November 21, 2019
In 2018, the Farm Fresh Food Boxes project received a grant from the Center to demonstrate the impact of their project using selected community economic development indicators. They have developed an infographic and report to share their findings.
November 21, 2019
Is your community searching for economic development opportunities and better food access? Farm Fresh Food Box (F3B) is an innovative model in which farmers and retailers provide affordable fresh produce to rural customers. If you're interested in learning more about the F3B model, check out the team's December 5 webinar (register by December 4), and attend their "deep-dive virtual workshops" in 2020.
November 20, 2019
Many online resources are now available from the 2019 Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Conference, which took place in Astoria, Oregon in October. The conference theme emphasized the “triple bottom line” approach to supporting tourism and outdoor recreation development, which emphasizes the ecology, economy, and people involved with places and experiences.
November 20, 2019
A new book of case studies from across North and Central America provides a look at nine innovative approaches taken to develop sustainable tourism in a variety of contexts. The book, titled "Innovative and Promising Practices in Sustainable Tourism" and edited by Nicole Vaugeous, Miles Phillips, Doug Arbogast and Patrick Brouder, is freely available online.
November 16, 2019
The North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) held its annual meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, this year, and the Center was well-represented. Center Director Stephan Goetz, the 2019 president-elect of NARSC, delivered the presidential address, titled "Network Applications in Regional Science: New Insights from Old Tools." In addition, Postdoctoral Scholars Elizabeth Dobis, Devon Meadocroft, and Zheng Tian presented on their research.
November 15, 2019
Northeast Center Postdoctoral Scholar Sarah Rocker was featured recently in the newsletter of the Food Systems Leadership Network of the Wallace Center at Winrock International. Check out the profile, authored by Annalina Kazickas, for a look into how Sarah found her way to food systems work, what inspires her, plus a peek at her home garden!
November 14, 2019
For several days in September, the Northeast Center hosted Dr. Charlie French, Associate Extension Professor at University of New Hampshire, while he conducted research on resilient, rural communities including the role of innovation. As part of his visit, he gave a seminar titled "Rural Innovation Redefined." A recording of his presentation is available online.
November 14, 2019
In October, Dr. Heather Stephens, Assistant Professor of Resource Economics and Management at West Virginia University and incoming Chair of the NERCRD Technical Advisory Committee, gave an invited seminar at Penn State titled "Incentivizing the Missing Middle: The Role of Economic Development Policy." The presentation and the working paper on which it was based are both available online.
November 8, 2019
The Northeast Center is reissuing its 2019 Request for Proposals (RFP) to its small-grants program. The program is designed to help Northeast land-grant university faculty and educators document the impacts of their work while also encouraging collaboration across state lines. This new iteration of the RFP includes changes aimed at making the program more accessible to a wider audience by reducing the number of team members required and allowing more flexibility in the geographic composition of funded teams. Proposals will be due January 10, 2020.
November 3, 2019
Stephan Goetz and his co-authors recently received awards for their published research from the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences and from Emerald Publishing.
November 2, 2019
Stephan Goetz, Director of the Northeast Center, discusses the factors that make some communities more resilient in recovering from economic downturns in this 12-minute interview with Wisconsin Public Radio.
November 1, 2019
The rural population in the U.S. is aging at a more rapid rate than in urban areas, while disparities in rural health and life expectancy continue to grow. A new five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging (NIA) will fund a Penn State-led project to build an interdisciplinary network of researchers focusing on rural population health and aging.
October 31, 2019
The National Association for Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) is now accepting proposals for their 2020 conference, which is scheduled to take place May 31-June 30, 2020 in Portsmouth, NH. Deadline for submission is Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 11:59pm.
October 31, 2019
Farmers, researchers, agricultural service providers, tourism professionals, and others interested in agritourism are invited to submit proposals to present at the International Workshop on Agritourism in Burlington, Vermont October 27-29, 2020. The call for proposals will close Jan 31.
October 30, 2019
Mark your calendars for the 2020 National Health Outreach Conference! The conference will be held May 13-15, 2020 at the Marriott on the Plaza in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. With the theme of “The Grand Challenge: Building a Healthy Future for All,” there will be sessions related to Nutrition, Health, 4-H Youth Development, Workforce Development, Human Development, and many other topics.
September 12, 2019
A new way of measuring how relationships in a network change over time can reveal important details about the network, according to researchers at the Northeast Regional Center and the Korean Rural Economic Institute. For example, when applied to the world economy, the method detected the greatest amount of network change during 2008-09, the time of the global financial crisis.
July 29, 2019
For a new food hub to succeed, it should be located in a community with a population sufficient to sustain it, according to a team of economists, who found that a county seeking to establish its first food hub needs roughly 182,000 residents for that food hub to break even. Their findings could help funding agencies establish criteria to determine whether and where new food hubs should be added.
July 26, 2019
Smaller and rural businesses innovate in ways that are often missed by traditional measures of innovation and, as a result, little is known about their innovation activity. However, through a funding program administered by the Northeast Center in collaboration with the USDA Economic Research Service, three research teams have broadened our understanding of how rural businesses are innovating and the effects such innovation is having on communities. With the goal of distilling some of their findings for a general audience, the Northeast Center is launching a new series of research briefs. The first focuses on a new, broad measure of innovation that provides insight into the effects of innovation on the economic health of communities and businesses.
July 25, 2019
We are pleased to welcome several new scholars to the Northeast Center!
July 25, 2019
Looking for ways to better understand your local food system? A new toolkit, developed by Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County, may be used to support projects seeking to acquire a more robust understanding of local/regional food system assets.
July 24, 2019
With funding from the Northeast Center, a team of Extension staff and faculty from five states explored how communities can leverage their existing trail systems to promote vibrant downtown economies. They've recently released an infobrief that summarizes what they learned.
July 23, 2019
Ted Alter, professor of agricultural, environmental and regional economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, is among an international group of community, industry, government and academic leaders who are being lauded for their work to help manage an invasive and destructive species in Australia. The team has received the 2019 United Nations Public Service Award, the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.
July 23, 2019
The National Extension Tourism Design team has been busy planning their biennial conference, and the program is taking shape. There's still time to register for this conference, taking place in the port city of Astoria, Oregon October 8-11.
July 23, 2019
The National Association for Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) 2020 conference will take place May 31-June 3 in Portsmouth, NH. For a peak at what's in store, check out a video produced by planning committee members from the University of New Hampshire!
June 29, 2019
A new paper by Stephan Goetz and former Northeast Center research associate Yicheol Han advances the field of network science by introducing a new method of measuring how relationships in networks change over time. It was published in PLOS ONE this month.
June 4, 2019
The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD) announces a new competitive grant opportunity that is intended to help Northeast (NE) Land Grant University (LGU) faculty and educators document the impacts of their work while also encouraging collaboration across state lines. Proposals in the topic areas of innovation or tourism are especially encouraged. Proposals will be accepted until September 30, 2019.
May 8, 2019
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.
May 8, 2019
An article by the Health Insurance, Rural Economic Development and Agriculture (HIREDnAg) team led by Shoshanah Inwood of The Ohio State University (formerly of the University of Vermont) was selected to receive "Honorable Mention" for 2018’s Outstanding Choices Article. The article describes a study consisting of in-depth interviews with 100 farm families and surveys of 1,062 randomly selected farmers and ranchers in ten states. The team's findings paint a picture of how prominently health insurance figures into the decision-making of many farm families, who are engaged in one of the most dangerous occupations in the U.S.
May 6, 2019
NERCRD research is being used in the highest level of Federal Government. The 2019 Economic Report of the President cited three scientific papers written by NERCRD and collaborating researchers.
April 6, 2019
The USDA, EPA, and others have recently announced funding opportunities that may be of interest to those working in community development, outdoor recreation, and food systems.
