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The Appalachian communities that enjoyed persistent economic growth following the 2008 Great Recession have a number of factors in common, according to researchers who analyzed all 420 counties in the Appalachian region. Their findings will help guide future economic development strategies across Appalachia.

A team of Penn State Extension educators has developed a free video series that offers practical strategies to facilitate and build trust in the community. Titled “Community Conflict: Finding Middle Ground,” the series is designed to help community leaders, municipal officials and others who work in the public and nonprofit sector learn how to guide meetings toward a more productive and positive outcome for all. Each short video focuses on individual topics important to productive community conversations.

In 2018, the Northeast Center continued its work of growing strong, collaborative networks across the land-grant system, across federal agencies, and across the nation. Together with our collaborators, we worked on a number of research and outreach projects that reached thousands of people. Read all about it in our 2018 Annual Report!

The Northeast Center's Board of Directors and Technical Advisory Committee recently filled their remaining vacancies with the addition of two new members from the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension: Ken La Valley and Molly Donovan.

Under the 2018-2019 National Governors’ Association (NGA) Chair’s Initiative, "Good Jobs for All Americans," the NGA is sponsoring three regional workshops in different locations across the U.S., with a culminating conference in Montana at the 2019 NGA Summer Meeting. The first regional event was held in Pittsburgh, where NERCRD Director Stephan Goetz provided context for a discussion around empowering the rural workforce.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) recently released "Strengthening Economic Resilience in Appalachia," a new study identifying factors common across communities experiencing persistent economic growth in the aftermath of the 2008 Recession and other economic disruptions. Together with West Virginia University, the NERCRD played an instrumental role in developing this report. The research includes a statistical analysis of key factors common to economic resilience. A companion Guidebook for Practitioners offers additional insight that can inform economic development strategies across Appalachia.

Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett recently announced the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched a new toolkit to help support the deployment of high-speed broadband e-Connectivity in rural communities. The e-Connectivity Toolkit features 27 USDA programs that support broadband deployment. The guide allows customers to identify their type of e-Connectivity project and locate resources that the federal government offers for planning, equipment, construction, research, and other e-Connectivity projects.

In many states, universities within the land-grant system are responding to the opioid crisis. However, the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) felt that a coordinated land-grant effort could provide a more comprehensive and effective strategy for addressing the ongoing crisis, and created the Extension Opioid Crisis Response Workgroup (EOCRW) to develop a strategic framework to guide Extension activities related to addressing the crisis nationwide. The EOCRW has issued a final report that summarizes their process and activities, findings, and recommendations.

Changes in the distribution of Pennsylvania's population — largely toward the state's southeastern quadrant — reflect challenges that policymakers need to address to promote and maintain statewide prosperity, suggests a new report compiled by economists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

The multi-disciplinary Water for Agriculture project is hosting a webinar on February 19 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on the Voluntary Stewardship Program. The webinar will offer an on-the-ground example of diverse interests engaging in a collaborative process to address issues around preserving agriculture while protecting natural resources like water and fish. It is the first in a series intended to encourage sharing of scholarship and practitioners’ experience with community-based stakeholder engagement in natural resources.

The APLU invites you to join a group of university leaders making a difference in rural communities. This Learning Exchange Forum will be a series of monthly phone calls for members to exchange best practices, engage philanthropic, private sector, and government funders, and more. Co-chaired by Sheila Martin, APLU, and Michael Gaffney, Washington State University, the group will hold a monthly discussion every third Tuesday at 12:00 noon Eastern time, beginning February 19, 2019.

The National Extension Tourism Design Team is accepting presentation proposals for the 2019 Sustainable Tourism & Outdoor Recreation Conference, scheduled for October 8-11, 2019 in Astoria, OR. The conference will provide a forum for Extension professionals, academic faculty, and others working in the broad area of tourism and recreation, including tourism service providers and businesses, to share programs, initiatives, research, and success stories, and network with other professionals.

Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural and regional economics in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, was appointed president-elect of the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) last month.

Congratulations to longtime NERCRD research associate, Yicheol Han, who has accepted a position as a research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute in Nasu-si, South Korea. Han (known by many as “Char”) will be leaving the Center at the end of the month, after more than seven years of very productive service.

The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development seeks applications for two one-year research positions with possibility of renewal subject to funding.

A new publication features the research highlights and findings of a multi-state project titled "The Great Recession, Its Aftermath, and Patterns of Rural and Small Town Demographic Change, 2012-2017." The research team, which included NERCRD Technical Advisory Committee Member László J. Kulcsár and many other colleagues from the region, carried out important first steps in developing policies that address the current and future needs of rural people, places, and institutions. Read the impact statement and learn more about the team's findings here (links to PDF).

In the fall issue of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Kate Clancy and Kathy Ruhf discuss “regional” as an essential and distinct framework for advancing sustainable food systems. In their commentary, the authors offer an update to their 2010 examination of the value of regional thinking and the regional scale in food systems. They also share six suggestions for working at the regional scale. Clancy and Ruhf both were members of the leadership team of the "Enhancing Food Security in the Northeast through Regional Food Systems" (EFSNE) project.

If you missed one of the webinars organized this year by the National Community and Economic Resource Development (CRD) Indicators Team team, fear not -- recordings are available online for viewing anytime. The team collaborates to share compelling stories about the collective impacts of community and economic development work, at local, state, regional and national levels.

Molly Donovan, a University of New Hampshire Extension community and economic development state specialist, received the Northeast Regional Award for Excellence in Extension from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) last month. The APLU awards committee praised Donovan’s work with “citizen volunteers and leaders to build resilient communities and a strong economy” in New Hampshire cities and towns. UNH Extension Dean and Director Ken La Valley accepted the award on Donovan’s behalf at APLU’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Congratulations, Molly!

The National Association for Community Development Professionals (NACDEP) is now accepting proposals for presentations, workshops, and posters for its 2019 conference. The conference, which has the theme of "Homegrown to New Heights," will be held in Asheville, NC, June 9-13.