CAPACITY BUILDING

• Matt Bishop, Louise Hill, and Karen Holt attended the Georgia Rural Development Council Meeting at the State Capitol, where Matt provided an update on his work related to the Communities of Opportunity Initiative and Louise updated the Council on the Community Leadership Initiative. Fanning faculty and staff then attended the Council’s Annual Leadership Day event, for which several Fanning faculty and staff played key roles in organization and implementation.

EXPLORATION

• The Fanning Institute, in partnership with Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, is supporting the Southern Growth Policies Board’s policy research project on “Building the Next Workforce” by conducting a series of citizen discussion forums across Georgia. Our universities have conducted this project and a similar one last year as a consolidated state-wide effort, which is unlike the effort in any other state. The Georgia work is sponsored by the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development and the Georgia Department of Labor with assistance from numerous other organizations, most notably Georgia’s twenty local and regional Workforce Investment Boards. Thirteen forums have been held in February with total participation by about 600 citizens. The universities will write a report of findings specific to Georgia and distribute it among the state’s leadership and workforce development agencies. Public release of the report will coincide with Southern Growth’s release of its “Report on the Future of the South” during its Annual Conference in Saint Louis, June 3-5. Fanning faculty and staff directly involved in managing the project and facilitating the forums are Mac Brown, Matt Bishop, Danny Bivins, Jennifer Carter, Dennis Epps, Langford Holbrook, Brenda Hayes, Karen Holt, Paul Kreager, Delene Porter, Bill Russell, and Skip Teaster.

• Jim Youngquist and Skip Teaster facilitated a retreat for the Americus-Sumter County Chamber of Commerce and the payroll Development Authority. The purpose was to consider the feasibility of consolidating development resources of the city of Americus, the county of Sumter and its private sectors to enhance the community economic development opportunities, processes and future. A Final Report contained recommendations on how the consolidation could be expedited.

• Fanning Institute faculty facilitated a day long retreat to launch the seven citizen committees charged with developing the Community Agenda for Athens-Clarke County’s Comprehensive Plan. These committees will develop plans on population, economic development, environmental and cultural resources, facilities, services and intergovernmental cooperation, housing, land use, and transportation. Fanning Institute faculty also provided public meeting facilitation training to the chairpersons of these citizen committees. Danny Bivins, Langford Holbrook, and Delene Porter are working on this project.

IMPLEMENTATION

• The latest edition of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement (Vol 11, Number 1) includes an article written by Matt Bishop and Karen Tinsley entitled, “Poverty and Population Density: Implications for Economic Development Policy” (2006, p. 195). The article can be found at: http://www.uga.edu/ihe/jheoe/11_1.html.