Health, access to care, and health insurance, affect the vitality of agricultural enterprises and farm and ranch families, according to results from a national research project funded by the USDA. A free webinar taking place on October 10, 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET is designed for Extension, tax, loan, health and other agricultural advisors. Connecting Health Insurance & Ag Viability will provide an overview of the research findings to help farmers and ranchers make informed decisions for their businesses and households. The webinar will be hosted by Scott Loveridge (North Central Regional Center for Rural Development). Shoshanah Inwood (The Ohio State University), Bonnie Braun (University of Maryland Extension), Maria Pippidis (University of Delaware), and Bob Parsons and Jake Jacobs (University of Vermont Extension) will also present. Webinar participants will understand the intersection of health and agricultural business viability, grounded in 2016-2017 national research finding; receive tools they can use in their work farmers, including worksheets, videos and other informational resources, and questions to ask farmers and ranchers to help incorporate health costs into farm enterprise and risk management planning.
Apply Now For the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge! - National Association of Counties (NACo) – in partnership with Americans for the Arts and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts – has launched the Creative Counties Placemaking Challenge to train local leaders from rural and mid-sized counties on how to advance arts-based economic and community development to address local challenges. NACo invites counties with populations of less than 250,000 to form multidisciplinary teams to apply. Recognizing the intimate working relationships extension networks have with rural counties, NACo welcomes applications that feature county extension agents as team members. Selected teams will attend a training and peer exchange workshop on March 28-30, 2018. Deadline: Friday, October 13, 2017. Questions? Contact Jenna Moran at jmoran@naco.org; 202-942-4224. Twitter announcement: https://twitter.com/NACoTweets/status/907264996555542529.
Fostering Positive Youth Development - Positive youth development is an intentional approach to promote positive outcomes for young people through family and community youth engagement for the benefit of society. Positive youth development focuses on building relationships while delivering learning content, ultimately giving youth the skillsets they need to navigate socially: respect, teamwork, and self-care. NIFA prioritizes positive youth development programming to ensure the future employability of America’s children and support our nation’s economy. See https://nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/resource/Fostering-Positive-Youth-Development.pdf for more on this informative infographic.
