The Rural New York Initiative (RNYI) further enhances the Department of Development Sociology`s engagement with researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders around New York State and provide critical and up-to-date information on rural New York people and communities, establishing the Department as a key source of social scientific research-based information on rural New York.
The Rural Vision Project (RVP) is a multi-faceted and multi-step approach to identifying challenging issues and emerging opportunities facing rural New York State, and a focus on state-level policies to address these issues. The Project is a collaborative endeavor, involving Cornell's Community & Rural Development Institute (CaRDI), the Department of Development Sociology's Rural New York Initiative (RNYI), Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the NYS Legislative Commission on Rural Resources. Project goals include fostering a productive dialogue resulting in a well-articulated vision for rural New York State - a vision that highlights choices integrating economic opportunity and environmental health with individual and community capacity for planning, problem solving and entrepreneurial leadership, effective decision making; and implementation of targeted strategies for rural community and economic development. The Project brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners through a variety of planned activities.

The efforts of the RNYI initiative serve to integrate the various research and outreach efforts at Cornell and beyond, and connect them with key policy makers and stakeholds around the state. The RNYI strengthens intra-Departmental synergies and collaborations, and provides institutional and technical resources to support the Department of Development Sociology`s applied research efforts focused on rural New York. This networking with a broad range of researchers, institutes and stakeholders across New York State creates and supports a broad inter-institutional dialogue about key issue areas, as well as a means to disseminate relevant rural New York-based work.
NYS, particularly upstate, has experienced significant social and economic changes over the past few decades. The Rural Vision Project emerged out of a need for a newly focused, relevant, and well-articulated vision to address the growing challenges and opportunities facing upstate rural communities and regions. Not only are rural communities affected by the outcomes of this project, but indeed the project took a distinct regional approach, noting that rural, suburban, and urban areas need to operate in a more regional context in order to more successfully address issues. The RNYI has yielded a clearer understanding and articulation of the social and economic forces affecting rural people and communities in NYS, and has enhanced our ability to inform and affect policy.

The RNYI and the RVP undertook numerous activities during this year: Regional Listening Sessions -11 listening sessions were conducted in rural areas around NYS, attended by a wide variety of individuals, with discussions centered on high priority issues affecting their rural communities and regions, such as health care and economic development; Faculty Engagement - twenty-five CU faculty members wrote research-based responses to the listening session feedback; Empire State Poll - The RNYI monitors year to year trends in rural issues with data from the Empire State Poll, and commissions an annual rural "over-sample"; Future of Rural NY Seminar Series - Researchers, policymakers, stakeholders, CCE Educators and others gathered for panel discussions on issues such as energy, immigration, and environmental management; RNYI and RVP Websites - disseminate information on current research affecting NYS residents, communities and regions; Future of Rural NY Symposium, July 2006 - Over 190 people from across New York State gathered in Syracuse for policy workgroup discussions centered around specific program and policy recommendations; A Vision for Rural NYS Report - a 12 page booklet was produced for wide dissemination across the state. The document showcases the highlights of the RVP for a broad audience, to maintain and strengthen the dialogue around the identified research and policy issues, and to promote future rural vision activities.

Both the Rural New York Initiative and the Rural Vision Project undertook numerous activities during this year, making significant progress toward meeting their respective goals. Both initiatives support increased economic opportunities and improved quality of life in rural communities through research focused on rural NYS, through enhanced research-outreach-extension-stakeholder-policymaker engagement in NYS, and through the dissemination of research-based materials to facilitate informed decision making. Both projects have made significant contributions to the College of Ag and Life Sciences' and the University's Land Grant Missions, respectively, through strengthened relationships with stakeholders, NYS government, and community-level decision-makers, and providing concrete deliverables such as our various publication series (the Rural New York Minute, the Research & Policy Brief Series, etc), the Future of Rural New York Seminar Series, the Rural Vision Project Symposium, etc. The RVP has captured the attention of people and organizations across the state and has had a significant impact with the development of formal and informal groups around the policy theme areas, informing policymakers such as members of Governor-elect Spitzer's transition teams, the NYS Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, and many other state agency representatives. New Cornell Cooperative Extension work teams have been developed in at least one area (poverty) as a response.

Polson Institute for Global Development

• David L. Brown (Development Sociology)
• Max Pfeffer (Development Sociology)
• Rod Howe (CaRDI, CCE)