Delta Enterprise Network

We believe that the most lasting institutional change comes when both external motivation (often from NGOs) and internal commitment can unite. For this reason, and because NGOs and government agencies have complementary approaches to organizing and facilitating, our project is attracting a mix of non-profits, Extension services and other agencies.... Initial contributors to the development of the project (University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, Kentucky State University, University of Missouri Outreach and Extension and University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Delta Land & Community) have been joined by individuals from a number of other agencies listed below. University of Missouri Outreach and Extension has made a major commitment to catalyze collective enterprises by instituting the Ag Business Counselor program, which also partners with the state Department of Agriculture, the Small Business Development Centers across the state, Missouri Enterprise (the Department of Commerce-funded network of state manufacturing assistance affiliates), and the state Department of Economic Development. This program recruited regional Extension specialists from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Outreach and Extension administrators have provided significant release time for participating staff to devote to facilitating new collaborative enterprises. The College of Agriculture Dean has also expressed willingness to promote the project among his colleagues at other land grant universities in the South and Midwest. University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service is currently devoting significant resources to "coach" local communities and farmer groups seeking to establish new enterprises as a means of diversifying a tobacco-based rural economy. University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture Dean supports the project and feels Extension agents must transition from being "experts in technical production to being facilitators of change." Delta Land & Community (an NGO based in Arkansas with activities in ...Read More