Latest News

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.

Expand your expertise in tourism by participating with the National Extension Tourism Network and their 2019 conference. Engage with current research, case studies, program models, and business development in tourism. Astoria, Oregon, October 8-11, 2019. A call for presentation proposals is coming soon.

The Northeast Regional Center would like to wish everyone a safe and wonderful holiday season and best wishes in the new year! Our offices will be closed from December 22, 2018 to January 2, 2019.

After seven years of analyzing a number of consumption, distribution, production, and other aspects of the Northeast U.S. food system, researchers from Penn State and 10 other universities and organizations have made significant gains in understanding the extent to which the region can increase production of certain foods, and potentially better meet the food needs of low-income populations in the locations they studied. Findings and outputs from the project, which concluded earlier this year, will be useful to food system planners, policy makers, researchers and advocates interested in advancing regional food systems.

Companies that invest heavily in research and development are more likely to benefit from locating near dissimilar businesses, while companies that invest less in technology are better off near businesses in their own industry, according to new research by a team of economists. The findings can help business owners and policy makers design better business strategies and economic policies.

The farther away from a city a person is raised, the more likely they are to climb the economic ladder, according to economists, who also found that community characteristics associated with upward mobility actually have different effects in rural and urban locations.

Poor mental health ranks as one of the costliest forms of sickness for U.S. workers and may sap billions of dollars from the country's income growth, according to a team of researchers including Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development staff.

There were some new faces at the Northeast Center’s in-person meeting of its Board of Directors (BOD) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) this year. Richard Rhodes III, Executive Director of the Northeastern Regional Association of State Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (NERA), and Bernadette (Bunny) Reichle, Northeast CARET Chair, each joined the Board of Directors for a three-year term.

A special session of the 2018 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association meeting focused on the land-grant institutional capacity to support human capital and to cultivate economic opportunity over the nation’s vast rural expanse. Representatives of the USDA, the Regional Rural Development Centers, and other applied economists from the land grants spoke about recent successes and future challenges. The presentations are archived online.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and USDA announced a new listing of Federal programs that can be used to build resilient communities and address opioid misuse in rural communities. The Rural Resource Guide to Help Communities Address Substance Use Disorder and Opioid Misuse is a first-of-its-kind, one-stop-shop for rural leaders looking for Federal funding and partnership opportunities, according to a USDA press release. Read the full press release and download the resource guide here:

The UNH Community and Economic Development Update is a quarterly newsletter that includes stories about local community and economic development programs, information about upcoming workshops and events, and resources for new community and economic development topics.

A poll conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Public Radio, and Harvard University shows that rural residents like their jobs and say they are doing better than their parents—but worry about drug abuse and their local economies.

A research team led by Northeast Center Director Stephan Goetz will receive $500,000 over three years to study innovation in rural communities and find ways for communities to support rural entrepreneurs.