Growing Rural
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San Pierre
San Pierre Revitalization ProjectRevitalizing Rural America with Youth Volunteers.
CROPS transformed a dilapidated building into a thriving community center. Youth volunteers worked alongside adult mentors and learned important life skills — confidence, leadership, public speaking, and more. We trained youth to write winning grant proposals. Grant funding provided for health and wellness programs, vocational skills training, and new life for the community.
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Growing Rural
Growing RuralDeveloping Leaders for our Future.
CROPS youth-led rural development program is called Growing Rural. Like a good farmer working the land, Growing Rural yields a rich harvest. It is an innovative, educational, and entrepreneurial program that creates leaders. Starting with community needs, the step-by-step process improves lives with learning and youth development. Growing Rural can work in your community, too.
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Improving Lives
Jon Egolf's StoryInspiring Hope and Creating Opportunity.
Jon Egolf moved to San Pierre when he was five years old. Growing up, he witnessed the commercial decline in his town. The grocery shut its doors, then the bank failed, and even his elementary school closed. After joining the CROPS Board, Jon helped to change the town's fortunes, and gained valuable skills and experience. Through his CROPS involvement, he has become an unlikely town hero.
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Get Involved
Get InvolvedYouth-led Rural Development Programs.
By joining the CROPS network, you can help combat the growing problem of poverty in rural America. We partner with rural governments, non-profit organizations, churches, schools, and citizens. Our services specifically target unmet needs in rural communities. Together, we are working to preserve and revitalize our rural treasures.
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Stories
Videos and News ArticlesAddressing Unmet Needs in Rural America.
Watch our youth-produced videos, and experience the magic of rural transformation. We challenged our volunteers to capture Growing Rural with film and photos, and they amazed us. They learned how to script, shoot, edit and work with digital media technology. This hands-on involvement "plants the seeds" and prepares our youth for success in today's knowledge economy.
About Us
Our mission is to empower intergenerational groups of people and organizations in rural communities to work together to solve their own problems.
The inspiration for CROPS came from Ardella Paulsen, North Bend Township Trustee. At age 80, and going into her eighteenth year of service as township trustee, Ardella decided that more could be done if small groups of people were mobilized, trained and empowered to make a difference in rural America.
CROPS was organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes to provide resource development assistance to rural non-profit organizations, churches, schools, and government agencies so they can expand and enhance services to underserved people in their communities. To accomplish its purpose, CROPS conducts the following activities:
- Facilitates community collaboration by connecting diverse nonprofit organizations, churches, schools, and government agencies to form cooperative partnerships that work together to expand and enhance services to underserved people in their communities.
- Provides training and educational workshops on subjects of need to support sustainable nonprofit organizations in rural America. Educational programs include, but are not limited to:
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- nonprofit organization start-up
- grant writing
- data collection and research
- operation and project budgets
- board development
- strategic planning
- capacity building
- capital campaigns for building and renovation
- Lends technical support to nonprofit organizations, churches, schools, and government agencies with the philosophy to empower each to achieve their full potential.
- Writes grant proposals to private and corporate foundations, as well as local, state, and federal government agencies to support the organization, and assumes fiduciary and management for community projects that directly align with the mission of CROPS.
Last updated by Beverly Santicola Sep 13, 2011.
© 2012 Created by Beverly Santicola.
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