1. USDA Rural Development
United States Department of Agriculture

2. Topics USDA Mission Areas Rural Development Mission
Rural Development Programs
Strategic Economic & Community Development (SECD)
Cooperative Development
Local Foods

3. One USDA, Seven Mission Areas
Research, Education, and Economics
Farm & Foreign Ag Services
Food and Nutrition Consumer Services
Food Safety
Marketing & Regulatory Programs
Natural Resources and Environment
Rural Development
Rachel’s note – For the purpose of SET, it might be good on this slide to show where Extension and the four Regional Rural Development Centers (such as the SRDC) sit (within the REE mission area – Research, Education, and Economics)

4. Rural Development’s Mission
Committed to helping improve the economy and quality of life in rural America

5. Rural Development Agencies
The agencies and programs work together and complement each other to build a thriving rural community.

6. Rural Utility Service (RUS)
Electric Programs
Telecommunications Programs
Water & Environmental Programs

7. Rural Housing Service (RHS)
Multi-Family Housing
Single-Family Housing
Community Facilities

8. Rural Business & Cooperative Service
Business Programs
Energy Programs
Cooperative Programs

9. Rural Development Type of Financial Assistance

10. Rural Development Offices
Discuss all the various contact levels to reach RD personnel
RD State Office
RD General Field Representative for Telecommunications
RBS Coordinators
Energy Coordinators
CED Coordinators

11. Regional Community Economic Development Coordinators
Midwest:
Christine Sorensen
Northeast:
Angela Callie
West:
Tim O’Connell
Regional Coordinators in RD support CED Leads in the states in assisting communities in building their capacity and providing targeted technical assistance. By doing so, it is expected that Rural Development will increase the communities’ readiness for sustainable economic development and build project pipelines to take advantage of other RD Programs down the road. Additionally, CED staff can also help ensure that partnerships are established and that other resources are leverages so unserved and underserved socially disadvantaged and minority groups can be effectively assisted.
RD CED Coordinators are responsible to Implement Stroger Economies Together(SET) and Farm Bill’s Section 6025 requirements (Strategic Economic & Community Development SECD – they work closely with CED staff in state offices and the field to support these initiatives and to provide direct technical expertise and support.
South:
Gregory Dale

12. Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD)
Section 6025 of 2014 Farm Bill
Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD)

13. What is the Section 6025 Strategic Economic & Community Development (SECD)?
New requirement under 2014 Farm Bill
Sets aside up to 10% of USDA program funds under:
Community Facilities
Water and Environmental Programs
Rural Business Development Grants
Business & Industry Guaranteed Loans
for prioritizing projects that support the
implementation of a multi-jurisdictional plan.

14. Underlying Programs
Community Facilities - provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas.
Water and Environmental Programs - provides technical assistance and financing 
Rural Business Development Grants - supports targeted technical assistance, training and other activities
Business & Industry Loans - bolsters the existing private credit structure through the guaranteeing of loans for rural businesses

15. Why SECD?
Rural Development wants to excel at helping communities use USDA programs strategically by:
Encouraging regional planning and collaboration with partners within regions.
Using regional assets to promote the region.
Leveraging resources and financing creatively.
Recognizing that poverty reduction is a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions, the Strategic Economic and Community Development (SECD) is an opportunity to prioritize projects that support the implementation of a regional economic development plan.
RD is moving away from transactional model of one-off project financing

16. The Regional Approach: A Proven Success
Rural Development rewards projects that:
Number of points
Are tied to a Multijurisdictional Plan & meet at least 2 objectives
Up to 10 points
Have a Regional Plan with clear objectives and the ability to establish measureable performance measures
Up to 2 points
Have a plan developed from a collaboration of multiple stakeholders from its service area

17. A Good Plan… Rural Development rewards projects that include:
Number of points
Resources – The Plan demonstrates an understanding of the applicable regional assets that could support the Plan
Up to 2 points
Other Federal Investments - The Plan includes practical Investments from Federal agencies other than the USDA
Philanthropic Investment – The Plan includes practical investments from Philanthropic organizations

18. Assistance to Regions
SECD embraces technical assistance and initiatives as a tool for Rural Communities:
Cooperative Development – a creative alternative for rural communities to provide services that meet its citizens needs.
Know Your Farmer/Know Your Food – provides technical assistance to communities that want to use local food systems to promote Community and Economic Development with a region.

19. Cooperative Development
Co-ops are producer and user-owned businesses that are controlled by, and operate for the benefit of, their members.
Farmer Co-ops – market and process crops
Rural Utility Co-ops – electrical and telecommunication services
Financial Co-ops – credit and financial services
Other Co-ops – Food stores, daycare, health services
The co-op business model is highly flexible and can address a wide variety of a rural community needs. For example, Farmer-owned co-ops help producer-members market and process their crops and livestock, and secure needed production supplies and services. Consumer-owned rural utility co-ops provide electrical power and telecommunications services. Financial co-ops provide credit and financial services. Other co-ops operate food stores, hardware, and building supply businesses, and provide education, daycare and health services, among many other things

20. Cooperative Development
Rural Communities can consider Co-ops as a means to provide services to its citizen.
For technical assistance with Cooperative Development:
Margaret Bau
Cooperative Development Specialist
Direct Line

21. Local and Regional Food Systems
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food (KYF2):
Helps communities scale up local and regional food systems and strengthen their economies.
Offers assistance in funding and technical assistance for developing regional food systems

22. USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” Initiative
Website: One-stop shop for financial and technical assistance resources from USDA to grow your local food enterprise
The Compass: How USDA resources are put to work in your community
The Compass Map: See what’s funded in your community and learn how others are using USDA programs
How does USDA coordinate all of this work? Through the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative.
KYF2 is USDA’s vehicle to strengthen our work on local and regional food systems.
-Our KYF2 task force explores ways to make USDA programs work more effectively for all of the stakeholders involved in local/regional food systems, and trains USDA staff to work with these customers.
-The KYF2 website is a one-stop shop for financial and technical resources related to local/regional foods. The website’s Grants and Loans page includes a list of nearly thirty funding programs that can be used to support local and regional food-related projects. When you click on one of the programs, you’ll see an easy-to-understand summary, information on eligibility, an example of a real-world project supported by this program, and ideas for other types of projects it might support. There are also links to the main website for the program. It’s a portal into all of the USDA resources available.
-Another key communications tool on our website is the KYF Compass. It has two parts – a narrative that tells the story of how USDA resources are being used in the field, with case studies, research findings, photos and videos, and an interactive map, where we’ve taken data provided by USDA and other federal partners and mapped federal investments in local and regional food systems.

23. Know Your Farmer/Know Your Food
For technical assistance please contact:
James Barham
Agricultural Economic

24. Final Thoughts
Rural Development has programs and committed staff that can address a variety of community and regional challenges
SECD promotes and rewards a regional approach when using RD programs.
RD Programs can be used to lift rural communities out of poverty when programs are used strategically.
Co-ops and Local Foods Systems can be used to promote community and economic efforts for rural communities.

25. QUESTIONS

26. Who to Contact? http://srdc.msstate.edu/set/
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