Innovation Matters Educational Opportunities, March 1, 2021

Publications and Resources

A Proclamation on Women’s History Month, 2021
President Biden proclaims March 2021 as Women's History Month.

Building Sustainable Farms, Ranches and Communities: A Guide to Federal Programs
USDA guide for producers, researchers, nonprofits and landowners to find programs that can help them achieve their goals featuring over 60 programs and updates from the from the 2018 Farm Bill.

Rural Prosperity through the Arts & Creative Sector
This action guide is part of a collaborative project between the National Governors Association, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and offers research, insights and lessons learned from states that are harnessing the power of the arts to drive rural prosperity.

Cultivating Creativity: Exploring Arts in Community Food Systems Transformation
This document, prepared by DAISA Enterprises and commissioned by ArtPlace America, illuminates key priorities within the agriculture and food sector and provides a frame work for understanding the ways that arts and culture contribute to local, place-based agriculture and food related outcomes and supports economic development.

Thinking Beyond Flood Maps
FEMA launched a new interactive story map to help coastal communities understand their unique risks and to use the data from coastal studies to become more resilient.

Defining the Food System as an Asset Class Project
The Council of Development Finance Agencies, supported by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, produced six in-depth white papers defining traditional development finance tools to demonstrate the viability of the food system as an asset class.

• White Paper 1: Food Systems & Development Finance

• White Paper 2: Food Systems & Access to Capital

• White Paper 3: Food Systems & Bonds

• White Paper 4: Food Systems & Targeted Tools

• White Paper 5: Food Systems & Investment Tools

• White Paper 6: Advancing Local Food Systems Through Development Finance

Event Opportunities

2021 Women's Entrepreneurship Symposium
March 3 | Virtual Event
United States Patent and Trademark Office event offers attendees a chance to learn about innovation and business from public and private sector experts to navigate today’s changing marketplace, and learn about efforts to bring women into the innovation ecosystem.

11th Annual International Women’s Day Forum: Business Powering a New Tomorrow
March 5 | Virtual Event
Hosted in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's 11th Annual International Women’s Day Forum will highlight how the private sector, working with cross-sector partners, can narrow gender gaps in every aspect of society, redefine leadership, reconstruct workplaces, and drive equality of opportunity for women and girls during pandemic recovery and beyond.

USDA Consultation on Consultations and Racial Equity
March 9 and 11 | Virtual Event
Join USDA as The Office of Tribal Relations will be consulting on the 1) Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, and the 2) Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government which specifically includes addressing impediments to accessing USDA programs and services.

Rural Workforce Innovation Network (RWIN) Workshop: Federal Training Resources to Build a Stronger Rural Workforce
March 11 | Virtual Workshop
Join USDA Rural Development and members of RWIN for the next workshop in our monthly series. In this workshop, representatives from USDA Rural Development, USDA Food and Nutrition Services and the U.S. Department of Labor will explore Federal resources that rural leaders can use to foster workforce training and skill development for individuals in their communities.

Meeting Community Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Successes in the Promise Zones Webinar Series
March 16 and 30 | Webinar
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development co-hosts a webinar series with the USDA Rural Development and the National Coalition of Promise Zones highlighting how Federally recognized Promise Zones pivoted and used strategies to respond to the immediate needs affecting their residents as a result of the pandemic.

NTIA Grant Programs in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021
March 17 | Webinar
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), located within the Department of Commerce, will provide an overview of the new NTIA grant programs, including the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Grants, Broadband Infrastructure Deployment Grants, and the Connecting Minority Communities Pilot Program.

Solutions for Housing Communications 2021
March 18 | Virtual Conference 
National Housing Conference’s annual convening where industry professionals can come together to discuss messaging and marketing strategies to help advance affordable housing policy.

Educational Opportunities, February 17, 2021

Publications and Resources

SCORE Black Entrepreneurs
SCORE, supported by the U.S Small Business Administration, celebrates Black History Month by launching a new online resource site designed to promote small business development with a comprehensive collection of resources.

A National Agricultural Library Digital Exhibit for George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist whose importance lies in his practical work supporting African-American farmers and his advocacy for specific crops such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. This exhibit showcases the 38 Tuskegee Institute Experiment Station Bulletins held by NAL that he wrote during his tenure as director.

Enterprising Women of Color Initiative
The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) developed Enterprising Women of Color (EWOC) to focus on the fast-expanding minority women entrepreneur population as revenue-generators for families, communities, and the nation. The vision of EWOC is to ensure women worldwide reach their economic potential. 

MBI Helps HBCUs and TCUs Navigate Distance Learning Regulations
U.S. Department of Commerce NTIA’s Minority Broadband Initiative (MBI), in partnership with the United States Distance Learning Association and the Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education, recently held a teleconference to brief Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities on new Department of Education distance learning regulations due to be implemented July 1, 2021.

Outdoor Recreation Roundtable's Rural Economic Development Toolkit
The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable has developed this toolkit designed to help your community build and sustain an outdoor recreation economy.

Event Opportunities

National Entrepreneurship Week
Feb. 13 - 23 | Virtual
Join NatlEshipWeek for a series of free workshops. National Entrepreneurship Week, a non-partisan, congressionally-chartered initiative, was founded in 2006 and takes place the third week of February annually.

Building Resilience in Agricultural & Food Systems through Innovative and Strategic Partnerships
Feb. 17 | Virtual
Held in conjunction with USDA’s Ag Outlook Forum, this event is hosted by USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE) and Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Mission Area to offer attendees a dynamic forum to discuss innovative strategies to build resilience in agriculture and food systems.

Agritourism & Racial Justice in the USA
Feb. 17 | Virtual
The International Workshop on Agritourism presents this opportunity to gather and focus on the role of agritourism within the racial justice movement in the USA featuring panelists from both urban and rural perspectives will discuss the potential for farm-based education and sales of local products to serve as tools in the pursuit of racial equity and social justice in food systems.

Rural Community Development Initiative Webinar
Feb. 18 | Webinar
Join USDA to learn about grants being made available for projects to improve housing, community facilities, and community and economic development in rural areas. This webinar is for potential applicants and anyone interested in learning more about the program.

USDA Consultation on Consultations and Racial Equity
March 9 and March 11 | Virtual
In March, the Office of Tribal Relations (OTR) will be consulting on the 1) Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, and the 2) Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government which specifically includes addressing impediments to accessing USDA programs and services.

Rural Workforce Innovation Network (RWIN) Workshop: Federal Training Resources to Build a Stronger Rural Workforce
March 11 | Virtual Workshop
Join USDA Rural Development and members of RWIN for the next workshop in our monthly series. In this workshop, representatives from USDA Rural Development, USDA Food and Nutrition Services and the U.S. Department of Labor will explore Federal resources that rural leaders can use to foster workforce training and skill development for individuals in their communities.

Innovation Matters Education Opportunities 02/04/2021

Publications

Overview of Broadband Funding Opportunities in the COVID-19 Relief Act
The National Law Review provides this summary on broadband and telehealth funding from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act which establishes or re-appropriates a number of significant broadband-related support programs.

Building Sustainable Farms, Ranches, and Communities
USDA offers an updated guide for building sustainable farms, ranches, and communities for producers, researchers, nonprofits and landowners to easily find programs to help them achieve their goals.

FCC’s Fourteenth Broadband Deployment Report
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports on broadband deployment in the U.S. with information specific to broadband access in rural and tribal communities and the U.S. territories.

Tech Talent Tracker
The Opportunity Project provides this tool to create data-driven reports to help community leaders understand the state of their local tech economies. This tool will help to empower rural decision makers by offering crucial information including county-level data, maps and charts on key metrics related to a county’s digital economy.

Economic Impact Payments
Most eligible taxpayers have received their first Economic Impact Payment by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. If you didn’t get any payments or got less than the full amounts, you may be eligible to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit when you file your 2020 federal tax return.

Event Opportunities

FY 2021 Strategic Economic and Community Development Funding Opportunity
Feb. 9 | Webinar
Join USDA to learn about the Fiscal Year 2021 funding opportunity known as Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD). This webinar will introduce attendees to the Innovation Center, provide an overview of Farm Bill changes to SECD and highlight the FY 2021 application requirements and process. 

Rural Workforce Innovation Network (RWIN) Workshop: COVID-19, Resources to Support the Rural Workforce
Feb. 11 | Virtual Workshop
In this workshop, representatives from USDA, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Economic Development Administration will explore Federal resources and opportunities that can be used to provide relief to America’s rural workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applying to Citizens' Institute on Rural Design
Feb. 9 | Webinar
Join the National Endowment for the Arts, the Housing Assistance Council, and To Be Done Studio to ask questions and receive guidance on the Request for Applications for the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design. This webinar will inform potential applicants about the details of our program—both the local Design Workshops and the Design Learning Cohort—and guide you through the application.

Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training Grant Webinar
Feb. 16 | Webinar
Join USDA to learn about grants being made available to rural communities with limited staff and resources to build the capacity needed to access USDA funding to support essential community facilities. This webinar is for potential applicants and anyone interested in learning more about the program.

Rural Community Development Initiative Webinar
Feb. 18 | Webinar
Join USDA to learn about grants being made available for projects to improve housing, community facilities, and community and economic development in rural areas. This webinar is for potential applicants and anyone interested in learning more about the program.

The Agricultural Outlook Forum
Feb. 18 - 19 | Free Virtual Conference
The 97^th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum theme is “Building on Innovation: A Pathway to Resilience”. This is the largest annual meeting and premiere event, independent of commercial interests, organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It aims to facilitate information sharing among stakeholders and generate the transparency that supports well-functioning open markets and will feature a panel of distinguished guest speakers and breakout sessions.

Innovation Matters Education Opportunities 01/19/2021

Publications and Resources

FEMA Resource Roadmaps
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Get help navigating some of the challenges and resources available to address the COVID-19 pandemic. This resource roadmap allows the searcher to find potential solutions and applicable resources, including federal funding support and technical assistance.

New $10,000 EIDL Grants (Advance): Do you Qualify?
SCORE
Supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), offers this resource to outline the basics for small businesses on grants (advances) associated with SBAs Economic Injury Disaster Loan.

ASCENT
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
SBA launched an interactive digital platform packed with resources designed for the “missing middle” or growth-oriented female entrepreneur looking to grow their business.

Business Response Survey to the Coronavirus Pandemic Top of Form
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
This information, combined with data collected by other current BLS surveys, made aid in understanding how businesses responded during the pandemic and show changes in employment, wages, job openings and terminations, employer-provided benefits, and safety and health.

Event Opportunities

What's New with PPP and Other Relief Options for Small Businesses
Jan. 21 | Webinar
SCORE’s Mentor Program offers current information to learn about what’s in the new relief package with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) featuring a Q&A section to discuss what this could mean for your small business.

Healthcare Redefined: Transforming the Future of Health IT
Jan. 26 | Webinar
Nextgov and Cisco present a webinar on innovations in telehealth, electronic health records and 3D printing as the federal government is utilizing emerging technology to improve everything from contact tracing to vaccine approval processes. They will discuss how agencies can ensure that these devices and large swaths of critical data remain secure as government continues to modernize for mission success.

Agritourism around the US: Findings from a National Survey of Farms Open to Visitors for Education, Entertainment, Recreation, Hospitality and Product Sales
Jan. 28 | Virtual Meeting
National Extension Tourism Team plans to share research from a multi-state team of specialists gathered from farms, ranches, and vineyards on their tourism activity ranging from overnight stays, tastings, events, community supported agriculture (CSA), tours, to hunting. Survey questions included products and experiences offered, motivations, challenges, profitability measures, and plans for the future. They received 1834 responses representing all 50 states and they plan to share the survey findings with a focus on regional differences across the US. Registration is required.

Registration is Open for NARC’s Virtual National Conference of Regions!
Feb. 8 - 12 | Virtual Conference
Join the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) for the 2021 National Conference of Regions.

The Agricultural Outlook Forum  
Feb. 18 - 19 | Free Virtual Conference
The 97^th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum theme is “Building on Innovation: A Pathway to Resilience”. This is the largest annual meeting and premiere event, independent of commercial interests, organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It aims to facilitate information sharing among stakeholders and generate the transparency that supports well-functioning open markets and will feature a panel of distinguished guest speakers and breakout sessions.