president obama

Thank you Willie Nelson for giving us a great theme song during our journey around the great state of Texas recently as we continued the conversation about jobs and economic growth in rural America that began in December with President Obama at the White House.  The Farm Service Agency Executive Director, Juan Garcia, and I decided that the best way to hold these forums were to do it face-to-face with our rural communities.  Nine days of driving over 3000 miles, we met with over 100 Texans at seven forums held in strategically located areas.

The United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development and Farm Service Agency in Louisiana hosted a Jobs and Economic Growth Roundtable in Alexandria, bringing together more than 30 community leaders, business owners, and residents from across the state to discuss what is needed to create jobs and economic development in rural Louisiana.</

President Obama and Secretary Vilsack have made providing our children with healthier, more nutritious meals a top priority. Good nutrition is not only vital to the long-term health of children; it is an integral part of improving academic performance, and ensuring that future generations will be competitive in a global economy.

Approximately 25 Wyoming residents attended a forum on job creation that was hosted by USDA Rural Development and the Farm Service Agency. The forum was held at a hotel in Casper on January 12^th, 2010 as a follow up to President Obama’s December 3^rd White House briefings on job creation.

Two community forums on jobs and economic growth are being held in Oregon as a follow up to President Obama’s December 3 White House briefings on job creation.

Many dug out of snow drifts and bundled up due to temperatures well below zero on Saturday to attend the Tri-State Jobs & Economic Development Forum in St. Louis hosted by USDA Rural Development (RD) and Farm Service Agency (FSA) of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.  The forum was held in conjunction with the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Agriculture.

In spite of the inclement weather, more than 100 people gathered in Beckley, West Virginia, last week for a community forum on jobs and economic growth, held as a follow up to President Obama’s December 3 White House briefings on job creation.

Rural Development’s Southern New England jurisdiction received a strong response when we sent out the call to our partners, fellow community development strategists and business leaders to join us for a local jobs forum. Community and business leaders in our area told us they were eager for the opportunity to take part in a local conversation - like the national forum held by President Obama in early December, 2009 - exploring possible avenues for job creation in the region.

The Mississippi Jobs Forum, a follow-up to a national Jobs Forum held in December by President Obama, was held on Wednesday, January 6, 2010.

Nearly every seat in the Edmunds Conference Center at Northern Maine Community College, in Presque Isle was filled January 5^th for the USDA Community Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth in Maine’s largest and most northern county. The seventeen inches of snow that fell in previous days did not dissuade from excellent attendance at the Forum. In addition to the 50 people seated at the Forum, another 15 people joined the discussion from video-teleconference sites in Houlton and Madawaska, bringing the number of participants to 65.