Goal 5: Enhanced Economic Opportunity and Quality of Life for Americans

Economic development has been a concern for North Dakota policymakers since the economic downturn of the early 1980s. Retail sales, adjusted for inflation, fell almost 20 percent from 1980 to 1988 and still have not regained their 1980 level. From 1980 to1992, all but five North Dakota counties experienced decreases in employment. Local leaders also understand that they must adapt to the many changes taking place and involve citizens as equal partners in decision making and action. They must focus more effort on broadening the base of participation to reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of their communities. They must embrace multi-jurisdictional, as well as public/private partnerships, to gain efficiencies of size. These leaders want and need technical assistance and training to strengthen their own skills and knowledge so they can be effective in this changing environment.

At the same time, the state's youth need opportunities to be meaningfully involved in family, school, and community in order to develop skills and confidence to become productive, caring adults who contribute positively to society. Experiential learning in areas relating to healthy lifestyles, preparing for careers, developing communication, social skills, leadership and community involvement can provide the education and development of these life skills.

An effort in western North Dakota is offering value added opportunities to producers in the region. First, Anheuser Busch has implemented a malting barley increase program. Acreage of selected varieties of malting barley under contract has gone from zero acres in 1998 to 5,000 acres in 1999 and 10,000 acres in 2000. Anheuser Busch would like to contract 50,000 to 100,000 acres of malting barley in the near future. Second, identity preserved wheat production for sale directly to end user markets began in 2000. Ten producers contracting 1,100 acres of identity preserved hard red spring wheat participated in a pilot program to develop this opportunity. Acreage for this project should increase substantially in following years. Third, contracted irrigated potato production went from zero acres in 1997 to 80 acres in 1998 up to 1,200 acres in 2000. During the summer of 2000, $2.6 million of potato storage facilities were built as local French fry processors have guaranteed five years of production contracts

Approximately 189 people participated in five agritainment workshops. Of those participating 121 completed the post-workshop evaluations. Results include: 99 percent gave the program an overall rating of useful to very useful; 55 percent or 66 people indicated that the workshop did help them to make a decision as to whether or not they would pursue starting a recreation business, 33 or 27 percent were already in business; 43 percent or 52 participants plan to start a business; of those already established 12 percent indicated that they would make changes in their current operation due to what was learned.

A study on the socioeconomic impacts of value added agricultural processing companies supports activities by local and state economic development staff to encourage creation of value-added agricultural processing facilities in the state. The report suggests how communities can prepare for such ventures and what concerns may arise. Another study on the impacts of plant and mine closings suggests how communities can best cope with and recover from those losses, by identifying key elements to recovery and success.

Almost 500 adults in 12 counties were trained in CHARACTER COUNTS! in 99-00 with over 8,000 students learning about the six pillars of character. Six communities have begun community coalitions to reinforce the activities learned at home and in school. As a result, kindergarten students in Washburn decided that they would save the money they would spend on Christmas presents for each other and buy groceries for needy families in the area instead. Over $150 was raised by 23 students. Before school starts the Belcourt community asks for donations of clothing and school articles and then a large garage sale is held for the community. The Jamestown, North Dakota, Middle School raised money to buy blankets to send to Guatemala.

Key Theme - Community Development: Value Added Agriculture Education

This effort focuses on three phases of value added agriculture development. The first is to help producers, industry, etc., identify the strengths and opportunities in the region. The second is to educate clients on constraints and requirements to develop an identified value-added venture. The third is to serve as a resource for implementing identified value added agriculture opportunities.

Impact - Five events aimed at educating the public on the strengths and identified opportunities for the region were held during the year. Interest in value-added agriculture was high as over 100 participants attended each session. The outcome of this effort included identification of four areas that participants felt had the best opportunity for success. The first was potential for high value crop development with the vast irrigation resources in the region (potatoes, carrots and onions were singled out). The second was developing niche crops to be used in rotation with high value crops (malting barley and identity-preserved wheat were identified). The third was attracting food-processing firms for better markets (an effort is underway to attract a French fry plant to the region). The final area of identified opportunity was the development of higher value dry land crops (chickpeas and other legumes saw dramatic acreage increases in 2000).

Source of federal funds: Smith-Lever

Scope of Impact: Multi-state Integrated Research and Extension in ND and MT.

Key Theme - Supplemental Income strategies - The Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative

Agribusiness and Applied Economics faculty have been working with a group of lamb producers to add value to their lambs. Help was given to secure three grants, conduct a feasibility study, and analyze niche marketing opportunities for lamb products.

Impact - The producers recently formed the Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative and completed a successful equity drive where 102 members committed 8000 lambs for processing and marketing natural and premium lamb products under the Dakota Lamb label. Faculty involvement has been instrumental in developing this new generation cooperative which will have a significant positive impact on the lamb industry in the region.

Source of federal funds: Hatch

Scope of Impact: State Specific

Key Theme - Community Development: Rural Economic Development

The Extension specialist co-developed a comprehensive Business Retention and Expansion visitation program to help interested community leaders identify existing business issues and needs. Research specialists in the NDSU Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics analyze and present the data to community leaders. The NDSU Institute for Business and Industry Development follows up with individual requests from manufacturers. Annual progress surveys are conducted. An additional county-based program began in July of 2000 and will conclude in 2001. Results for this program will be reported in 2001. The State Department of Economic Development and Finance funded the primary research portion of the project.

Partners: Local Economic Development and Chamber of Commerce Staff, State Department of Economic Development and Finance, NDSU - IBID and local county or city economic development groups and chambers of commerce.

Impact - Thirteen county and city based programs have been conducted since 1995. Eleven of 13 program coordinators responded to a follow-up survey conducted in this program year. Results include: of the 176 projects planned, 43 percent or 75 projects were in progress, 23 percent or 41 projects had been completed, 11 percent or 20 projects were dropped, and 23 percent or 40 projects had no indication as to progress.

Scope of Impact: Integrated Research and Extension

Key Theme - Impact of Change on Rural Communities: Business Retention and Expansion

The Extension specialist chaired a committee consisting of multiple agencies and organizations to develop and deliver a statewide curriculum and program for community strategic planning. Extension specialists also provided facilitation training for staff from the following agencies and organizations: USDA Rural Development, USDA Rural Development Council, State Department of Economic Development and Finance, State Department of Community Services, Governor's Office Regional Planning Councils, North Dakota State Department of Health and local Economic Development Professionals.

Impact - Seventy-five facilitators for the strategic planning process were trained in a two day workshop. Seventy two of the facilitators attended another one-day session for pilot program updating and specific facilitator skills training. Thirty-six counties are currently in the process of conducting strategic planning programs with the assistance of the trained facilitators.

Source of federal funds: Smith-Lever

Scope of Impact: State Specific

Key Theme - Supplemental Income Strategies: Rural Economic Development

Impact - Approximately 189 people participated in five workshops. Of those participating, 121 completed the post-workshop evaluations. Results include: 99 percent gave the program an overall rating of useful to very useful; 55 percent or 66 people indicated that the workshop did help them to make a decision as to whether or not they would pursue starting a recreation business; 33 or 27 percent were already in business; 43 percent or 52 participants plan to start a business; of those already established, 12 percent indicated that they would make changes in their current operation due to what was learned.

Source of federal funds: Smith-Lever

Scope of Impact: Multi-state Extension - ND and MT

Key Theme - Impact of Change on Rural Communities: The Socioeconomic Impacts of New Agricultural Processing Facilities

Expanded processing of agricultural products in rural areas has been widely pursued as a strategy for community economic development. Expansion of value-added agricultural processing in rural areas is generally seen as a positive development; however, this expansion has not been without its problems for some communities. The objective of this completed study was to gain a better understanding of the socioeconomic impact of new agricultural processing plants. The impacts of these plants on rural communities were evaluated through data collected from community leaders, company officials, and area residents in four North Dakota towns that are the sites of new agricultural processing facilities developed during the 1990s. Study results indicated that improved job opportunities and enhanced incomes were generally seen as major positive effects of each of the new processing plants. Residents' incomes were enhanced both by the plants' jobs and payroll (which often represented second incomes for area households) and by increased incomes for area farmers (either from dividends paid directly by the processing plants, or from higher prices for a crop already being produced, or by allowing producers to raise a commodity that previously had no viable market). Because most of the plant jobs were taken by persons already living in the area, the new plants did not lead to substantial immigration or major population growth in the host communities, but rather served to stabilize the local economy and population (or to slow the rate of decline). Of all the effects of the plants, only air quality and water quality were more often rated as negative than positive by local residents. However, interviews with community leaders indicated that even these effects did not constitute major problems or issues.

Impact - Study supports activities by local and state economic development staff to encourage creation of value-added agricultural processing facilities in the state.

Source of federal funds: Hatch

Scope of Impact: State Specific

Key Theme - Impact of Change on Rural Communities - The Socioeconomic Impacts of Plant and Mine Closures

Adjustments to downsizing or closure of a major community employer was analyzed by (1) describing the approaches employed by some midwestern communities to maintain or restore their economics vitality in the face of a major plant closing or downsizing, and (2) describing the economic, community, and social organizational factors related to those community development efforts. The communities ranged in size from about 400 to 10,000 residents.

Impact - Design for lessening the impacts of plant closures should be based on findings of the report regarding effective policies employed in the study communities. Communities facing a closure/downsizing in this study tended to make a "better" adjustment when there was/were:

• An economic development organization (regional if not local) in place prior to the closure;
• Cohesion of community and agency leaders who were not concerned with "turf" issues;
• A focus on both assisting displaced workers and promoting economic development;
• Substantial lead time prior to closure/downsizing;
• An understanding that the adjustment period from downturn to upturn was not overnight, but might take months, or even years, but a "Can Do" attitude prevailed throughout;
• A closure/downsizing that was not the sole or dominant employer;
• Some displaced workers who were not local residents, but were commuters; and
• A range of alternative re-use options for the closed facility, rather than a single restrictive use-option.

Scope of Impact: National

Key Theme - Agricultural Financial Management: Farm Alliances and Partnerships

Ownership costs of machinery and other farm assets have continued to rise in recent years while prices for grain and oilseed commodities have clearly not kept pace with production costs. Some farmers and ranchers have been exploring alternative types of ownership of farm assets as a method of reducing per unit costs of production. Producers requested that the NDSU Extension Service provide educational programs on Farm Alliances models that could help farmers improve their overall management and possibly increase their farm financial performance and efficiency of their farm assets. The Farm & Family Economics team members gave high priority to educational programs focusing on farm alliances and partnerships. This was a result of input coming from all over the state. The target audience was primarily farmers and ranchers with gross income of under $500,000 and agricultural lenders who serve these producers.

Impact - A formal evaluation of the participants has not yet taken place, as the delivery efforts are still in process. However, these efforts have resulted in an estimated 25-50 producers requesting additional information/assistance from lenders/agents/adult ed. instructors and professionals on this topic. This is based on recorded contacts as well as estimates for discussions between lenders and borrowers. It is estimated that at least 20 percent of the producers involved will begin the developmental stage of some type of alliance/partnership at the farm level within the next two years.

Source of federal fund: Smith-Lever

Scope of Impact: State Specific but can be used as a Regional or Multi-State Program.

Key Theme - Impact of Change on Rural Communities: The Economic Effects of Migration

This study describes basic socioeconomic characteristics of new residents to North Dakota, the factors motivating their move, and their satisfaction with the North Dakota communities where they live. New residents who responded to the survey were generally younger than the North Dakota population overall; about two-thirds were between 21 and 40 years old. The educational level of the migrants was also higher than that of the state's population overall; 47 percent of the new residents were college graduates and an additional 35 percent reported some college or post-secondary vocational/trade school attendance. About 48 percent of the new residents had previous ties to North Dakota.

The new residents most often mentioned the following reasons for moving to North Dakota: looking for a safer place to live (59.5 percent), closer to relatives (50 percent), quality of the natural environment (49.5 percent), lower cost of living (48 percent), outdoor recreational opportunities (38 percent), and quality of local grade/high schools (35 percent). New job opportunities or transfers were central to many new residents' decisions to relocate. About 65 percent of the new resident households indicated that a new job or business opportunity, a transfer by a current employer, or a military transfer had been a key factor influencing their decision to move. Following their move to North Dakota, about 67 percent of respondents and 69 percent of their spouses or partners were employed full-time, while 12 percent of respondents and 11 percent of spouses were employed part-time.

Impact - Understanding of factors underlying in-migration decisions will be useful to regional economic development staff in providing services and concentrating on factors favorable to increasing population growth in areas of North Dakota experiencing growth.

Source of federal funds: Hatch

Scope of Impact: Multi-state research

Key Theme - Character/Ethics Education: Character Counts

Today's children have not always had the opportunities needed to make wise choices. 4-H Youth programs provide opportunities for youth to develop life skills in communication, working with others, and getting along with others. Ethics Education is an educational program that has been incorporated into programs within 4-H youth programming as well as in schools and communities throughout North Dakota. CHARACTER COUNTS! is an educational program developed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics and adopted by the NDSU Extension Service to teach six character traits. They are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, caring, fairness and citizenship.

State, Federal, local and grant sources of funding have enabled North Dakota to offer CHARACTER COUNTS! in communities and in 4-H youth activities throughout the state. Volunteers, county extension staff, state and local, along with school administrators, teachers, and community members have been part of the training and implementation of the program in local communities.

Leaders are trained in the curriculum and then are able to teach the curriculum and activities to others. It makes use of a traditional extension type of face-to-face training with leaders and then exponentially expands as each leader trains more people. Educational materials on character including extension publications and newsletters promote and explain character education. It has been incorporated into activities at county and state fairs as well. In addition television, radio, and newspapers have also picked up on the need to educate for character. Many schools have requested this character education program after going through school improvement processes and have come to the extension service for assistance in this area.

Impact - Almost 500 adults in 12 counties were trained in CHARACTER COUNTS! in 99-00 with over 8,000 students learning about the 6 pillars of character. In turn parents and other community members are also learning about pillars of character as they see their children through home activities and community activities related to character. In addition six communities have begun community coalitions to reinforce the activities learned at home and in school.

Although the formal evaluation will be done in program year 00-01 there have been some behavioral success stories. Short term results have been documented in scrapbooks, projects, videos and reports based on what teachers and communities have seen and observed. Some examples shared have included awareness by the use and making of posters in the schools by students and teachers. Students are learning the terms and communities are also learning the process of change. Examples of some medium term results are illustrated by actions on the part of those learning about character.

• Kindergarten students in Washburn decided that they would save the money they would spend on Christmas presents for each other and buy groceries for needy families in the area instead. Over $150 was raised by 23 students. The McLean County Public Health Nurse, Sandra Birst, identified a family to receive the groceries. Committees were formed within the class to plan and carry out their project. Committees included decorating bags for delivery, making grocery lists and buying the groceries. The local newspaper also got involved by publicizing the event. The children showed responsibility by carrying out their given tasks, and they showed caring by thinking of someone else along with respect for others.
• Before school starts, the Belcourt community asks for donations of clothing and school articles and then a large garage sale is held for the community.
• The Jamestown, North Dakota, Middle School raised money to buy blankets to send to Guatemala.
• Students in two North Dakota communities have done surveys in their school to determine changes in character. The surveys showed that junior high school students return things they borrow most of the time and are unwilling to cheat or physically harm other students. The results showed that the junior high students surveyed see themselves as more caring and trustworthy, not as fair and responsible and need more work to be respectful of others and good citizens. The schools plan to survey the same students over time to see if the responses change as the students mature.
• The Rolette school system is seeing more orderly behavior in the hallways, in the lunch line and on the playground.
 

In communities where character education has had a longer tenure, teachers and administrators have noticed less fighting, less cheating, and better behavior at recess and athletic events. Formal evaluation process will begin in North Dakota in March 2001 to give us a better indicator of long term changes. A child who participated in character education summed up what character education is in North Dakota: "Because what I learned made me change."

Scope of Impact: State specific within the National CHARACTER COUNTS! effort.

Key Theme: Child Care/Dependent Care: Together4Kids Program

The Together4Kids Program was initiated as a collaborative effort between Fargo Public Schools/Safe Community Committee, the Parent Resources Center/NDSU-Cass County Extension Service, Region V Children's Services Coordinating Committee and the Fargo City PTA. The 1999-2000 school year was the second year of the Together4Kids Program. During this school year, the parenting sessions offered to parents were targeted toward parents of students ages 6 to 17. A total of eight workshops were offered that included 18 different sessions. Offsite child care and transportation were made available through the Parent Resources Center to those parents needing it in order to attend the Together4Kids Program.

Impact - Attendance at the sessions averaged about 40 parents with the largest audience over 110. In addition to advertising the Together4Kids Program using the normal avenues to promote the monthly programming (AdVentures for Kids-a monthly newsletter sent to all elementary families, posters, flyers, articles/flyers in school newsletters, PSAs, the Parent Resource Center

newsletter), a monthly ad was purchased in the local newspaper. These ads included parenting tips about the monthly topic and promoted the program. The newspaper used serves a metropolitan area of over 120,000. The success of Together 4Kids has resulted in continuation of the program for the 2000-2001 school year.

Scope of Impact: State specific.

Allocated Resources ($ x $1,000)		FYOO
1862 Extension ($)	Smith-Lever	505
	State	710
	FTE	17.5
1862 Research ($)	Hatch	196
	State	321
	FTE	4.7