July, 2003
Vol. I - Issue 7

Cutoff Date for Rooms

Please make your room reservations for the NREDA Conference by August 5, 2003. To reserve your room, contact the Sanibel Harbour Hotel at 800-767-7777.

Early Bird Registration

Register for the NREDA Conference on or before August 4 and receive a discount on conference fees.

All The Knowledge You Need in One Stop - 2003 NREDA Conference Packs It In

Interpreting the Changing Rural Scene: New Perspectives on a Changing Rural Economy

Downtown Revitalization: Main Street Redesigned & Redefined

Developing Florida's Agriculture

Setting the Base for the Pace of the Race

Key Accounts & Economic Development: Hand in Hand

Globalization: Business Isn't Just in Your Backyard

Non-traditional Grant Writing & Ways to Access Funds

Quantifying Your Contributions to the State's Economy

Telecommunications

Commitment to Rural America: A Look at Rural Reality through the Eyes of the Feds

Analyzing Incentive Negotiations

Arts-Based Community Development

Researching Retention & Expansion - The Latest Findings about Capturing Customers

Order NREDA
Shirts
Order an NREDA polo shirt, teflon-finish wind shirt or long-sleeved denim, shirt to wear at the upcoming NREDA conference. Order forms available on the NREDA web site.

Questions?

Call 515-284-1421 or e-mail questions to
director@nreda.org
or
staff@nreda.org

nreda conference updates

NREDA Conference Investigates Non-Traditional Grants, Offers Glimpse of "Rural Reality" Through the Eyes of the Federal Policy Makers
You may think you know all the traditional grant funding avenues, but at the upcoming NREDA Annual Conference, September 6-9 in Ft. Myers, FL, Joe Veres, president of JM Veres & Associates, will introduce you to non-traditional grant sources that are often overlooked. Veres is just one of many knowledgeable speakers scheduled to appear. Others include Hilda Legg, administrator of the Rural Utilities Service, who will provide insight into the "rural reality" as viewed through the eyes of our federal policy makers. Conference topics include key accounts and economic development, downtown revitalization, telecommunications, incentive negotiations, business retention and expansion, rural economic issues and quantifying your organization's contributions to your state economy. If you haven't registered for the upcoming conference, please do so today. For complete conference registration materials and a detailed conference agenda, please visit the NREDA web site at www.nreda.org, or contact Terry McConnell, NREDA associate director, at 515-284-1421.

Special Notice to Preconference Golfers
Due to shortage of rental clubs at the Crown Colony Golf and Country Club, participants in the preconference Golf Outing are asked to bring their own clubs or consider sharing clubs with another participant. Remember, it's not too late to sign up for either the Golf or Back Bay Fishing outings. Sign-up forms for both these special networking events are found at NREDA's web site at www.nreda.org.

Thanks to NREDA Conference Sponsors
NREDA extends thanks to all 2003 NREDA Conference sponsors. Special thanks also to David Roberts, Touchstone Energy Cooperatives of Northwest Florida, who is serving as local host for the conference.

Diamond ($2,000+): National Rural Electric Cooperative Association; National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative; National Rural Utilities Finance Corporation; Touchstone Energy Cooperatives of Northwest Florida; West Florida EC; Gulf Coast EC; CHELCO; and Escambia River EC.
Gold ($1,000):   Dakota Electric Association; East Central Energy Electric Power Cooperative; East River Electric Power Cooperative; and Iowa Area Development Group.
Silver ($500):   Berkeley Electric Cooperative; Kansas Electric Power Cooperative; Santee Electric Cooperative; and South Central Power Co.
Bronze ($250):   Buckeye Power
In-Kind Contributions:   Buckeye Power; and National Rural Electric Cooperative.

grants & funding

CFC Offers Guide to REDL&G Financing
Applying for funding through the USDA Rural Economic Loan and Grant (REDL&G) program is no easy task. To help electric cooperatives and rural telco's submit successful applications for funding, CFC offers a free electronic manual, "REDL&G: A Guide to Financing Rural Projects." The step-by-step guide helps you organize your approach to developing, evaluating and packaging strong applications. It also helps you to identify community projects that would benefit from REDL&G funds and evaluates projects based on your co-op's strategic plan. CFC members can order the free electronic manual on compact disk by visiting www.nrucfc.org. Rural Telcos can request a free copy by visiting www.rtfc.coop. For more information on REDL&G or the application process, please contact Bob McLaury, CFC director of rural business and community development, mclaurb@nrucfc.org or 800-424-2954, ext. 6865.

rural development briefs
Strategic Energy Planning for Key Accounts
A new training course is available for key account professionals that takes a unique approach to energy management and combines effective business management practices with traditional energy management concerns. Cooperative staff attending the training course will learn how to design a five step energy management plan that includes data collection, assessment, plan building, implementation, and monitoring and feedback. Attendees earn 0.6 continuing education credits toward key account certification. For more information, contact NRECA/Touchstone Energy Business Development Director Charlie Gloeckner at 703-907-5589.

Boeing & Wal-Mart Offer Advice to Co-ops
Gene Rodgers, author of Flying High: The Story of Boeing and the Rise of the Jetliner Industry, and Paul Carter, retired president of Wal-Mart's real estate division, participated in a panel discussion at the CFC Forum 2003 entitled "What Co-ops Can Learn from the Boeing-Seattle Experience." Two years ago, Boeing shifted its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago.

Bill Clayton, CFC's vice-president of e-Business and Marketing also participated in the panel and wrote the following analysis of this discussion.

     Balance plays an important role in business - the balance of give and take necessary to create win-win situations. With Boeing and Seattle, that clearly wasn't the case. Three keys might have helped: relationship, communication and forward thinking.
     From Wal-Mart, we learned that it was important for co-ops to maintain a strong, personal relationship with customers and provide a single contact source, a "go-to person" dedicated to each key account. The second key is timely, clear and accurate communication involving all issues, including rate changes and power quality. It may involve new ways of creating dialogue, such as focus groups and regularly scheduled management roundtables. The final key is a forward-thinking environment. For example, co-ops might work with business members to develop outage restoration plan or determine ways to reduce power usage.
     Would any of these keys have helped the relationship between Boeing and Seattle? Let's put it this way, at least Wal-Mart and the co-ops are still talking.

conferences & training

July 21-25 Upper Midwest Economic Development Course	September 14-17 - Cincinnati, OH IEDC Annual Conference - Advancing Economic Development
August 3-5 - Mankatao, MN Minnesota Rural Summit 2003: Designing Game Plans	September 28-October 3 - Columbia, MO Community Development Academy
September 6-9 - Ft. Myers, FL NREDA Annual Conference: Leadership -Thrive or Survive	October 19-22 - Orange Beach, AL Alabama Association of Regional Councils Training Conference

To share rural development news or information about upcoming conferences, please e-mail contributions to Mary Logan Wolf, logan7@cox.net.

The Rural Developer e-Bulletin is published monthly for members of the

National Rural Economic Developers Association
431 East Locust Street, Suite 300   Des Moines, IA 50309
Tele: 515-284-1421   FAX: 515-243-2049
            www.nreda.org
director@nreda.org     staff@nreda.org