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A
Grassroots
Rural
Issues
Organization
representing
16 Southwest Iowa Counties
Adair
Adams
Audubon
Clarke
Cass
Decatur
Fremont
Guthrie
Mills
Montgomery
Page
Pottawattamie
Ringgold
Shelby
Taylor
Union
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click here for an order form
April 22, 2008 Coalition Board and Member Meeting
will be of special interest to those who are/would like to participate in local food production and capitalize on a regional awareness campaign to promote locally grown foods.
Happy Hollow Country Club - Corning, IA, 2068 Valley Rd
3:30 Board Meeting
6 p.m. dinner and membership meeting
RSVP your selection of entree: grilled chicken or pork filet ($14 per dinner) to the office.
The 2008 Membership Drive has begun.
click here for a 2008 Membership Form 
Join the Chorus of Voices for Rural Advocacy
2008 Members to date - Thank you!
Dennis Bloom
Guy Powell
Ken Pangburn
Adams Community Economic Dev. Corp.
Alec & Nancy Turner
Bank Iowa Red Oak
Bank Iowa Shenandoah
Bank Iowa Essex
Bateman Services
Bedford Area Development Center
City of Harlan
Camblin Mechanical
Cass Atlantic Development Corporation
Cheeses Shurfine Food Center
City National Bank
Diagonal Community Development Corporation
Farmers Mutual Telephone Company
Farmers Trust and Savings Earling
Farmers Trust and Savings Harlan
First National Bank Greenfield
First National Bank Massena
First National Bank Anita
First National Bank Correctionville
Glenwood State Bank
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Glenwood/Mills Cty Economic Development & Chamber
Global Horizons, LLC
Iowa Area Development Group
Iowa Telecom
McMahon Drug Store
MidAmerican Energy
MidWest Partnership
Mills County Farm Bureau
Miltner Insurance
Montgomery County Memorial Hospital
Montgomery County Supervisors
Okey Vernon first National Bank
Page County Farm Bureau
Page Cty Federal Savings Association
Panora Cooperative Telephone
Red Oak Chamber
Red Oak Chrysler Dodge Jeep
Ringgold County Development Corp
Shelby County DevelopSource
Shelby County State Bank
Snyder & Associates, Inc.
Southwest Iowa Electric Cooperative
Southwest Iowa Planning Council
Taylor County Farm Bureau
Van Ginkel Law Offices
Wallace Foundation
Wells Fargo |
Membership
Benefits:
- A strong
concerted voice on rural issues affecting your community, county
and business
- Networking
opportunities with other community, county and business leaders
- Opportunities
to meet with state and federal agency representatives, policymakers
and legislators
- Assistance
with accessing a $1.8 million revolving loan fund for community
and business projects
- Joint or
regional marketing options to assist you in locating skilled labor
and new industry
- A voice and
a vote within an organization in which you set an annual agenda
for rural development
- Timely alerts
and notices of relative news, meetings and events
- A monthly
newsletter to keep you current on Coalition activities
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RSVP for the April 22nd SWICO meeting and learn about the new grant available through The Southwest Iowa Food & Farm Initiative of up to $500 to local producers interested in starting or expanding local food production, processing, marketing or distribution in the eight southwest Iowa counties of Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Guthrie, Montgomery, Pottawattamie and Shelby. Read more at http://swiffi.org/about_us and bring others who might be interested in the opportunity.
Speakers for the membership meeting, Keith Booth, Development Director, Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development & Holly Born, Midwest Field Office Director, National Center for Appropriate Technology will talk with the group about the regional opportunities in western/southwest Iowa through several regional initiatives which are being funded in part by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Iowa West Foundation that include the Southwest Iowa Farm to Food Initiative and the new western Iowa Chapter of Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign. The 2008 Recipient of the Austin B Turner III Leadership and Memorial Scholarship Award will be announced.
click here for a copy of the 2008 Legislative Agenda of Priorities.
click here to read the first quarter 2008 SWICO Newsletter
Grow Iowa website www.growiowa.org click here to go to the new RDRC website - enterprisingIowans.com
click
here to learn more about the Rural Development Resource Center
- Want
to know more about the Rural Development Resource Center
- click here
for information about the design and history leading up to this
grand opening. From the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research & Development: REGIONAL FOOD SYSTEMS - not just for farmers. Go to the economic development page for a report on this meeting.
Federal Home
Loan Banks rural competitiveness study now available. The
study addresses the "future prosperity of rural America and
can be found at http://www.fhlbdm.com/
Scroll on the page to Study Addresses Future Prosperity of Rural
America and select either the fact sheet or the entire study.
Commonality of SWICO members lie with their shared rural challenges involving transportation, housing, water, communications, distance learning, physician recruitment, Iowa Department of Economic Development allocations, agriculture, and community-specific topics. The need to address these issues is what spawned the organization and motivates it to continue.
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