From our colleagues at USDA-RD.
PUBLICATIONS
Inflation-adjusted supermarket prices are up for some foods, and down for others - Due to inflation—the general fall in the purchasing power of money over time—shelf prices of most foods in the supermarket tend to rise a bit each year. However, by holding the value of the U.S. dollar constant at a particular point in time, it is possible to see how U.S. grocery store food prices have changed over time in real, inflation-adjusted terms. In real terms, bananas, tomatoes, eggs, and chicken are all cheaper today than they were in 1984. Bread, however, has grown more expensive. Real food prices are largely determined by supply-and-demand conditions. Increases in U.S. production, imports, or both have pushed down real prices of bananas and tomatoes, and production efficiencies have helped lower real prices for chicken and eggs. The greater variability of real prices of tomatoes and eggs reflects, in part, supplies that shift more dramatically from year to year as compared to bread, bananas, and chicken. Alternatively, real prices of major field crops, including wheat, have been increasing since 2002, resulting in higher real bread prices beginning around that time. More information on food price changes and forecasts can be found in ERS’s Food Price Outlook data product, updated July 24, 2013.
While Telehealth Workforce Expands, Barriers Slow Availability by Candi Helseth
Telehealth offers many benefits in rural and remote areas, but physician licensing, reimbursement and technology remain challenges.
TOOLS
Listening Party Discussion Guide - Planning to host a party? Download our discussion guide for some advice on structuring a conversation, sample discussion questions, and resources to help you along the way.
LEARNING
WEBINAR: Develop a Mission-Driven Sales Culture for CDFI Lending, August 22, 2:00 pm EDT/1:00 pm CDT/11:00 am PDT To register click here
Increasing demands to meet the needs of underserved local communities, CDFIs are re-assessing of how they build their pipelines and produce results. More and more CDFIs are finding it necessary to build a mission-driven sales culture. A sales culture can help bring in more clients and increase mission fulfillment, but developing the right culture requires a change in thinking, behaving, communicating and learning. In this groundbreaking webinar, Friedman Associates will highlight the steps you need to take to develop a culture of sales. Key questions we will address are:
- What is mission-driven sales and why it is important?
- How do you develop the right mission-driven sales goals?
- How do we get everyone in our organization focused on getting borrowers and keeping them?
- How do you measure and monitor progress?
The webinar will be led by Leslie Hoffman, Catherine Meyrat and Barbara Eckblad, nationally recognized leaders in the microenterprise CDFI industry.
WEBINAR: Crowdfunding: Can your organization leverage the online power of social media to access new sources of funding? September 26th, 1-2 pm ET, Drew Tuchin, Social Enterprise Associates, will be our presenter. Click here to register and share the link with your colleagues!
FUNDING
Enter Our Successful Communities Contest - Here’s your shot at success! Host a listening party for Ed’s call, and if your group decides on an action to get started, you can enter to win $500 to make it happen.
“Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity” program at the National Science Foundation. Community colleges are eligible to submit proposals. Click here for the full announcement. “Smart healthcare,” “smart infrastructure,” and “precision agriculture” are enumerated by NSF as examples of technology applied to service systems. Letters of Intent are due by November 18, 2013. Full Proposal deadline is January 27, 2014
INPUT SOUGHT:
HUD Seeks Input on Draft Strategic Plan 2014-2018
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is currently seeking input on its draft Strategic Plan 2014-2018, and has established an interactive online forum on HUD Ideas in Action through which both HUD employees and the public may submit their feedback on the draft plan framework.
The Strategic Plan will guide the organization as it will help determine the focus of the Department’s work over the next four years. Feedback is due on August 16 for the initial draft of the Plan. A second round of feedback will be solicited in the fall for the final draft of the Plan. Comments for the final Plan will be accepted until December 5.
HUD seeks input on the following topics:
· Do you think the Strategic Plan accurately reflects what HUD needs to accomplish in the upcoming years?
· What strategies should HUD consider in order to reach each goal?
· What specific performance goals would you like to see HUD strive towards?
Additional Links:
· To view the draft Strategic Plan framework, visit HUD Ideas in Action.
· Review HUD’s existing Strategic Plan
· Learn more about HUDStat, through which HUD tracks progress on its strategic goals
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Newsletters and email from where I gather this information include:
v Foundation Center RFP Service - To subscribe or unsubscribe, or to change your e-mail address, visit: http://foundationcenter.org/newsletters/
v To subscribe to the RAC Health Listserv - click here to go to the subscription form.
v Electronic newsletter of the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, Rural Entrepreneurship News. To subscribe, http://team.energizingentrepreneurs.org/news2/public_html/lists/?p=subscribe
v Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City newsletter: http://www.kansascityfed.org/alert/’
v The npEnterprise Forum (www.npEnterprise.net ) - 5000+ subscribers discuss practical ways that organizations can advance their social missions through entrepreneurial, earned-income strategies. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/npEnterprise/
v Blue Avocado Nonprofit Magazine - They have a newsletter on boards and nonprofit management, down-to-earth and useful. http://www.blueavocado.org/
v Rural LISC e-newsletter - http://www.lisc.org/rural
v National Association for Development Organizations (NADO) – www.nado.org
v ERS - A notification service is provided by USDA's Economic Research Service for Charts of Note and other research to keep you informed of the latest and most relevant research on the topics that interest you. You can subscribe at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Updates/
v Department of Labor – Email Subscription Service - https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOL/subscriber/new?topic_id=USDOL_167
v Good Done Great - Knowledge Sites – webinars and websites geared to nonprofits – to subscribe - http://4good.us1.list-manage.com/profile?u=04c75b52bdc230f3f32ad149d&id=7dc46f4ba6&e=53110692a1
This is the bulk of them, a few others are random.
Suzette M. Agans
Community and Economic Development
Rural Development | U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W. | Washington, D.C. 20250-3253
Phone: 202.401.1922 | Fax 202.401.7311
www.rurdev.usda.gov
"Committed to the future of rural communities"
"Estamos dedicados al futuro de las comunidades rurales"
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