Economic
development work, Policy Issues, and Funding
In 2002, Rural Action capitalized on several exciting mew opportunities to
collaborate with other organizations to deepen our economic development work
and address critical policy issues affection the region. At the same time,
like communities and organizations around the country, we faced financial challenges
created by the troubled US economy.
We began three new collaborations: the Appalachian Ohio Rural Investment Coalition
(AORIC), which recently received funding from the national Rural Funders’ Collaborative;
a new Foundation; and the Appalachian Forest Research Center (AFRC), the largest
of four such regional forest centers in the country. These initiatives will
help us tackle some of the policy barriers to rural economic development work.
AORIC began in early 2002 when a coalition of local groups led by the Foundation
for Appalachian Ohio was awarded a grant from the National Rural Funders Collaborative
to improve the regional economy, develop community capacity and expand local
leadership in and for rural areas facing persistent poverty. Our coalition,
which received the top award from a pool of 294 applicants, includes the Appalachian
Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet), the corporation for Ohio Appalachian
Development (COAD), the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, the Ohio Arts Council,
the Nature Conservancy, Planning Adams County Tomorrow (PACT), and Rural Action.
As a partner in AORIC, Rural Action hosts and manages a "business facilitator" who
assists food and forest businesses, works with COAD on civic leadership development
and capacity building, and works with the Nature Conservancy, ACEnet and the
other partners to develop criteria and indicators to measure progress.
During 2002, Rural Action, as a member of the Central Appalachian Network,
was invited to participate in Networks for Rural Policy Development, and exciting
new program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. This three-year effort seeks to
improve the lives of rural people through their involvement in policy making
and reform. Recognizing the power of rural voices, this project brings issues
to life by inviting rural people to tell their stories. Local, regional and
national networks are identifying policy issues and communicating with policy
makers.
During the first year, we brought together our members interested in the agriculture,
forestry, and medicinal herb sectors to identify and explore policy issues
facing our region. By the spring of 2003 we will choose one issue for further
work. So far, one committee has researches ginseng regulations to fund ways
to reduce poaching and make harvests more sustainable. Another committee is
exploring local purchasing programs that open institutional markets such as
colleges and local schools to small farmers.
Also in 2002, Rural Action was given the opportunity to manage the Appalachian
Forest Resource Center (AFRC), which is one of four regional centers funded
by a grant received by the National Network of Forest Practitioners (NNFP)
from the Fund for Rural America. Each regional center is grounded in the concept
of participatory research, integrating research with the knowledge of rural
people for the betterment of forest dependent rural communities.
The Rural Action Research and Education Center, a 68-acre research and education
facility in Meigs Count, Ohio, will house AFRC staff and serve as a hub for
community-based research and network activities, which include growing connections
with the forest communities of the central Appalachians. Because AFRC serves
by far the largest region of the four centers, Rural Action is collaborating
with the Southern Appalachian Center for Cooperative Organizations (SACCO)
in North Carolina on this project. SACCO staff will be the primary contact
for communities in the Southern Appalachian Region and will bring their tremendous
knowledge and experience with participatory research and popular education
to the workshops and technical assistance they will deliver. Managing AFRC
gives us the opportunity to expand our research capacity and strengthen our
connections with communities and organizations across the region.
Our major challenge in 2002 was financial. The stock market declines, state
budget crisis and federal budget slowdown all affected funding in the nonprofit
sector. The plummeting stock market greatly reduced the assets of many private
foundations, forcing major reductions in their grand making. While Rural Action
has a diversified funding base and support from our members, we too, have been
forced to scale back.
Last summer we decided to close our Athens office to reduce costs and consolidate
operations to our Trimble headquarters. We continue to maintain watershed offices
in Amesville, Glouster, and New Straitsville, a forestry office in Glouster,
and the Rural Action Research and Education Center in rural Meigs County. Like
many other nonprofit organizations in these difficult economic times, we are
finding it harder to raise funds-particularly the operating funks needed for
office expenses and administrative staff-and saw a need to reduce costs as
a result.
Karen Affeld,
Director of Grants Planning and Administration
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