THE NORTHEAST REGIONAL CENTER FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT - 2017

Under the leadership of Chair Dr. Paul Gottlieb our TAC recommended at the last annual meeting that we reexamine our priority areas in order to ensure that our work is addressing the most urgent CRED issues in the region, and to identify potential areas of synergy between NE states. We are working with our TAC members to perform two analyses of the region. One will examine the changing economic performance of rural areas in the region. The other will examine challenge areas or issues within the region and the existing resources and programs that address these areas, in order to identify gaps that the Center can help address. These analyses will draw on both secondary data and results of primary surveys of educators and scientists in the regionIn the meantime, as the surveys are implemented and secondary data compiled, we will continue the work underway in our portfolio of grants, and we will build on the impact indicators work that we reported on last year by issuing an RFP for new regional projects in this area (see below). New areas to be targeted include: impacts of the Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA) on rural communities; the effects of automation on expected future labor demand, especially in rural areas; and addressing contentious issues in community gatherings, with implications for Extension programming.