University of Maryland Eastern Shore Rural Development Center

In 1988, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in partnership with the Somerset County Economic Commission applied for and received a grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to create the Rural Development Center (RDC). The RDC idea was a recommendation of a 1987 task force examining economic conditions in the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Since its creation, the RDC has diversified its funds and now utilizes funding from local, state and national partners and agencies. In 1995, the RDC was designated by the EDA as a University Center.

The RDC incorporated University Center funding into its overall mission. The RDC has a number of notable achievements. The first is that it has sustained itself, and is now in its third decade of operation. An important element of this is diversified funding base that includes funding from local, state and national entities. The RDC takes a broad approach to its mission. It both seeks out grant opportunities and provides grants. It provides business services, including product promotion and loans. The RDC has taken a diversified approach to economic development, supporting Eastern Shore industries such as tourism and farming. RDC supports both entrepreneurial activity as well as, interestingly, the development of local co-ops.

There are a number of things I appreciate about UMES’ approach to its University Center grant. It has been incorporated into the existing RDC framework which means that it supports the general work of the RDC, and is thus able to support a wide range of activities over the entire eastern shore of Maryland. One of my concerns is that the effort appears to be scattered and not concentrated. For instance, there is a resource portal for tourism and business in the Eastern Shore, which is a great potential resource, but the functional quality and amount of information provided is not as strong as some other regional portals.

The 2001 evaluation of EDA University Centers conducted by Mt. Auburn Associates used the RDC as one of its case studies. It found that the RDC was generally effective and drew praise for its flexibility, speed and ease of grant processing. Many of the grants were found to be effective in leveraging additional economic activity. Two concerns that the study registered were that the RDC was not able to leverage UMES resources, in large measure due to UMES’ relatively small size (student base of 3000) and that RDC resources were not employed as part of a particular, unified strategy.

UMES RDC:

http://skipjack.net/le_shore/rural/

Mt. Auburn Assessment of EDA University Center Program:

http://www.eda.gov/PDF/1G3_23_univcentereval.pdf