PROGRAMMING AREAS

   Community Capacity Building

   Regional Economic Development

   Entrepreneurship

   Local & Regional Food Systems

   Balanced Use of Natural Resources

   Other

The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development
The Pennsylvania State University
7 Armsby Building, University Park PA 16802-5602
814/863-4656(phone); 814/863-0586(fax)
Please send questions and comments to:
nercrd@psu.edu

Connecting Rural Communities is a service of The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, (NERCRD).
Major project funding was provided by the Southern Rural Development Center as part of its CSREES National Extension e-Commerce Demonstration Project.

Connecting Rural Communities is a Web based guide that provides Cooperative Extension educators and faculty with the background and tools they need to help community leaders identify, develop and implement sustainable projects that will improve their community’s ability to participate in the global economy. The guide is designed to let Extension educators and faculty determine how deeply they will become involved with work at the community level.

This hands-on conference will provide an in-depth understanding about how technology is impacting rural communities and how Cooperative Extension staff in all program areas can use the processes and materials in the guide to help community leaders (agricultural, youth, government, healthcare, education, business) identify and implement projects that improve their community’s digital development.

States are encouraged to identify teams of educators and faculty representing all program areas to attend the conference. Participants will be expected to develop a strategy for implementing Connecting Communities following the conference.

A block of rooms has been reserved at Sheraton Society Hill, Philadelphia, for the nights of June 5-8, 2006 at the rate of $179.00/night. When making reservations, please mention Penn State University Connecting Communities. Deadline for making reservations is May 12, 2006. For hotel information :http://sheraton-philadelphia.felcor.com/

Click to view Connecting Communities Flyer.

The Connecting Rural Communities guide is available at: http://connectingcommunities.info/index.cfm

Travel support scholarships are available (limited), please see registration form.

The Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development is located at the Pennsylvania State University and collaborates with land grant institutions in the northeast U.S.