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PUBLICATIONS

  1. USDA Cooperative Programs Calls for Articles

USDA Cooperative Programs is again inviting co-op development centers nationwide to submit short articles highlighting any promising new or established co-op(s) they are working with. We also need photos to run with the articles. We will run these articles in the Co-op Month section of the Sept.-Oct. issue of USDA’s “Rural Cooperatives” magazine. Deadline for the articles is Aug. 26. It would be very helpful if you could let us know by July 25 if you plan to submit an article.  Articles should be about 450-600 words. Articles can discuss why a co-op was formed or expanded, who the members are, what the co-op is trying to accomplish, opportunities, and challenges facing the co-op, how your center is assisting, etc. Quotes from co-op leaders or members really liven up the articles. If you have a couple of co-ops you would like to feature, that’s fine, but please try to stick close to the 600-word limit. You may include a paragraph providing an overview of your Co-op Development Center, but please make the co-op the focus of the article. We are happy to give bylines to the writer and photographer, but no payment is involved; articles are considered to be in the public domain once we publish them. Re. photos: We need fairly high resolution photos. A jpg file of about 300 dpi (dots per inch) at 4-5 inches wide will usually work fine. If in doubt, just send us what you have and we will let you know if it will work. Please try to get some people in the photos, and a choice of photos is always appreciated. If you or someone at the co-op plans to shoot some photos for this article, please make sure your digital camera or phone is set to the “high” resolution setting. You can check out the Co-op Month section (starts on page 21) of last year’s Sept.-Oct. magazine on our website at: http://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RDRuralCoopMag_SeptOct15.pdf. Thanks for considering being part of our Co-op Month issue, and feel free to e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions.

  1. FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Takes More Actions to Address the Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic
    Jul 6, 2016 -- The Obama Administration is taking actions to combat the heroin epidemic, including expanding telemedicine in rural areas and funding rural healthcare facilities, thus providing communities with much-needed services.
    Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary
  1. With Hospitals in Critical Condition, Can Rural America Survive?
    Jul 5, 2016 -- Nearly 30 percent of the country's rural hospitals are at risk of closing in the next two years. Though rural hospitals have faced closure threats before, this time the challenges run deeper, and call into question whether rural areas themselves can survive in the absence of hospitals.
    Source: Governing

While there is a clear correlation between social progress — as measured in terms of basic human needs, well-being, and opportunity — and per capita GDP, economic wealth alone does not determine social progress outcomes, a report from the Social Progress Imperative finds. Based on fifty-three indicators in a variety of areas, including access to opportunity, health care, and education, the 2016 Social Progress Index (147 pages, PDF) ranked Finland at the top of the hundred and thirty-three countries included in the index, followed by Canada, Denmark, Australia, and Switzerland. The United States ranked nineteenth overall and twenty-first in basic human needs, thirty-second in well-being, and thirteenth in opportunity. Globally, indicators of nutrition and basic medical care and access to basic knowledge — categories aligned with many of the United Nations' Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals — performed well, while indicators of tolerance and inclusion, personal rights, access to advanced education, and environmental quality fared worse....

  1. White House Launches Data-Driven Justice Initiative

The White House has announced the launch of a public-private initiative aimed at encouraging the use of data to reduce mass incarceration in the United States. Through the Data-Driven Justice (DDJ) Initiative, a coalition of sixty-seven city, county, and state governments will work to adopt data-driven strategies aimed at diverting low-level offenders with mental illness out of the criminal justice system and then connect them with health and social services. DDJ also will work to equip law enforcement and first responders with protocols for de-escalating crisis situations and to reform pre-trial incarceration practices so that low-risk offenders don't remain in jail simply because they can't afford bond. The coalition includes the governments of Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Utah....

  1. Focus on Equity Needed to Reduce Child Poverty, Illiteracy, Mortality

If the world community hopes to reverse troubling trends in child poverty and mortality by 2030, the target date for the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, governments, private donors, businesses, and international organizations must focus more on addressing the plight of the world's most disadvantaged children, a report from UNICEF warns. The report, The State of the World's Children 2016: A Fair Chance for Every Child (184 pages, PDF), found that if current trends persist, by 2030 sixty-nine million children under the age of five will die from mostly preventable causes, a hundred and sixty-seven million children will be living in extreme poverty, and sixty million children of primary school age will not be in school. Despite improvements since the 1990s in global under-five mortality rates, gender parity in primary school attainment, and poverty rates, progress has been neither even nor fair, the report further notes. Indeed, children from the poorest households are twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday and to be chronically malnourished, while girls are twice as likely to be child brides as girls from the richest households. And while the report notes that education helps level the playing field, it estimates that about a hundred and twenty-four million children do not attend primary- or lower-secondary school today, while nearly 40 percent of those who finish primary school do not know how to read, write, or do simple arithmetic....

EVENTS/LEARNING

  1. New Resource for Two-Generation Approaches to Support Children and Parents Together 

The U.S. Department of Education's Place-Based Initiative Pilot Team recently released a resource focused on Two-Generation Approaches. Two generation approaches consider the needs of both vulnerable children and parents, together, in the design and delivery of services and programs to support improved economic, educational, health, safety and other outcomes that address the issues of intergenerational poverty.  Developed by Jobs for the Future, this document is intended to provide local communities and practitioners with an overview of the research, best practices, and resources available to stakeholders interested in two-generation approaches.  Your input on this resource is invited and appreciated!

  1. National Good Food Network Webinar | Before You Leap: Hidden Implications of Food Hub Business Growth

As food hubs strive to reach volumes which enable financial viability, they will often need to innovate - to take chances on new markets, products and approaches.This webinar presents three "roads not yet taken" that your hub or a hub you work with may encounter. Each road has the possibility of great success, but has potholes to avoid (some big enough to lose the whole business in). Tera Johnson is successful food entrepreneur and university lecturer who founded the Food Finance Institute at University of Wisconsin. She will take you on a journey through these three archetypal hub business decision points, and advise how to manage for success. Drawing from her own experience, as well as premier industry data, Tera will present a big picture view of: adding a frozen product line, adding a new distribution channel, and taking on a very large customer.

Thursday, July 28

3:30 - 4:45pm ET (12:30 - 1:45pm PT)

Free! Register Now

 

  1. Our Town: How to Apply July 2016

NEA Staff will give a 30-minute presentation on the FY 2017 Our Town grant guidelines, how to apply, and an overview of the review process. The presentation will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A session. The webinar will include guidelines for the Arts Engagement, Cultural Planning, and Design Projects as well as the Projects that Build Knowledge about Creative Placemaking. Potential applicants are encouraged to attend live to have their questions answered by Our Town Program Staff. You will be muted and able to ask questions using the Q&A box. You can listen to the webinar using your computer speakers or dial-in to 1-877-685-5350, participant code: 739587. See the Our Town guidelines.

Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 - 15:00

  1. Our Town Proposals: Tips & Tricks for Success July 2016

NEA Staff will give a presentation to assist applicants in crafting a compelling creative placemaking project application. The presentation will include an overview of creative placemaking resources, sample projects that have been successful, the mechanics of a competitive Our Town proposal, and ideas on how to articulate anticipated project outcomes. The presentation will be followed by a Q & A session. You will be muted and able to ask questions using the Q&A box. You can listen to the webinar using your computer speakers or dial-in to 1-877-685-5350, participant code: 739587.

Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - 15:00

Register for the webinar.

  1. Leveraging Brownfields Resources for Revitalization Webinar Series - 7/26

July 26, 2016, 1:00-2:30 pm EDT
The first webinar will discuss available tools to assist communities in leveraging resources to address community revitalization goals and challenges.  It will include a presentation on Dubuque, Iowa's successful efforts to leverage its own resources to attract other federal, state, public and private sources of funding and technical assistance.

  

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