of seasonal housing has been a particularly strong indicator of where retirement-related migration is likely to occur.

Net migration increased the number of baby boomers living in nonmetro areas by 1.1 million during 1990-2000. If baby boomers follow the same age-specific geographic patterns of migration as their predecessors (see box, “Projecting Future Net Migration”), their presence in nonmetro locations will increase by 1.2 million in this decade and by 1.1 million during the 2010s, despite declines in their overall propensity to migrate. If they continue the marked preference for nonmetro destinations exhibited during their earlier life stages, nonmetro net migration of baby boomers could reach as high as 1.5 million in this decade and 1.6 million in the next.

Over the next 10 years, baby boomer migration will likely contribute to a significant deconcentration of the population. Assuming a midrange projection between the two outcomes described above, baby boomer net migration to core (predominantly urban) metro counties will switch from a 979,000 gain in the 1990s to a 643,000 loss in the 2010s. Fringe (predominantly rural) metro counties had the highest rates of baby boomer migration in the 1990s (a 17-percent increase, compared with a 9-percent gain for nonmetro counties), but are projected to drop to 8 percent during the 2010s. Fringe counties, along with adjacent nonmetro counties, received the bulk of past suburban expansion, but movement to these areas is becoming a smaller component of migration among baby boomers.

When measured in terms of relative change, more remote (nonadjacent) nonmetro counties will see the most dramatic changes from baby boomer migration. While nonadjacent counties gained 277,000 residents from net migration among baby boomers during the 1990s, midrange projections indicate that they will increase by nearly 362,000 and 383,000 during this decade and the next.

Whether adjacent to big cities or less accessible, counties with desirable physical attributes—pleasant climates, mountains, beaches, and lakes—are likely to increase their already high share of baby boomer migration. The ERS Natural Amenity Index attempts to measure the attractiveness of an area’s natural amenities. Among the 500 nonmetro counties with the lowest scores, net migration is projected to decrease from a 180,000 gain in the 1990s to near zero in the 2010s. At the same time, net migration to the 500 counties with the highest scores will grow from 520,000 to 720,000. However, differences between projected and actual population outcomes are potentially greater for rapidly growing counties, such as those with scenic amenities and booming recreation-based economies. In the past, net migration decreased as such areas “filled up,” often in response to higher housing prices. The current mortgage foreclosure crisis, particularly strong in recreation towns that experienced a recent housing boom, creates uncertainty about future demographic trends in these areas.

Regardless of future economic and housing market conditions, baby boomers will increase the size of rural America’s retirement-age population. Assuming a midrange projection, the rural population between ages 55 and 75 will increase from 8.6 to 14.2 million between 2000 and 2020. The overall rate of growth among this age group has likely tripled to 30 percent during the current decade, compared with that in the 1990s, and will remain above 25 percent in the next decade.

Without baby boomer net migration, the rate of growth for the rural population age 55 to 75 would be 18 percent in this decade and 15 percent during 2010-20. These trends affect not just traditional retirement regions in the South and West, but regions throughout the country. The biggest jump in nonmetro net migration rates is projected in the nonmetro Northeast, which is projected to be growing as fast as the nonmetro West during the 2010s.

Rate of growth has tripled for nonmetro retirement-age populations since the 1990s
U.S. region	Nonmetro population ages 55-75				Growth rate of retirement-aged population
	1990	2000	2010	2020	1990s	2000s	2010s
	Millions				Percent
Northeast	0.886	0.925	1.276	1.686	4.4	37.9	32.1
Midwest	2.633	2.685	3.235	3.944	2.0	20.5	21.9
South	3.480	3.868	4.972	6.272	11.2	28.5	26.1
West	0.957	1.152	1.708	2.251	20.3	48.2	31.8
Total	7.957	8.631	11.191	14.152	8.5	29.7	26.5
Source: USDA, Economic Research Service, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics. Projections for 2000-10 and 2010-20 were based on statistical models of age-specific net migration and forward survival methods.

Baby Boomers Will Continue To Reshape Rural Communities

Baby boomers are aging toward retirement and moving into high-amenity counties with concentrations of second homes. Migration to nonmetro counties adjacent to metro areas will remain high, but baby boomer migration is likely to become much more dispersed than in the 1990s and not as strongly tied to suburban expansion. New destinations will likely be more isolated, with more empty nest households, and lower housing costs.

Migration impacts are unevenly distributed across the landscape. Rural jurisdictions face different demands for local goods and services and different opportunities for economic expansion, depending on population trends. Anticipating the types of areas that will receive large numbers of baby boomers in the near future could help communities plan for rising demand for housing, transportation, health care, and retail infrastructure.

The economic and social impacts of baby boom migration connect to broader age-related issues subject to vigorous debate at Federal, State, and local levels, including Social Security adjustments, pension guarantees, and health care provision. In this case, baby boom migration will bring both additional benefits and costs for rural destinations. New residents are likely to have a positive impact on income and employment. They may also increase infrastructure costs for local governments and require health care and other services not currently available.

Development professionals often emphasize traditional strategies designed to attract manufacturing jobs to their communities. Infrastructure investments geared toward fostering this type of export-based employment growth likely will have minimal influence on the rising number of footloose baby boom migrants who are looking for an improved quality of life. Other development specialists realize that net migration increasingly drives regional economies. Older migrants often bring significant new money into a county’s economy, generate new demand for a variety of services, and boost job levels. Increased awareness of key factors attracting baby boomers to rural and small-town America will contribute to more effective, migration-based development strategies.

Projecting Future Net Migration—Answering “What If” Questions

County-level, post-2000 data on age-specific, net migration—the difference between the number of people moving into and out of a county—will not be available for several years. However, it is possible to project patterns of baby boomer migration into rural and small-town areas, for this decade and the next, using data from the 1990s. Age affects migration in relatively predictable ways that can be statistically measured. The overall size of age cohorts is also easy to project using forward survival methods because age-specific death rates are relatively fixed. Immigration’s relatively small impact on older age groups can be measured using the Census Bureau’s “best guess” estimates of future, age-specific immigration flows. Thus, researchers can project the size of future baby boom cohorts in different types of metro and nonmetro counties.

Unlike death rates, migration flows between counties are subject to short-term fluctuations. They are affected by employment trends, housing prices, and other factors subject to much uncertainty, especially given current economic conditions and prospects. Also, baby boomers may pioneer new migration paths that differ from those of preceding generations as they age into retirement. Projections are constructed by asking: “What will future migration patterns look like if the most recently measured age-specific migration rates (from the 1990s) stay the same?” They provide useful analytical and planning information but must be seen to fall into a probable range of outcomes.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/September09/Features/BabyBoom.htm

Heart of Rural Community Reopens

Casey Francis — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:55:14 +0000

WLTX.com | Sdyney Cummins | August 22, 2009

Newberry County (WLTX) - An historic school, thought of already as the center of the community, was reopened officially on Saturday as the Hope School Community Center.

"This school, in a very small community, has always been the heart and soul of the black community in rural Newberry County," explains historian Ron Knorr.

Knorr is a professor at Clemson and he literally wrote the book on the Hope School. It was originally built as a Rosenwald School, which made sure rural African-Americans received an education. "When the school was originally opened, like every Rosenwald School, there was no power, no water, no sewer," he says.

"We walked anyplace form like 3 to 5 miles one way," explains former student Vivian Heller Mitchell, "We started everyday with a devotion. We had to learn a new Bible verse and our teacher would not let anyone recite "Jesus wept." because that was the shortest verse in the Bible," she recalls, laughing.

She's also on the board here for the Hope School Community Center, but never imagined a part of her life would have so much meaning to others. "It was just something that was and you accepted it," she says, "I think it's wonderful and beautiful to see how far this has come and I'm fascinated."

She knows history comes alive when folks can see those stories with their own eyes. "After a time, they start taking thing for granted, but they don't know how it came about," says Mitchell.

For Knorr, the newly renovated building shows it can still mean today what it did then. "That community spirit caught on in 1926, now we're talking 80, 90 years later, will continue on," he says.

Mitchell says seven out of the ten siblings in her family attended the Hope School.

The Hope School Community Center was restored through grants. The renovations followed all the original plans, with just a few exceptions.

Last year, they got electricity and running water for the first time since it was built.

http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=77590&catid=35

Nonprofit group rallies rural artists

Casey Francis — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:19:31 +0000

Group aims to help artists connect with audiences, each other

The Tennessean | By Suzanne Normand Blackwood | August 26, 2009

SPRING HILL — Artist Sher Fick moved to Spring Hill for a better environment for her children and a chance to have a larger studio at her home, where she could be both a mom and an artist.

Fick is a sculpture and installation artist who also does encaustic painting, which involves adding color pigments to hot beeswax.

Although Spring Hill provided the ideal "live/work space," Fick said living in a more rural area made it difficult for her to network with other artists and to find the kind of support she had when she was a part of the Nashville art scene.

Meanwhile, Jim Campbell, who owns Elite Graphics in Franklin and is most involved in theatre arts, was dealing with similar trouble connecting with other artists after moving to the suburbs.

The challenges faced by the two resulted in a new nonprofit organization: Rural Arts and Letters Leadership Initiative, or RALLI. The organization serves as an advocacy group for artists who live and work in rural areas.

RALLI's other founders are husband and wife Eric Hansen and Stellasue Lee. Hansen is a professional photographer with a doctorate in business. Lee, who has a Ph.D. in English, has been published in multiple literary journals and is editor emeritus for the literary journal RATTLE. She also teaches privately, serves on the editorial board for Curbstone Press, and is working on her fourth book. Her third book, Crossing the Double Yellow Line, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Hansen said it was happenstance that they all came to know one another. Lee came to know Campbell through a longtime friendship with his aunt, Mary Monroe, who is a writer.

Fick met Hansen when the two of them were in a juried show at the Renaissance Center in Dickson and discovered that they both live in Spring Hill.

Soon after, conversations began about starting RALLI.

Bridging the gap

Fick said part of RALLI's purpose is to bring rural artists together. "We want to unite the artists who are here who are working in isolation," she said.

"Part of what rural means is populations are more dispersed," said Hansen. "They're not living in close proximity like in urban areas," which makes it more difficult for them to find one another.

Although the organization is starting in Spring Hill, it has no geographical boundaries, Hansen said.

Also, he added, RALLI is not trying to compete with groups such as the Spring Hill Arts Council. RALLI has a different mission.

The organization does aim to bridge the gap between urban and rural art communities, however. The urban art scene has a different culture and a different market, Fick said. Often, there are art shows in urban areas that rural artists never know about.

"Fundamentally, markets are urban," Hansen said.

The organization will help rural artists connect with resources that are generally only available to urban areas.

No boundaries

The logistics of being an out-of-the-way artist present a challenge, said Fick. For example, installation and shipping have been a challenge for her, and she knows an artist in Bell Buckle with a similar issue. This is something the organization plans to address.

Some of the activities the organization plans to host include juried shows, poetry competitions and theatrical readings. Other plans include establishing mentorships and producing some publications.

Fick said some of these activities could be combined into a fundraiser. The organization is incorporated as a 501(c)3 and has applied for full nonprofit status. Fick said the organization's founders hope its nonprofit status will help members take advantage of some grant opportunities.

"We want to give exposure to writers that are local," she said. The organization also wants to bring established, well-known writers and artists to Spring Hill, she added.

Lee said some of them have already participated in poetry readings and other local events, which were kind of a taste of things to come.

"That kind of precipitated the need for such an organization," she said.

Fick said the showing at a recent poetry reading by Lee and her student Ramon Presson at Rippavilla Plantation was an indicator of how "starved" people in Spring Hill are for the arts.

"We see a void, and we're going to fill that void," she said.

Contact Suzanne Normand Blackwood at 771-5428 or sblackwood@tennessean.com.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090826/COUNTY0904/908260356/1184/Non...

USDA Rural Development can help with home repair loans

Casey Francis — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:35:15 +0000

It’s time to put those home repair plans into action. If your residence requires home improvements and your wondering where this money is going to come from, USDA Rural Development, a federally funded agency, may be the answer.

DL-Online.com | By Staff | August 19, 2009

It’s time to put those home repair plans into action.

If your residence requires home improvements and your wondering where this money is going to come from, USDA Rural Development, a federally funded agency, may be the answer.

Best interest rate around (1 percent interest rate for the life of the loan).
Maximum loan of $20,000 with up to a 20-year repayment term.
No Mortgage or closing costs are required for loans under $7,500.
Grants up to $7,500 for health and safety issues may be available for those 62 and over.

A successful applicant must meet the following income guidelines: 1 person — $20,600; 2 persons — $23,550; 3 persons — $26,500; 4 persons — $29,450; 5 persons — $31,800. In addition, you must have an acceptable credit history and show repayment ability.

To learn more about our requirements for this program, or to request an appointment, call the USDA Rural Development Office at (218) 847-9392 Extension 4 or write to USDA Rural Development, 809 8th Street SE, Detroit Lakes MN 56501. You can also visit the Web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/mn.

http://www.dl-online.com/event/article/id/46882/group/Business/

Catholic nuns wins rural preservation award

Casey Francis — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:11:58 +0000

Chicago Tribune | By the Associated Press | August 19, 2009

OLDENBURG, Ind. - A group of nuns is being honored for combining progressive farm practices with historic preservation at their southeastern Indiana farm.

The Sisters of St. Francis of Oldenburg won this year's Rural Preservation Award from Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana and the Indiana Farm Bureau.

The nuns' 300-acre Michaela Farm about 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis in Franklin County has a 100-year-old barn with solar power and other alternative energy sources. It houses a herd of beefalo and stores food, hay and straw.

Two brick farmhouses and a brick pump station, all more than 140 years old, provide office and living space. A reservoir built in 1906 provides water for irrigation and animals.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-rel-nuns-ruralpre,0,5063752...

Read more about the Sisters and their farm at the link below: http://oldenburgfranciscans.org/farm.html

The New Party Line Is Crackling

Casey Francis — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:50:15 +0000

DailyYonder.com | By Pamela Price | August 19, 2009

Do rural Americans use telecommunications in special ways? A recent study suggests that Yonderites are twittering and IMing and chatting with friends closer to home.

As a kid, I loved to play with my grandfather’s decommissioned crank telephone. Someone had glued the broken receiver back together, but my grandfather still couldn’t part with what had been his first home phone.

Hearing it ring was a pretty big deal for Grandma Hazel and Granddaddy Julian, signaling that news of some kind or another was arriving at their rural Texas ranch. All other activities came to a stop; the telephone-caller was indulged with the family’s undivided attention. (Likewise, my great-grandmother in Kentucky didn’t hesitate to listen in on her neighbors’ phone conversations via a party line.)

My ancestors’ telephone rituals seem quaint today, but their habits weren’t unusual. In the early days of phone communications, rural users and their novel phone habits (specifically the eavesdropping bit) perplexed Bell Telephone. For instance, rural Americans “visited” nearby family and friends by sitting in on a neighbor’s conversation or even rounded up families to gather at the home of someone with a working phone. The phone became something like a campfire where folks gathered to exchange stories and bond. (The Coleman Corporation is riffing on this phenomenon with its new ad campaign, “The Coleman Campsite: The Original Social Networking Site.”)

Eric Gilbert and two other social computing researchers, experts in how rural customers adopted early social technology, decided to explore what might be happening in today’s rural communities. They examined 3,000 rural and urban MySpace.com accounts (at the time, MySpace was the most popular social media service) including 340,000 friendships and 200,000 personal messages.

“We found that rural users had fewer friends, and the friends that they did have tended to reside closer to their home, about half as far away as the typical urban user,” says Gilbert, a PhD candidate in the University of Illinois computer science department.

The group also learned that rural women are more likely to use social media than men, and they are more apt to set their profiles to “private” than their urban counterparts. In short, rural users relied on social media primarily to bond with existing close friends rather than building friendship bridges to users in other areas of the country.

Their 2008 paper, “The Network in the Garden: Designing Social Media for Rural Life” is available online.

“We haven’t followed up on research and the landscape of social media has changed a lot in the last two years,” says Gilbert. “But I would expect similar results today.”

The landscape has indeed changed. For one thing, more adults are using social media sites now. Facebook has eclipsed MySpace in popularity and recently purchased a competitor, Friend Feed. Twitter is a household word now.

There is still ample room for social computing innovation, however, even within the age demographic most likely to use social media: 18 to 24 year olds. There’s also an opportunity for designers to create online services with rural users in mind. For example, Cliff Lampe, an assistant professor at Michigan State University’s telecommunications department, is helping individual communities develop customized social media sites targeting rural Michigan teens.

“We’ve got a real problem with ‘bright flight’ here,” says Lampe. “Young people are leaving Michigan. Recently I heard the problem described as ‘a long, slow Katrina exodus.’ It’s bad. We’re working on ways to use social media to get kids to look around their communities and see that there are businesses and other opportunities for them at home.”

Lampe and others are working with four rural schools scattered across Michigan. Students, working in collaboration with a team of designers, help create and promote original social network sites in exchange for college credit.

When asked if he thinks the conclusions of “The Network in the Garden” reflect rural social media habits in Michigan, Lampe notes, “There’s definitely a gender bias toward females with the students. Women, especially young women, are more social than males. Fifteen and 16 year-old females have a better sense of their own presence than males and that transfers into their use of social media.”

Lampe still sees major challenges to the growth of social media, principally disparities in broadband access.

“In one place, we have people who are pretty savvy about social media. But in another county with a total population of 12,000 people, where no one has broadband except a few places near the highway, people are not sure how to get their heads wrapped around the idea,” says Lampe. “They can’t access YouTube.com or any of the other sites readily and get familiar with them because they don’t load. And the high school blocks social media sites, so kids can’t get to them during the day. ”

Lampe is quick to laud “a few bright spots, some rural companies doing really cool things” with regard to their online presence and social media marketing. And he’s heard first-hand how enterprising rural residents have adapted their web use.

“We hear these stories of people parked in the lot next to the local nursing home, just to get wi-fi access and log on to Facebook,” he says.

It may look a little different, but it seems that the old-fashioned custom of “visiting” is alive and well in the Information Age.

http://www.dailyyonder.com/new-party-line-crackling/2009/08/19/2284

Ag secretary emphasizes importance of health care in rural areas

Casey Francis — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:32:17 +0000

Billings Gazette | By Diane Cochran | August 21, 2009

Rural Americans aren't getting their fair share under the nation's existing health care system, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said on Friday.

Farmers and ranchers pay more and receive less than they should, Vilsack said in an interview with The Billings Gazette.

"Sometimes I think people don't realize or appreciate that rural Americans are getting the short end of the stick with the status quo," Vilsack said. "Under the current system, it's not a good deal for people living in rural communities."

Vilsack spoke by telephone from Missouri, where he was traveling between public meetings about health care reform.

He said a good health care system must be accessible, affordable and of high quality, and the country's present system is none of those things for rural people.

"On all three of those counts, rural Americans lose," he said.

Many agricultural producers do not have health insurance, which makes accessing medical care difficult, Vilsack said.

Rural people often wait until they are very sick to seek help and then go to emergency departments. That costs more, and those higher costs are spread across many consumers by hospitals and insurance companies, he said.

"It's a combination that needs to be changed," Vilsack said.

He said President Obama's plans to reform health care would help rural families access and afford care while allowing people who are satisfied with what they have to keep it.

A public option plan would lower costs through competition, Vilsack said.

A public option would allow consumers to buy into a program similar to Medicare.

Vilsack said Medicare operates with low administrative costs, which a public option could also do. But people would not be required to use it.

"This is not a government-run system," he said. "This is about choice."

Contact Diane Cochran at dcochran@billingsgazette.com or 657-1287.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_3c068262-8e9c-11de-b17a-00...

Huge Job Potential in Wind Energy

Casey Francis — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:55:33 +0000

Analysis shows that expanding wind energy would create a lot of jobs in rural America.

FarmFutures.com | By Staff | August 20, 2009

The Center for Rural Affairs has released an analysis on the economic potential of wind energy development. The report addresses economic impact, job creation and wind resources in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. According to the report expanding production of renewable electricity to 20% of the nation's electrical generation has the potential to create a large number of new jobs in the rural Midwest and Great Plains.

The analysis projects that Kansas would gain nearly 3,100 long-term jobs in operations and maintenance of wind farms, Nebraska over 3,500 jobs, South Dakota over 3,900 jobs and Iowa over 9,000 jobs. An even higher number of medium-term jobs, averaging one year in duration, would be created. These jobs would be related to manufacturing, site preparation and turbine construction. Nationally, reaching 20% of electrical generation from wind would result in 1.75 million full-time jobs during wind turbine construction and 1.6 million new, permanent operational jobs.

The American Clean Energy Leadership Act is the key to this success. The Act would facilitate development of a national interstate electric transmission grid to move electricity from areas that have the resources for renewable production to areas with high demand. The bill also includes a critically important Renewable Electricity Standard. It would ostensibly require that 12% of the nation's electric generation come from renewable sources, not 20%, including wind, solar, geothermal, new hydroelectric, biomass and landfill generation, by the year 2021.

http://farmfutures.com/story.aspx?s=30909&c=17

Healing ‘doctor drain’ in rural Minnesota provides additional community benefits

Casey Francis — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:24:27 +0000

Training program for rural mental health providers achieves results

Iowa Independent | By Lynda Waddington | August 6, 2009

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — One of the most difficult challenges rural communities face is not only how to attract health care professionals to their traditionally underserved areas, but also specifically how to train them for their unique local needs, and keep them from leaving for often better opportunities in urban areas. The situation, which has been extensively detailed during a conference here this week, is especially dire in the field of mental health due to the combination of increased need, long work hours, lack of professional networks and typically low pay.

In northern Minnesota, however, a small group of local behavioral health specialists have created a post-doctorate program that has not only established one of the nation’s first pipelines of providers, but has enhanced the way existing agencies and providers interact for the betterment of an entire rural region.

Dr. Jeffrey Leichter, one of five founding members of the Minnesota Consortium for Advanced Rural Psychology Training, told conference attendees on Tuesday that one of the major challenges associated with bringing behavioral health care providers into rural areas is that few are adequately prepared for the realities of practicing there.

“In a rural community, you can’t just say, ‘I treat eating disorders, and that’s all I do.’ You just can’t do that in a smaller community,” Leichter explained.

A mental health provider in a smaller community not only needs to be able to see a wide variety of clients at all life stages, often referred from various community agencies, but needs to understand when his or her scope of practice has been exceeded and a referral has to be made.

“That’s a very difficult thing to decide,” he said. “Do I keep a client even when I know that there is a provider several hours away with more knowledge about a specific condition? Since many clients won’t travel that far due to transportation or financial issues, are such clients actually better off with the care I can provide even when it will be more generalized? It becomes a question of whether some care is better than no care at all.”

There is also the aspect of running a “fishbowl medical practice,” in that clients and providers are thrust into the same day-to-day routines. The situation, he said, makes it difficult, if not impossible, for a provider to ever really leave the office.

“There are a lot of ethical boundary issues,” he said. “If you live in a small town, your client is pumping your gas. Your client is on the church committee with you. Your client is across the table at a supper you were both invited to attend. … Those are ethical issues that you don’t learn about in school.”

In addition to lower pay through a client-base that is primarily covered by either Medicare or Medicaid, the scrutiny and other unique demands that make it difficult for smaller communities to attract and retain providers, there is also the added burden of the inherent risk factors and cultural differences of working with a rural population.

“Most rural residents face triple jeopardy,” he said. “That is, they are poor, uninsured and live in isolated areas.”

Another way to describe the problem, he said, is by the “four As,” which are accessibility, availability, acceptability and affordability. Rural residents seeking even the most basic health care are impacted by each.

For all of these reasons and more, Leichter and four other local providers accepted a $23,000 Minnesota state grant and began writing a curriculum that would specifically provide post-doctorate psychologists with first-hand experiences of practicing in a rural setting. Since accepting its first psychology resident in 2006, MCARPT has graduated three students, all of whom have gone on to provide services in underserved areas of Minnesota. Two more residents are anticipated to complete the program this fall, and there is a possibility that the new section that begins in October will expand to three residents.

Those who developed and planned the Detriot Lakes-based training program, did so with a specific goal in mind: “Reduce the shortage of psychologists practicing in rural communities due to poor retention of mental health professionals in underserved parts of the state and thereby enhance access for rural residents to quality mental health services in their communities.” In short, it really was about creating a pipeline of professionals that could stem an existing and problematic shortage. The results of providing the service, however, have also had a local, positive impact.

“There are multiple benefits,” Leitcher said. “There is direct benefit to the community in the sense that we are populating the number of mental health professionals over the course of time that are going to be in the community. This particular project — and I don’t think I’m being overly boastful — has created cohesion among these 11 agencies that previously often times never talked with each other. There’s a connection … [and] now they all speak to one another in the interest of making sure the fellowship program works smoothly.”

Existing professionals within the community have also been able to combat feelings of isolation due to interactions, like group supervision meetings, that are built into the program.

“There aren’t a lot of psychologists in our area, but of those that are, many are involved in the program by doing supervision or teaching or some other type of training element,” he said. “I think it is very fair to say that a lot of folks who kind of felt like they were out there by themselves are now being brought into the fold of this project, and are feeling like they are a part of something that is very cutting edge and innovative.”

Since 80 of Minnesota’s 87 counties are considered to be mental health shortage areas, Leichter laughed when asked how long it would take MCARPT to provide psychologists to all underserved areas of the state.

“A lifetime at least,” he said and laughed some more. “But we are making a dent.”

http://iowaindependent.com/18178/healing-doctor-drain-in-rural-minnesota...

Online Education: Raising Alabama

Casey Francis — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:53:27 +0000

The Economist | By Alexander City | July 16, 2009

An experiment in levelling the playing field

ON A sweltering day in Alexander City, Alabama, summer school was in full swing. Two girls were reading “Julius Caesar” as two others wrestled with maths. A boy worked his way through a psychology quiz, and a teacher monitored an online discussion with students from around the state: Was Napoleon the last enlightened despot or the first modern dictator?

This is not a traditional classroom scene, but it has become common enough in Alabama. The state has many small, rural schools. Because of their size, and the relative scarcity of specialised teachers, course offerings have been limited. Students might have had to choose between chemistry or physics, or stop after two years of Spanish. But thanks to an innovative experiment with online education, the picture has changed dramatically.

In 2005 the governor, Bob Riley, announced a pilot programme called Alabama Connecting Classrooms Educators and Students Statewide, or ACCESS. The idea was to use internet and videoconferencing technology to link students in one town to teachers in another. It was something of a pet cause for Mr Riley, who comes from a rural county himself. He was especially keen that students should have a chance to learn Chinese.

There were sceptics. The pilot programme cost $10m, not pocket change in a poor state. Teachers worried about how they would connect to their virtual students. But ACCESS quickly became a hit. In 2006 students took more than 4,000 courses at 24 schools. In 2008, with ACCESS now in more schools, the number exceeded 22,000. Administrators are finding new ways to liven up the experience. Last year a dozen schools went on a “virtual field trip” to Antarctica, with scientists beamed in by satellite, and a school in Birmingham has been liaising with a counterpart in Wales.

As for the goal of levelling the academic playing field, the state is pleased so far. Mark Dixon, the governor’s adviser for education, says that several years ago fewer than half of Alabama’s public high schools offered any college-level Advanced Placement (AP) courses. As of this summer, they all will; ACCESS is being extended to all the state’s schools.

Joe Morton, the state superintendent of schools, points to the number of black students taking AP courses. In 2003, according to the College Board, just 4.5% of Alabama’s successful AP students (those who passed the subject exam) were black. In 2008 the number was up to 7.1%. There is still a staggering gap—almost a third of the state’s students are black—but the improvement in Alabama was the largest in the country over that period. “That makes it all worthwhile right there,” says Mr Morton.

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14...

Rural Renewal Monitor

Free land the key to small towns' growth?

Can Designers Stamp Out Rural Poverty?

First White Spaces Network Brings Broadband Internet to Rural America over Unused TV Broadcast Airwaves

Industry Leaders, Including Dell, Microsoft, Spectrum Bridge and the TDF Foundation, Join to Improve Education, Economic Opportunity and Quality of Life for Claudville, Va. Residents

Contacts

Suddenly, America digs farming

The Huffington Post's 'hot organic farmers' and the Internet social game FarmVille may be signs of a growing interest in growing things.

Rural Amenities from the ERS/USDA Briefing Room

Overview

Vist the site below for the full briefing:

Subpar Broadband Stifling Small Businesses?

The FCC estimates that it could cost more than $350 billion to wire the U.S. with high-speed Internet access.

HHS Secretary pushes health care reform for rural America

Legislation would make insurance and providers more accessible

Melstone drug, hardware store hopes to survive with help from the community

Facebook draws a growing crop of farmers

Many in the ag industry are using Twitter and blogs to communicate, educate.

The reporter can be reached at brodriguez@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6327.

Rural Restaurants Serve Online Appetizers

Small town restaurants are finding that social media sites spur customers to the door.

America's Coolest Small Towns

Every now and then, you stumble upon a town that's gotten everything right—great coffee, food with character, shop owners with purpose. These 10 spots have it all, in perfectly small doses.

Cayucos, Calif. (pop. 3,000) serious waves and serious food

Lexington, Virg. (pop. 6,867) right out of a Norman Rockwell

Breaux Bridge, La. (pop. 8,200) big crawfish in a small pond

Tubac, Ariz. (pop. 1,900) galleries are framed by mountain views

Wallace, Idaho (pop. 1,000) a place that mines its own history

Saugerties, N.Y. (pop. 5,000) shop owners extend the welcome mat

Mount Vernon, Iowa (pop. 4,671) art isn't confined to gallery walls

Jacksonville, Ore. (pop. 2,750) a refuge from the tourist whirl of napa

Rockland, Maine (pop. 7,680) sophistication mixed with saltiness

Whitefish, Mont. (pop. 7,723) ski bums and urban refugees congregate

NM bookmobiles: Books for those without libraries

Neb. Lawmakers Told Action Needed for Health Care

Patience urged on rural roads

Harvest season, and potential traffic hazards, approaching

Great Plains Are Great, Not Plain

Action plan to help keep rural life vibrant

How teachers, parents worked to make small rural CNY school one of the best

Camden Elementary faced low scores five year ago, but worked to turn them around.

View full size (Gary Walts / The Post)

Gary Walts, principal of Camden Elementary School, is pictured to the right. (The Post-Standard- Nick Pulizzi).

Camden Elementary School is one of 314 schools named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education (Gary Walts - The Post Standard).

Farm tourism connects public to rural life

UNL poll: Self-employment big in rural Nebraska

Alaska creates new rural education job

Rising Sun's charm melds community of artists, rural life

Museum to help rural schools

Rural Areas Perceive Policy Tilt

Urban Bias Seen on Stimulus, But Ed. Dept. Vows Balance

No Nationwide Solution

Economic Distress

‘Race to Top’ Concerns

Farm matchmaking a way to preserve rural America

Getting Real About Rural Schools

Baby Boom Migration Tilts Toward Rural America

Baby boomers, poised to retire, are expected to increase rural and small-town populations, bringing both additional benefits and costs.

Heart of Rural Community Reopens

Nonprofit group rallies rural artists

Group aims to help artists connect with audiences, each other

Bridging the gap

No boundaries

USDA Rural Development can help with home repair loans

It’s time to put those home repair plans into action. If your residence requires home improvements and your wondering where this money is going to come from, USDA Rural Development, a federally funded agency, may be the answer.

Catholic nuns wins rural preservation award

The New Party Line Is Crackling

Ag secretary emphasizes importance of health care in rural areas

Huge Job Potential in Wind Energy

Analysis shows that expanding wind energy would create a lot of jobs in rural America.

Healing ‘doctor drain’ in rural Minnesota provides additional community benefits

Training program for rural mental health providers achieves results

Online Education: Raising Alabama

An experiment in levelling the playing field

Many in the ag industry are using Twitter
and blogs to communicate, educate.

Cayucos, Calif.
(pop. 3,000)
serious waves and serious food

Lexington, Virg.
(pop. 6,867)
right out of a Norman Rockwell

Breaux Bridge, La.
(pop. 8,200)
big crawfish in a small pond

Tubac, Ariz.
(pop. 1,900)
galleries are framed by mountain views

Wallace, Idaho
(pop. 1,000)
a place that mines its own history

Saugerties, N.Y.
(pop. 5,000)
shop owners extend the welcome mat

Mount Vernon, Iowa
(pop. 4,671)
art isn't confined to gallery walls

Jacksonville, Ore.
(pop. 2,750)
a refuge from the tourist whirl of napa

Rockland, Maine
(pop. 7,680)
sophistication mixed with saltiness

Whitefish, Mont.
(pop. 7,723)
ski bums and urban refugees congregate