~by Michael Wilcox

Assistant Director and Program Leader for Community Development / Purdue Extension
Associate Director / North Central Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD)

My next two columns are NOT a travelogue. They ARE a love letter to “home.”

Last month I had the privilege of co-leading a Study Abroad to the Republic of Ireland with twelve exceptional Purdue undergraduate students. Along with Dr. Tamara Benjamin and partners from the United States and Ireland, we set off to explore rural development in an Irish context. Never in our wildest dreams did we anticipate what would come next…

Purdue Extenstion-Daviess County was awarded a grant by Our Community Foundation to support a day long training program, Exploring Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Together in Daviess County, includes cultural awareness training and education about immigration.

According to Cindy Barber, Community Development Educator with Purdue Extension-Daviess County, the program will be very insightful. “Participants will hear from speakers with first-hand experience in serving Daviess County’s immigrant population – everything from customs and traditions to needs and gaps in services. We will also hear perspectives from those who have immigrated to our community which will be a great benefit to increasing our understanding of their beliefs and concerns.”

~by Steve Yoder, Community Development Regional Educator, Purdue Extension

If you've ever written a community grant proposal, you've discovered that most applications have a standard set of sections that you need to complete.  Examples include the community need statement, expected outcomes, timeline, and budget.  And inevitably, just about every application has a section at the heart of the proposal: the project description.  This is where you describe what you will do to address the community need that you've identified and how you will achieve your expected outcomes within your timeline and budget. 
 

~by Heather Strohm, Regional Educator in Community Development, Purdue Extension

Ribbon cuttings with large gold scissors often celebrate the wins of communities as businesses open. What steps are taken as companies add employees? How do communities, cities, towns, counties, and regions celebrate company success as businesses navigate aspects such as adding water infrastructure or building a new facility to add employee wellness factors or training to address operating culture?

During the final module of Business Retention and Expansion, the program aggregates all the data, site visit outcomes, and information into the final report for the Task Force Committee and the community/region. Driving across the country in the 80s, many often stopped at the local gas station or truck stop for a Rand McNally Road Map. These are the maps that took up the entire front seat of the vehicle and outlined every road, highway, and street within every state that one would travel. It was a necessary resource to effectively travel as you followed those squiggly black lines indicating which path to take, all while watching for traffic signs/signals, road closures, and detours.

~by Dr. Larry DeBoer
February 22, 2022

The inflation rate was 7.5 percent from January 2021 to January 2022, the highest inflation in 40 years. It arrived suddenly and unexpectedly. A year ago the inflation rate was 1.4 percent, which was lower than the 1.7 percent average rate over the previous decade.

It’s an unwelcome throwback to the Great Inflation of the 1970s. What happened, and when will it go away?

The pandemic happened, of course, and that spiked the unemployment rate up to 14.7 percent in April 2020. The Federal Reserve and Congress acted faster than ever before, with sharp cuts in interest rates from the Fed, and massive relief payments to just about everybody from the Congress. That worked to bring unemployment down to 4.0 percent as of January 2022, the most rapid recovery ever.

Indiana communities are facing complex land-use planning decisions, specifically in regards to renewable energy. To assist communities, Purdue Extension, through support from Hoosiers for Renewables and Indiana Farm Bureau, released a comprehensive study on land-use regulations for wind and solar renewable energy along with county snapshots.

“Hoosiers for Renewables is pleased with the effort made by Purdue on this important topic and we look forward to additional studies that will help decision makers and the general public develop a better understanding of the opportunities that exist with renewable energy in Indiana,” said Steve Eberly, executive director of Hoosiers for Renewables.