Networking/Technical Assistance - Indiana Rural Development Council (IRDC) Grant

Networking/Technical Assistance Goal:

In partnership with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, the Center for Regional Development would:

Establish a regional network for participants in both the Rural Development Action and Rural Regional Partnership programs. This network will focus on assisting grantees in strengthening their organizations through trainings in project development, project management, resource leveraging, project evaluation as well as serving as a support and peer-learning network among grantees.
Provide assistance to grantees in securing access to needed technical assistance. It is envisioned that grantees will have needs that can be provided or facilitated through the Center for Regional Development e.g. applied research, and connecting to resources at Purdue and elsewhere.

Program Summary:

Launch a peer-learning network by scheduling four peer-learning network meetings during the time period of October 2006 - June 2007. In general, these peer-learning meetings would be designed so that participants could share experiences, learn best practices, and celebrate successes!

This first peer-learning network was scheduled for Friday October 13, 2006 from 10:00 am. - 3:00 pm. at the Statewide REMC conference center in Indianapolis. The focus was three-fold:

Learning (e.g. Ed Morrison’s “Open Source Economic Development”, Aadron Rausch’s grant training workshop)
Sharing (e.g. grantees sharing information and outcomes regarding their various grant projects)
Celebration (e.g. celebrating successes of the grantee’s projects)

The remaining three peer-learning networks will be scheduled in February, April and June of 2007. Each of these peer-learning meetings will be conducted in a different region of the state. While the specific topics will be generated from the peer-learning network participants themselves, the general themes will remain on learning, sharing, and celebration.

Network Outcomes:
Through this peer-learning network, members will share ideas, experiences, and successes on specific themes as well as help one another find solutions to problems. In addition:

Collaborative learning will result in a better understanding of and clarity on challenges and expected outcomes, as well as, insights on how to achieve goals and make maximum impact within their areas of performance.
By design, engagement amongst learning network members will result in the creation of new knowledge through reflection, discussions, etc.

Network Products:

Initially there will be three products created from this peer-learning network:

“Regional Grants Training Workshops” - Grantees will have the opportunity to participate in at least one of four regional workshops focused on strengthening funding development skills, including grant writing to help organizations sustain and grow their efforts beyond the current funding. Participants will receive a manual (entitled: Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing), as well as one year of ongoing technical assistance including targeted funding searches, a bi-weekly e-newsletter, and proposal review services. In early fall all IRDC grantees will be sent an electronic survey regarding these workshops. The four regional workshops will then be designed (logistics, dates, and content) around the feedback obtained from the participant’s survey responses. While the bulk of the training costs will be the responsibility of the Purdue Center for Regional Development, each participant will be charged $55.00 per person in order to cover some of the cost of the workshop. In addition, participants will be responsible for their own transportation and lodging costs (if needed). Even with this $55.00 charge, this workshop and the one year of technical grant support is valued at between $800.00 - $1,000.00 per person.
“Communities of Practice” Network - The second product will be the formulation of a “communities of practice” network. Initially this network will be comprised of rural development organizations who are recipients of the IRDC grant program. This “CoP” learning network (utilizing a quarterly conference call format) will evolve through mutual practice, agreement, discussion and experimentation by its participants. Members will be informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for finding solutions jointly and sharing their knowledge. Of importance is the driving force behind the emergence of this network, that is, the drive to find solutions to problems in a cost effective way by learning from one another (e.g. the sharing of case studies).
“Best Practices” Report - The final product will be the creation of a “Best Practices” report which will focus on the 10 regional and 58 community-based rural development projects funded by the Office of Rural and Community Affairs. This report (published in June 2007) will present case studies of regional and community-based rural development projects that have demonstrated successes in specific economic and community development areas.