January 2018

Compiled and published monthly by Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation
1825 K Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20006. Phone: 202.739.9294; Fax 202.785.8030
Website: www.lisc.org/rural

Children

EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER OF AMERICA is calling on high school students to present original ideas which address a pressing need in their community. First place will receive $5,000, two runners up will receive $2,500, and 15 students will receive $1,000 to be used for higher education expenses. Deadline: 7/25/2018. Submit your idea here.  

Health

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION is offering grants for innovative projects that are working to build a culture of health, ensuring that everyone has access to the care they need and all families have the opportunity to make healthier choices. Deadline: applications accepted on an ongoing basis. Click here to visit the website to review funding guidelines.  

Housing

FANNIE MAE has launched the Sustainable Communities Innovation Challenge ("The Challenge") to generate innovative ideas to address the affordable housing needs in the United States. The Challenge is a two-year $10 million investment by Fannie Mae to generate affordable housing that also advances sustainable communities, providing residents with opportunities for employment, health and wellness and education. Fannie Mae will support innovative ideas through partnerships and funding for research, planning, idea development and marketing. Deadlines: The Challenge is a three-phase initiative; the first phase opened on 12/18/2017 and runs through 2/23/2018. Succeeding phases of the initiative will be announced as they are developed.  Fannie Mae is seeking proposals that focus on the intersection of affordable housing and economic opportunity. Click here to review funding guidelines.  

Other Opportunities

THE STEELE-REESE FOUNDATION is offering funds through the 2018 Idaho and Montana Grant Program to programs operating in the rural areas of both states. Nonprofit organizations serving rural regions in the areas of education, health, human services, arts and humanities, and environmental conservation and historic preservation are eligible to apply. Deadline: online letters of inquiry must be submitted by 1/10/2018; invited full applications will be due 4/2/2018. Visit the Foundation’s website here to learn more about the application guidelines.

THE AMERICORPS STATE AND NATIONAL GRANTS PROGRAM provides support to engage AmeriCorps members in interventions to strengthen communities. Priorities include economic opportunity, disaster resilience, education, veterans and military families, rural affairs, community safety, and drug use reduction and prevention. The application deadline is 1/17/2018. Visit the website here for application requirements.  

THE SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (SAMHSA), CENTER FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT (CSAT) is offering grants to nonprofits and public agencies to expand substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and related recovery and reentry services to sentenced adult offenders/ex-offenders with SUDs and/or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders. Deadline: 1/26/2018. Click here to review funding guidelines.  

INVESTOPEDIA.ORG, an initiative of Investopedia, supports programs that enhance financial empowerment among low-income individuals and communities. Investopedia.org defines “financial empowerment” as providing the information, tools and coaching needed to achieve financial sustainability in the short and long term. One-year grants in the range of $10,000 to $25,000 are being offered to nonprofit organizations that are working to help low-income individuals and communities reduce bad debt, make the most of their financial resources and build assets. Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations based in the United States. Deadline: 1/31/2018. Visit the Investopedia website here to review the funding guidelines and to submit an online application.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS (NEA) is offering grants through the ART WORKS program for artistically excellent projects that celebrate America’s creativity and cultural heritage, invite a dialogue that fosters a mutual respect for the diverse beliefs and values of all persons and groups, and broadens an understanding of ourselves as individuals and as a society. Deadline: 2/15/2018. Visit the NEA’s website here for details.  

Veterans

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION is offering support to provide quality training and counseling to veteran small business owners and entrepreneurs. The application deadline is 1/8/2018. Click here to review funding guidelines.  

PolicyLink, The Food Trust, and Reinvestment Fund, as well as representatives of the Food and Agriculture Policy Collaborative are sponsoring a webinar, “Opportunities in the 2018 Farm Bill: Federal Efforts to Advance Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems,” Tuesday, January 9, 2018, 3:00 to 4:15 PM Eastern Time. Presenters will provide a brief overview of the Farm Bill and the status of the reauthorization process, as well as highlight four key policy pillars within the legislation: the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), healthy food incentive programs such as Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI), and sustainable agricultural and local/regional food system development. Click here to register for the webinar.  

Bipartisan Policy Center is hosting “Reinventing Rural Health Care: A Case Study of 7 Upper Midwest States” at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., January 17, 2018, 9:30 to 11:00 AM Eastern Time. The event will also be available by webcast. Click here for more information.

Rural Health Research Gateway will host a webinar, “Strategies to Combat Opioid Use in Rural Communities,” Thursday, January 18, 2018, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. No registration is required, but the webinar will be limited to the first 1,500 callers. Click here to join.  

National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2018 “Policy Forum: Building the Movement” will take place March 19-21, 2018, in Washington, D.C.  Click here to register.

American Society on Aging will hold its annual conference, "Aging in America," March 26-29, 2018, in San Francisco, California.  For an agenda and to register, click here.

PolicyLink will host "Equity Summit 2018: Our Power. Our Future. Our Nation" April 11-13, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois.  Click here for more information and to register.

National Housing Conference’s Solutions for Housing Communications will be held on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.  

The Center for Rural Entrepreneurship will offer a Growing Entrepreneurial Communities Summit, April 25-26, 2018, in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme will be "Entrepreneurship on the Edges: Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Distressed Urban and Rural Communities."

Novogradac 2018 Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Conference: Preserving and Improving Public Housing will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 26 to April 27, 2018. The event will include an in-depth session on RAD basics, key updates from HUD, a look at what’s happening in Washington and the latest from RAD investors.  

Rural Development Initiatives will host "R2R: Regards to Rural 2018" in Jantzen Beach, Oregon, Friday through Sunday, May 18-20, 2018, with a pre-session held on Friday. The conference theme is "Bridges Between Rural & Urban," and conference tracks will focus on rural economy, communities, leaders, resources and policy.  

National Housing Coalition's Housing Visionary Award Gala will take place June 14, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

“Building Momentum: The Future of Aging Well” is a joint conference sponsored by the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NANASP) and the National Council on Aging’s (NCOA) National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC).  The conference will be held June 6-8, 2018, at the Charleston Marriott in Charleston, South Carolina.

Healthy Aging Summit will be held in Washington, D.C., July 16-17, 2018. The event is offered by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the Office on Women’s Health within Health and Human Services, along with the American College of Preventive Medicine.

The Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) and Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force released the tenth edition of “Priced Out: The Housing Crisis for People with Disabilities.” The key finding of the report is that non-elderly adults with disabilities reliant upon Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are among the group most severely impacted by the lack of affordable housing in the United States. Get the report here.

The National Housing Trust has released a paper, "Using Land to Restore Neighborhoods and Build Community," produced in partnership with its Inclusive Communities Working Group. The paper explores how community land trusts can be implemented to address a wide variety of needs, and presents profiles of four community land trust organizations that share how they evolved to better serve their communities. Included in the study is Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Partner organization Champlain Housing Trust. Get the paper here.

“Rural Aging in Place Toolkit” compiles resources and model programs on Aging in Place. Created in collaboration between the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center and the Rural Health Information Hub, this toolkit is designed to guide the reader through creating a sustainable program from development through evaluation. Get the Toolkit here.

According the USDA Economic Research Service, rural households account for nearly one-fifth of U.S. food-insecure households. For a pie chart showing the proportion of food insecure households in metropolitan areas compared to those in nonmetropolitan areas in 2016, click here.  

HUD has published “Community First: Ensuring Housing Development Meets the Demands of the Market and Existing Residents” guide. The guide explains important market factors that HUD grantees and subgrantees should consider when analyzing and endeavoring to understand the characteristics and needs of their potential buyer markets and how to attract homebuyers. Instead of focusing solely on the supply of affordable housing, successful development or redevelopment projects need to include strategies that align with demand. Get the guide here.  

New research from the Carsey School of Public Policy, in a brief named “2020 Census Faces Challenges in Rural America,” identifies rural areas where special outreach and operations will be needed to get a complete and accurate count. It also addresses key Census-related issues that will be important for rural leaders to monitor between now and April 1, 2020. Get the brief here.

The rental housing affordability gap in the United States remains high, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) at Harvard University’s America’s Rental Housing 2017 report. The study found median monthly rental costs increased 15 percent from 2000 to 2016, while median household income fell slightly. Get the report here.

The Rural Health Information Hub has released a guide, “Chronic Disease in Rural America.” The guide provides a general overview of chronic disease as well as focusing on specific conditions, including heart disease and stroke, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory conditions, arthritis and HIV/AIDS. Get the guide here.

U.S. Census Bureau has released “Highlights from the 2016 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE),” which provides single-year median household income and poverty statistics. The report includes many county-level maps showing income and poverty rates in 2016 and changes from 2007 to 2016. Get the report here.

An article in the Daily Yonder, “Two-Thirds of Rural Counties Have Fewer Jobs Today Than in 2007,” shows that the number of jobs in rural America increased in the last year, but rural counties remain well below their pre-recession employment level. Read the story here.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has a website, “Plan. Prepare. Prevail,” containing disaster-preparedness information including: financial documents and records they need to have available in case of a disaster; personal and small business financial inventory forms (also available in Spanish); quick checklists to identify and organize key financial records (also available in Spanish); as well as links to other valuable resources and materials. Visit the website here.

“Rural Arts, Design, and Innovation in America” is a report that stemmed from a research collaboration with the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It analyzes data from the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey to quantify relationships among arts organizations, design-integrated firms and business innovators in rural settings. Get the report here.

The Bipartisan Policy Center describes how the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) can improve health behaviors and outcomes for residents in a report, “Building the Case: Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Health.” The report concludes that lowering the housing cost burden for lower-income families leads to better health and lower medical noncompliance rates, as well as less food insecurity. Download the report here.

USDA Economic Research Service has released a report, “Independent Grocery Stores in the Changing Landscape of the U.S. Food Retail Industry,” that examines the performance of independent U.S. grocery stores in 2015, and reports on changes in the prevalence and performance of these stores between 2005 and 2015. Highlights include the important role of rural independent grocery stores as employers, tax generators and sources of healthy and specialty foods. Get the report here.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a report, “Rural America in Crisis: The Changing Opioid Overdose Epidemic.” Authors discuss the history of the opioid epidemic and its effect on rural communities, as well as key functions of public health programs that can help prevent opioid overdoses. Get the report here.  

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Rural LISC works with 84 partner organizations creating sustainable rural communities across 44 states. Visit our website here and sign up for the Rural LISC RSS feed here. If this email was forwarded to you and you would like to sign up to receive the Rural e-News each month, click here.