CAPACITY BUILDING

• Leigh Askew and Danny Bivins launched the second year of Project Riverway with a class trip down the Chattahoochee from Bagby State Park to Lake Seminole. Twelve UGA students and faculty members spent six days learning the history, culture, environment and lore of Southwest Georgia. This year’s class of multi-disciplinary students will now begin development of projects designed to re-engage this poverty-stricken area with the river and its potential for economic improvements.
• Brenda Hayes spoke with a delegation of 13 African Government and Civil Society Officials from various countries at CVIOG’s International Center for Democratic Governance. This group was traveling throughout the U.S. under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program to learn more about grassroots democracy.

EXPLORATION

• Skip Teaster and Jim Youngquist facilitated the Annual Alabama Regional Council Retreat at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear Alabama. The results of the retreat were an active work plan with goals and action steps for 2007-2008, and an introspective evaluation of statewide partnerships and how they could be improved. The AARC Members are also members of SERDI which the Fanning Institute staffs.

IMPLEMENTATION

• Deborah Gonzalez, lead faculty for Latino and youth leadership programs, authored an article, “Four Words to Inspire University/Community Partnerships in a Multicultural World,” which was highlighted in the June 18^th issue of “The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education’s” Punto Final. The topic was the current trend in university and community partnerships. The four inspiring words? Patience, Palate, Partnership and Passion.
• “Building the Next Workforce,” the report on the findings and recommendations of the Southern Growth Policies Board’s principal research project for 2007, was unveiled at the Annual Conference in St. Louis, June 4-6. About eight hundred Georgia citizens took part in a series of regional discussion forums organized and facilitated by a collaborative team of faculty from the Fanning Institute and Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, in partnership with many state, regional, and local partners. Principal investigators were Mac Brown from UGA and Joy Wilkins from Georgia Tech. Other Fanning contributors were Matt Bishop, Danny Bivins, Jennifer Carter, Dennis Epps, Brenda Hayes, Langford Holbrook, Karen Holt, Delene Porter, Bill Russell, and Skip Teaster.
• Leigh Askew, Raye Rawls and Courtney Tobin, following a nearly two year public input process, submitted the final draft of the Comprehensive State-wide Water Management Plan to the Environmental Protection Division. The Plan, entitled “Georgia’s Water Resources: A Blueprint for the Future,” was presented to the Water Council and released to the public on June 28. Fanning was responsible for the coordination of public input while the draft plan was being developed, including numerous advisory committees and several series of town hall meetings, and supervising development and writing of the draft plan. Fanning will work with EPD to receive public comment on the draft plan.