USDA’s many Baby Boomers--and maybe also a few Gen X’ers--will recognize a song from the 1960s by [then] teen heartthrob Ricky Nelson titled “Travelin’ Man.” In it, he sings that “I’m a travelin’ man, made a lot of stops, all over the world...”

Well, USDA has a travelin’ van, and it’s getting primed to make a lot of stops, all over America.

The van is more formally called the “USDA Mobile Service Center.” It’s a new tool in USDA’s arsenal to help in its outreach efforts to historically under-served communities across the country.

According to Steven Rubin, a loan servicing specialist with the Farm Service Agency who worked on the USDA Mobile Service Center project, the van was an outgrowth of strategy sessions focusing on outreach by USDA’s Service Centers. “One of the most important missions of the more than 2,500 USDA Service Centers,” he explained, “is to ensure that under-served groups have equal access to USDA programs and services.”

“Outreach is a critical part of USDA’s mission,” he emphasized.

“One of USDA’s goals,” added Trent Rogers, an FSA loan program specialist, “was to provide tools to USDA’s Service Center agencies--FSA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Rural Development--to improve the delivery of information, programs, and services to under-served rural communities nationwide.”

The plan was for USDA to use those tools in cooperation with a multitude of partner organizations, such as land grant colleges and universities, State Extension services, Farm Worker organizations, local housing authorities, community health groups, and other groups that work with targeted populations. “Then,” Rogers noted, “USDA would be able to increase awareness for our programs that benefit limited resource, socially disadvantaged, and remotely located communities, groups, and individuals.” Those audiences include minority communities, American Indian Reservations, remotely located farmers and ranchers, and targeted rural housing communities across the country.

“I still say it needs a popcorn popper,” quips Terry Heide (left), the communications specialist with NRCS’s East Regional Office, based in Beltsville, Md. She just finished checking out the interior of USDA’s Mobile Service Center (in background) with Mark Waggoner (center), NRCS resource conservationist for Maryland, based in Annapolis, and Trent Rogers, FSA loan program specialist. The Mobile Service Center is designed to operate as a USDA 'Field Office on wheels.’ It’s a new tool to help USDA in its outreach efforts to historically under-served communities across the country. --Photo by Bob Nichols

Accordingly, one of the more unique outreach tools is turning out to be the USDA Mobile Service Center.

“It’s basically a USDA 'Field Office on wheels’,” Rubin explained. “It’s a 34-foot reconfigured recreation vehicle with three private offices complete with laptop computers, telecommunications devices, Internet capabilities, a printer, a fax machine, and a telephone.”

In addition, the interior of the mobile office is large enough to hold training sessions or educational workshops--using training tapes and VCR equipment--for five to six people.

Activities in this 'mobile office’ would be scheduled and coordinated from an appropriate USDA state office. Rogers pointed out that they would include full program delivery activities such as taking applications for participation in USDA programs and services, conducting sign-ups for those programs and services, determining eligibility for participation, and closing loans--all from virtually any location.

He added that, because of satellite communications capabilities, USDA employees working in the van at remote locations are able to link up to their home service centers.

“Another nice 'extra’,” observed Cheryl Cook, former Rural Development State Director for Pennsylvania who has served since May 2000 as Executive Officer of the National Food and Agriculture Council, “is that the configuration of the van provides us with the capability to partner with educational, medical, and non-profit groups, as well as local governments, when traveling in rural America.” For instance, the van space could easily be 'split’ so that one half of the van would be used to provide services to USDA’s customers, while the other half of the van could be used to provide blood pressure screenings and other health checkups.

Rubin noted that the Department currently owns two USDA Mobile Service Centers. They are presently based at USDA’s Carver Center in Beltsville, Md. One van was demonstrated at USDA headquarters in Washington, DC this past February, and then again in July. A van also traveled to a USDA field site in Annapolis, Md., in March. It then traveled, for demonstration purposes, to Alabama A&M University in Normal, Ala., Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala., and Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Fla.

“The plan is to initiate a pilot in Alabama and Florida,” Cook affirmed, “rotating the two vans every six months among the land grant schools within those states--once legal and other administrative matters are finalized.”

“Mobility--that is, taking our programs to the people--is key to successfully reaching many of our historically under-served populations, as well as customers who must travel great distances to get to a USDA Service Center,” Cook underscored.

“Laptop computers help employees take basic program information to the field--but the van lets us take the whole office,” she said. “It’s a complete resource for customer service.”