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March 2020
MT Community Development Specialist Update
The RAINBOWS OVER THE ROCKIES: Celebrating Diversity with Leadership and Learning Summit will be May 1 and 2 at MSU. This inaugural summit will focus on the mental and physical health and wellness of LGBTQ+ youth and how peers, families, adults and organizations can implement educational and supportive services and create safe, inclusive and nurturing environments. We are grateful to the now over 30 partnering organizations who are helping with the Summit. We have confirmed presentations by EmpowerMT, Forward Montana, Pride Foundation, TransVisible Montana, Tumbleweed, and other Health & Wellness Professionals. The Summit is FREE and EVERYONE is welcome! Please check the link above for more information, join us with Summit planning, and help us spread the word!
The video of Dr. Rob Davies climate change lecture "Disruption in the Age of Humans" on Feb. 18 at MSU is available on our Climate Change website. Check out what many people have described as a life-changing event.
Our Small Business Development Program continues to be a resource for small business owners across the state, now with over 2 and half years of resources and 27 webinars collected and archived. Our next Small Business Development webinar will be April 2 focusing on Using Opportunity Zones to Start or Grow Your Business; our partners are always happy to entertain suggestions for topics and speakers; please access our web page for more info.
A Seat at the Table is a community-wide conversation that starts with you and your neighbors about ideas and hopes for their community; On October, 25, 2018 over 900 members of Gallatin County came together to talk about three questions 1)What do you love most about your community? 2)What are the most pressing challenges in your community? 3)What are your ideas for making your community better? I'm working again with partners for another A Seat at the Table Gallatin Valley this autumn; If you would like more information or would like help designing and implementing an event in your community, please contact me.
Registration for the upcoming NACDEP, CDS and IACD conferences is now open. Don't miss these excellent professional development opportunities.
In recognition of International Women's Day (March 8), the IACD just released its latest issue of Practice Insights with a focus on Community Development and Women's Empowerment.
Lastly, this month's "Article of Interest" is from the Journal of Extension with the title Burnout: Examining the Effects of Job Characteristics Across Extension Disciplines, stating, "4-H and community development educators appear to be at a higher risk for burnout. ...community development educators may experience challenges as they seek to manage multiple projects and stakeholders to build partnerships to meet community needs. Our findings suggest a higher risk of burnout for community development educators as job demands more strongly predicted burnout for them than for those in any other discipline and there was no mitigating relationship between job resources and burnout for this group. Our findings warrant further examination of the job demands associated with both disciplines."
Paul Lachapelle
MSU Community Development Specialist
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Reports & Resources
Coronavirus Outbreak Maps Rooted in History
CityLab | READ STORY
As coronavirus cases multiply, interactive maps are helping us understand the spread of the disease--and panic about it. One of the best examples is the dashboard built by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering with a striking red-on-black design. Using tools from mapping software company Esri, Johns Hopkins aggregates data from health officials worldwide in real time. The bigger a red bubble gets, the more cases are identified in a given geographical area. The death toll from the outbreak topped 1,000 this week, making it more deadly than the 2003 SARS epidemic.
/https://cdn.citylab.com/media/img/posts/2020/02/hopkins/original.png) |
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Democratic Rights Popular Globally but Commitment to Them Not Always Strong
Pew Research Center | READ STORY
Over the past few years, numerous scholars have found evidence that the health of democracy is in decline around the world, using terms such as "democratic backsliding" or "democratic recession" to describe an overall deterioration of democratic rights and institutions.
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US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs
Foundation for Economic Education| READ STORY
The map below matches the economic output (Gross Domestic Product) for each US state (and the District of Columbia) in 2019 to a foreign country with a comparable nominal GDP last year, using data from the BEA for GDP by US state and data for GDP by country from the International Monetary Fund (via Wikipedia).
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Ranked: The Social Mobility of 82 Countries
Visual Capitalist | READ STORY
It's an unfortunate truth that a person's opportunities can be partially tethered to their socioeconomic status at birth. Although winning or losing the "birth lottery" will continue to shape the lives of generations to come, climbing the socioeconomic ladder is possible. However, it boils down to what opportunities people are afforded in the country they live in. Today's chart pulls data from the inaugural Global Social Mobility report produced by the World Economic Forum. The report ranks 82 countries according to their performance across five key pillars: healthcare, education, technology access, working conditions, and social protection. While most countries aim to create a level playing field, which places best live up to this lofty and challenging mission?
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Achieving Abundance: Understanding the Cost of a Sustainable Water Future Data
World Resources Institute | READ STORY
Population and economic growth, as well as climate change, have pushed water crises to the top of the global agenda. Given the scale of the issues, delivering sustainable water management required rapid mobilization of funding for water-related improvements and more effective use of existing resources. The Achieving Abundance Working Paper proposes a method whereby any decision-maker can calculate the cost required to deliver sustainable water management to a geography.
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Upcoming Events
"Using Opportunity Zones to Start or Grow Your Business"
April 2, 2020
Online at 11:00 AM, MST
Small Business Webinar
"RAINBOWS OVER THE ROCKIES: Celebrating Diversity with Leadership and Learning"
May 1-2, 2020
Montana State University Campus
Inspiration Hall / Norm Asbjornson Hall
Bozeman, Montana
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Grants, Awards, Jobs
Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training Grant
USDA Rural Development is accepting Fiscal Year 2020 applications for grants to help rural communities expand their capacity to access financial resources for economic development.
Electronic Application Deadline: April 30, 2020 via grants.gov
Paper Application Deadline: May 5, 2020
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
USDA Rural Development offers funding to support agricultural producers and rural small businesses to reduce energy costs and consumption with by purchasing and installing renewable energy systems and making energy efficiency improvements in their operations.
Application Deadlines: Grants - March 31, 2020
Loan Guarantees - Ongoing
Climate Resilience Specialist
Clemson University: College of Agriculture
Forestry and Life Sciences: Agricultural Sciences
Application Deadlines: May 5, 2020
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National / International News
Iran to call dead medical staff 'martrys' as virus kills 291
March 10, 2020 ABC News
International Women's Day 2020 around the world - in pictures
March 8, 2020 The Guardian
Eva Szekely Dies at 92; Survived Holocaust to Win Olympic Gold
March 6, 2020 The New York Times
Montana News
National parks see millions of tourists from China. Will coronavirus change that?
March 6, 2020 Idaho Statesman
All about the money: Helena hosts Montana Economics Challenge
March 3, 2020 Independent Record
Helena commits to 100% clean energy by 2030
Feb. 24, 2020 Independent Record