Rural Development Center

ABOUT US

Mission
The Rural Development Center's mission is to strengthen and diversify the rural economy of Maryland's Eastern Shore. We strive to increase incomes, employment, and the local tax base by providing assistance to counties, communities, and businesses. The RDC collaborates with local higher education institutions, governments, and the private sector to accomplish this mission.

Scope of work
Located at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, the RDC assists in public development projects that carry out approved economic development conversion strategies. The RDC assists community groups, non-profit organizations, local elected and appointed officials and private firms. We assist them with plans, loans, grants, projects, and programs for community and county vitality on the nine-county Eastern Shore of Maryland. Emphasis is on public/private partnerships and regional approaches through which communities and businesses jointly prosper. The Center encourages and supports projects that address locally identified needs. It is sensitive to community diversity.

The RDC is a professional community and regional economic development agency concerned with the causes and consequences of social, political, and economic changes in rural areas and the effective influence of rural individuals, businesses, and communities. Applied social and economic science dominates the research and technical assistance work of the Center.

Funding
The RDC is supported by a variety of funding sources including federal and state agencies, private foundations, and Maryland Cooperative Extension (MCE). MCE is supported by county contributions as well as with funds from federal and state sources. Major RDC funders include: U.S. Department of Commerce (Economic Development Administration), U.S. Department of Agriculture (Cooperative State Research, Extension, and Education Service and Rural Business-Cooperative Service), the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

History
In 1987, a Lower Eastern Shore Economic Development Task Force commissioned by Gov. William Donald Schaefer included among its findings a recommendation for "a Rural Development Center to alleviate conditions of unemployment and economic instability on the Lower Shore." On September 30, 1988, the executive director of the Somerset County Economic Development Commission, James C. Threatte, and the president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Dr. William P. Hytche, made an application for a Rural Development Center to Pat Flynn, Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration, who secured funding within a month. Dr. Hytche appointed a diverse, 33-person advisory board whose work in 1989 laid the foundation for the current center. One of the board's first tasks was the search for the center's director. Acting on the board's recommendation, Dr. Hytche hired Daniel S. Kuennen in that capacity in 1990, and his service continues to the present. Through a joint appointment, Dr. Hytche housed the RDC administratively within Maryland Cooperative Extension, the outreach arm of the university system.

On June 2nd, 1995 the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) designated the Rural Development Center as an EDA University Center. The RDC is a business entrepreneurship center for Rural Business, USDA, and a cooperative center for the Cooperative Service, USDA.

Staff
Full time permanent staff at the RDC consists of a Director, Daniel S. Kuennen, and an Administrative Assistant, Stephanie Harmon.

Daniel S. Kuennen
Director, Rural Development Center, and
Special Assistant to the President for University Outreach & Community Engagement
Room 2147 Richard A. Henson Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Princess Anne, MD 21853
Phone: 410.651.6183
Fax: 410.651.6512
Email: dskuennen@umes.edu

Stephanie Harmon
Administrative Assistant
Rural Development Center
2147 Richard A. Henson Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Princess Anne, MD 21853
Phone: 410-651-6183
Fax: 410-651-6512
Email: stharmon@umes.edu

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