The Northeast Regional Center

1
The Northeast Regional Center for Rural
Development www.cas.nercrd.psu.edu
Helping Regions Compete and Prosper
Stephan J. Goetz, Director
2
Our Mission

• Applying science to create regional
  competitiveness and prosperity through
• entrepreneurial and cluster-based innovation
  combined with
• balanced uses of natural resources in livable
  communities

3
We accomplish our mission by

• applying the land grant universities science
  base to urgent development problems in our region
• linking faculty and educator teams across state
  lines, thereby eliminating duplication while
  delivering the best available educational
  materials
• partnering with Cooperative Extension. This
  allows us potentially to engage more communities
  than any other organization

4
Competitive Regional Economies

• Researching the determinants and benefits of
  self-employment, in an ownership society, as a
  response to off-shoring and shrinking
  manufacturing employment

Photo Credit (bottom photo) Free Foto.com
5
Competitive Regional Economies

• Researching food and agricultural industry
  clusters across state lines, as dynamic engines
  of economic growth. Identifying the role of
  local communities in maintaining a viable
  agriculture.

6
Competitive Regional Economies

• Conducting research into the brain drain, and
  understanding the causes of youth out-migration
  from rural areas. Providing business expansion
  and retention tools to retain jobs.

Photo Credit State College School District, Iowa
State University
7
Competitive Regional Economies

• Understanding the effects of changes in the
  retail sector on employment opportunities and
  local economies, including civic and leadership
  capacity

8
Competitive Regional Economies

• Researching the determinants of persistent
  regional poverty, using multi-disciplinary tools
  of analysis

Photo SJG
9
Balanced Use of Natural Resources
Examples of the emerging need for multi-state
research and engagement in the Northeast

• Creating a focal point for scientists and
  educators who tackle the increasingly complex
  land use issues in the Northeastern US and,
  especially, spillovers across state lines

10
Balanced Use of Natural Resources

• Reconciling food security and farm-land
  preservation goals with the housing needs of a
  growing population, that will require 2.5 million
  new housing units by 2025

Housing Affordability RedLow GreenHigh
11
Balanced Use of Natural Resources

• Providing toolkits that allow communities to make
  better land use decisions by using science-based,
  objective information

Photo SJG
12
Benefits and Costs of Alternative Patterns of
Development
Determinants of Land Use
Pattern of Development
Fiscal Impacts
Households Preferences Incomes
Numbers Technological change Niche
markets Farm profitability Economic
vitality Urban decay Federal subsidies Institution
s/laws Geography Other
Environmental Consequences (air, land, water)
Ecosystem Impacts
1
2
3
Health Impacts
Traffic Patterns/ Congestion
4
Changing Land Use
6
Social Impacts
7
8
Economic Impacts (consumer well-being)
9
Data sets
Determinants and Impacts of Alternative Land
Uses The Northeast Regional Center for Rural
Development
13
Balanced Use of Natural Resources

• Understanding housing preferences and motivations
  of new homebuyers investigating the factors that
  push residents out of urban areas and onto the
  rural-urban fringe

Photo NERCRD/SJG
14
For more information, contact
Dr. Stephan J. Goetz, Director The Northeast
Regional Center for Rural Development 7 Armsby
Building Penn State University University Park,
PA 16802-5602 Phone [phone] or (814)
777-4656 e-mail sgoetz_at_psu.edu URL
www.cas.nercrd.psu.edu
15
Water quality and the availability of water are
becoming critical issues in many communities of
the Northeastern US. Because watersheds do not
follow political boundaries, these issues need to
be dealt with on a multi-state (regional) basis.
Photo Credit USGS
16
The Northeast Regional Center for Rural
Develop-ment is helping to bring together
scientists and educators to develop practical
solutions for communities and effective
recommendations for policy makers for dealing
with water quality issues on small- to
medium-sized animal operations, for example.
Photo NERCRD/SJG
17
Future contributions will include linking
educators and communities at the level of
watersheds that stretch across state lines, and
involving school children the next generation
of decision-makers and consumers of water
services in using Geographic Information
System-based solutions to water-related problems
in the Chesapeake Bay Area and other watersheds
of the Northeastern region.
Photo Credits USDA/NRCS, FreeWebs.com, EPA