Rural Development Leadership Network
P.O. Box 98 Prince St. Station, New York, NY 10012
(212) 777-9137  /  (212) 477-0367 (Fax)
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www.ruraldevelopment.org   

                                                            
RURAL DEVELOPMENT LEADERSHIP NETWORK TO CONVENE NATIONAL NETWORK ASSEMBLY TO FORGE A PLATFORM FOR POOR RURAL COMMUNITIES - SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

October 2, 2006, New York, NY - The Rural Development Leadership Network, a national multicultural social change organization that supports leadership development in poor rural areas, will assemble October 5-9, 2006 in Norman Park, Georgia to forge a meaningful platform for poor rural American communities.  Farmers, farmworkers, fishers, entrepreneurs, health workers, those concerned with housing, credit, other community builders from Indian reservations, the rural South, farmworker communities, Appalachia, and refugee communities from eighteen states (plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.), will center their discussions on developing strategic action plans to take back to their home towns.  The Platform for Rural Communities will focus on addressing the primary issues facing their diverse areas.

• Health – unique health care issues that are faced by our men, women and children of poor rural America
• Agriculture/Environment/Finance – viable mechanisms for establishing financial stability in our rural minority communities
• Policy – how to have a say and become an effective player in the local and national discussion that effects rural minority communities
• Education – looking at the local “report card” and how to work together for effective change
• Youth leadership development – in the movement, in our work and for the future
• Food - what we grow, what we make, what we sell

Quoting Starry Krueger, President of RDLN, “The Platform for Rural Communities is a tool for poor, rural and primarily minority grassroots leaders. It can strengthen and empower them in their work to establish financially viable, healthy, sustainable rural communities for their families and future generations.”  

The hosts of this year’s Assembly are the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund and the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative (SRBWI).  Cosponsoring is the National Rural Funders Collaborative, which has provided scholarship funds for people to attend.  The grassroots leaders will visit projects in the area that highlight the work, culture and values of their hosts’ communities.  Peer exchange is crucial to the Network, and the delegates at this year’s Assembly are sharing their experience with each other as well as with the members of the local groups.

Assembly co-host Shirley Sherrod, the Georgia Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Georgia Lead for SRBWI, and Vice Chair of the RDLN Board of Directors, has recently been nominated for the prestigious NCHRE Human Rights Guardian Award, which pays tribute to dynamic individuals whose contributions ensure human rights protections for communities most at risk in the U.S.  Ms. Sherrod was a member of the first group of RDLN participants, earned her master's in the program and made the link with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives as her RDLN Sponsor. Her work at the Federation has been a catalyst for preserving farmland ownership among African Americans.

Rural Development Leadership Network, founded in 1983, recruits dedicated and talented men and women who spearhead community-based projects in their home communities. Through RDLN emerging leaders may design related study with the option of earning a certificate or academic credential (bachelor's, master's, or Ph. D. degree).  In RDLN’s “ladders of leadership” approach, its participants and graduates bring other community men and women into new arenas. RDLN organizes a bi-annual Rural Development Institute at the University of California, convenes Network members at National Assemblies, participates in United Nations events and coordinates special projects.
    
For Additional Rural Development Leadership Network information Contact:        
Suzanne Harvey        212 262 8104  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Starry Krueger        212 777 9137  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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