Texas Rural Communities, Inc. announces availability of grants funds for non-profits serving rural Texans.

Buda, Texas – September 23, 2011– Sandra Tenorio, Executive Director of Texas Rural Communities, Inc. (TRC) announced the availability of grant funds for rural communities. She said, “TRC may award up to $30,000 to non-profit organizations serving rural Texans and the grants are intended to fund environmental, economic or educational programs in local communities.” She said the community organizations had an opportunity to submit applications that would best fit their needs using the broad categories listed by TRC.

Two types of grants will be considered—Recognition Grants of up to $5,000 and Impact Grants from $5,000-$25,000. Recognition grants may be awarded to new or existing programs that are making or have the potential to make a significant difference in the communities they serve. Impact grants may be awarded to programs that also demonstrate innovation or have the potential to serve as model programs for other communities

TRC is a non-profit organization created as part of the New Deal in 1934 and has a long-term commitment to assisting rural communities, individuals and support organizations that improve or maintain the quality of rural life, through independent and cooperative ventures. In addition to its grant program, TRC offers small business loans and Farm and Ranch loans in partnership with the Farm Service Agency.

To receive more information about applying for the Grant, contact TRC by telephone at 800-787-2589 or by email at info@texasrural.org. The application criteria is available on the TRC website: www.texasrural.org. APPLICATION DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 31, 2011

For More Information Contact:
Sandra Tenorio, Executive Director
Texas Rural Communities, Inc.
168 Cimarron Park Loop
Buda, TX 78610
800-787-2589 or 512-312-9029
sandra.t@texasrural.org

The TCRE store has additional information: https://uze86461.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp

http://m.reporternews.com/news/2011/aug/28/state-to-expand-city-loan-program/

The Census Bureau released the local-level demographic information for Texas on August 11!

To help you easily access Census data from American FactFinder 2, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service has created You Tube video tutorials available from the Community Data Resources link at http://ruralcommunities.tamu.edu. You will also find tutorials for accessing data from other federal websites as well as a short-list of data websites with the information community leaders and economic development professionals often need.

The Accessing Local Data Webinar on Friday, August 19, at 11 a.m. Central, will describe these data sets and how to access and use them in creating community profiles and compiling other community information. The webinar can be attended at: http://165.95.250.7/main/User/GuestAttend.jhtml?s_guid=00000006270b000001310c5bd336acb2&domain=/tce.

Questions?  Contact Rebekka Dudensing, Assistant Professor & Extension Economist, Texas AgriLife Extension Servic, at 979-845-1719.

By Hope Yen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 9:59 p.m. Wednesday, July 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — Rural America now accounts for just 16 percent of the nation’s population, the lowest ever.
The latest 2010 census numbers hint at an emerging America where, by midcentury, city boundaries become indistinct and rural areas grow ever less relevant. Many communities could shrink to virtual ghost towns as they shutter businesses and close down schools, demographers say.
More metro areas are booming into sprawling megalopolises. Barring fresh investment that could bring jobs, however, large swaths of the Great Plains and Appalachia, along with parts of Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi, could face significant population declines.
Among the rural U.S. counties suffering big declines are Cottle, King and Culberson in northern and western Texas, along with Issaquena, Jefferson and Sharkey in Mississippi; Sheridan and Towner in North Dakota; Kiowa in Kansas; Cimarron in Oklahoma; Tensas Parish in Louisiana; and Monroe in Arkansas. All had percentage losses of 20 percent or more over the past decade.
“Some of the most isolated rural areas face a major uphill battle, with a broad area of the country emptying out,” said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau, a research group in Washington, D.C. “Many rural areas can’t attract workers because there aren’t any jobs, and businesses won’t relocate there because there aren’t enough qualified workers. So they are caught in a downward spiral.”
Rural towns are scrambling to attract new residents and stave off heavy funding cuts from financially strapped federal and state governments. Delta Air Lines recently announced it would end flight service to 24 small airports, several of them in the Great Plains, and the U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday that it would close thousands of branches in mostly rural areas. This month, the University of Kansas opened a medical school with a class of eight in Salina, a regional hub of nearly 50,000 people, in hopes of supporting nearby rural communities that have no doctors.
In 1910, the population share of rural America was 72 percent. Such areas remained home to a majority of Americans until 1950, amid post-World War II economic expansion and the baby boom. Many rural areas, the Great Plains in particular, have been steadily losing population since the 1930s with few signs of the trend slowing, according to census figures.
The share of people in rural areas over the past decade fell to 16 percent, passing the previous low of 20 percent in 2000. The rural share is expected to drop further as the U.S. population balloons from 309 million to 400 million by midcentury, leading people to crowd cities and suburbs and fill in the open spaces around them.
The new numbers are based partly on an analysis by the Population Reference Bureau. The data were supplemented with calculations by Robert Lang, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. “Rural” is generally defined as nonmetro areas with fewer than 50,000 people.
While rural America shrinks, larger U.S. metropolitan areas have enjoyed double-digit percentage gains in population over the past several decades. Since 2000, metros grew overall by 11 percent with the biggest gains in suburbs or small- or medium-size cities. In fact, of the 10 fastest-growing places, all were small cities incorporated into the suburbs of expanding metro areas, mostly in Texas, California and Arizona.
The Census Bureau will soon begin to define new “combined statistical areas” — often referred to by demographers as megapolitan areas or megalopolises — based on growth and overlapping commuter traffic.
Some analysts point to a merger of areas between Austin and San Antonio, Tampa and Orlando in Florida and possibly Phoenix and Tucson, with the Washington-Baltimore region extending southward to Richmond, Va.
These new megalopolises could help spur corporate and government investment in major cities and the growing small towns in between.
“There’s such a large share of population that is now in reach of a substantial metropolitan center due to transit systems and highways, that the traditional notion of small-town America is changing,” said Lang, who has done extensive research on U.S. megapolitan and regional growth.

By Paul Schattenberg paschattenberg@ag.tamu.edu 210-467-6575

EL PASO – The Ecotourism: Business Development and Conservation workshop
presented by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service will be held from 1-5 p.m.
Aug. 10 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 1380 A&M Circle in
El Paso.

The workshop is designed to assist those involved in small outdoor,
nature-based tourism businesses, according to Miles Phillips, AgriLife
Extension specialist in nature tourism with the department of recreation, parks
and tourism sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station.

“This workshop will benefit those involved in ecotourism, but also will be
useful to community officials, city planners, parks and recreation employees,
outdoor recreation providers, hotel and motel owners with a connection to
nature tourism, and others,” Phillips said.

He said the workshop is a continuation of local county efforts related to
ecotourism involving AgriLife Extension and will be an “expanded and enhanced”
version of a program he presented last year in El Paso.

“We’re hoping this workshop and other efforts by AgriLife Extension will work
in conjunction with efforts and activities by the area ecotourism group
comprised of El Paso County officials, members of the El Paso Chamber of
Commerce and El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau, area nature-based
businesses and others,” said Dr. Ray Bader, county director for AgriLife
Extension, El Paso County. “We’re making good progress in promoting
nature-based tourism in this county, plus there are many ecotourism
opportunities in neighboring counties as well.”

Bader said area nature tourism opportunities can be found online at

http://www.outdoorelpaso.com.

“At the upcoming workshop, attendees will learn how to plan for business or
community project success and to integrate their product into the entire
tourism industry,” Phillips said.

He added that topics addressed will include Internet marketing, economic costs
and benefits of parks and open spaces, nature-based case studies and
opportunities, and business or fee-based planning for ecotourism business.

“Many people in a nature center, park or other nature-based business who are
planning to charge a fee need to better understand the ecotourism market so
they may know how to properly price the ecotourism product they are
offering,” Phillips said.

He said attendees should bring laptops and that advance registration is required
for the workshop. The fee is $50 and payment should be made by Aug. 1 to: Texas
AgriLife Extension – El Paso County.

To register, contact Bader at 915-860-2515 or rbader@ag.tamu.edu. Provide name,
phone, email address and the name of the organization you represent. Be sure to
state you are registering for the El Paso Nature Tourism Workshop on Aug. 10.

More information on nature tourism efforts through the Texas A&M University
System can be found at: http://naturetourism.tamu.edu.

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TCEQ restricts additional junior water rights

Brazos River Basin affected

Drought conditions continue to be widespread across the state. As a result, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is continuing to inform water-rights holders in the Brazos River Basin that water rights will be administered on a priority basis.
Today the executive director of the TCEQ notified certain Brazos River Basin junior water-right holders with a priority date of 1960 or later that their right to divert water is immediately suspended. Suspended water rights include those with a priority date of 1960 or later, term, and temporary water-right permits in the mid- and lower- Brazos River Basin. Previous suspension was of rights 1980 or earlier.
In order to protect public health and welfare, water rights with municipal uses or for power generation have not been suspended. Land owners with property adjacent to the Brazos River may also continue to divert water for domestic and livestock use as part of their inherent riparian rights.
These actions are guided by the priority doctrine in Texas law. The most senior water rights are served first during times of drought with domestic and livestock uses superior to any appropriated rights. Water rights are suspended or curtailed by priority date, with the most recently issued – or “junior” – priority users suspended before senior water rights in the area.
The TCEQ has asked that all Brazos River water-right holders take steps to conserve water, implement their drought contingency plans, and prepare for additional suspensions or curtailments should drought conditions persist.
Water is a precious resource – all Texans are encouraged to conserve, especially during times of drought. For more Texas drought information go to: http://www.tceq.texas.gov/response/drought.

Monday, June 27, 2011
TCEQ Contact: Andrea Morrow
Phone: 512-239-5011 Pager: 512-896-3727