With Rural Online Initiative founder and USU Extension professor Paul Hill.
Recently, the Rural Online Initiative founded the USU Center for Rural Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, also called CREDET, which is a center aimed at supporting Utah's rural communities and residents.
Paul was recently named the executive director of the new center. He's here to share what CREDET is and why it's so important.
Wynter Varner
Thank you for coming on today, Paul.
Paul Hill
It's good to be with you.
Wynter Varner
Where did the idea for CREDET first come from?
Paul Hill
Well, we needed a home to house all of our rural economic development programs that we have situated within Extension across the state.
We felt that creating a center would communicate to our stakeholders, as well as our clientele, that we're serious about rural economic development, there's a home for all these programs, and that we have a coordinated effort behind everything that we do.
We already did have a very coordinated effort, but this was the next step in organizing this center so that we can focus all of our efforts on rural economic development.
Wynter Varner
What mission are you hoping to pursue or fulfill with CREDET?
Paul Hill
Our purpose is to advance rural prosperity.
We're doing that through training one-on-one with individuals and business leaders, as well as training the same people to adopt new technologies that will improve their lives and their businesses.
Our focus is on people-centered solutions. So we do a lot of programming in workforce development and business development.
Then we help with community development and helping our community leaders with strategy for bringing more resources to meet their community needs.
Wynter Varner
What resources will the center provide for youth and adults living in rural communities?
Paul Hill
One thing that we found through our statewide needs assessment is that rural residents want well-paying, steady jobs.
They need vocational training, and so we've developed some programs, some interventions, through courses that we teach. Those are offered through the Rural Online Initiative program.
One of the courses is the Certified Remote Work professional course, which helps every jobseeker or anyone learning to improve their workforce skills.
They enroll in that class and learn how to find a remote job, the skills they need, and how to take their skills to the market and get a job working for a company anywhere in the United States and beyond without having to leave their rural community.
For businesses, many want to grow, and they knew they needed to build websites and sell to more customers in and beyond their geographic region. So, we developed the E-commerce Accelerator, which allows them to grow.
We're seeing now that over 50 businesses have gone through this six week program, and they're earning more revenue online, and they're growing and have plans to hire new employees. Many hadn't had those plans before.
Those are just a few of the programs that we offer. There's several more courses that are meant for helping rural Utahns have well-paying, steady jobs and the training that they need to succeed in the workforce, as well as in their businesses.
Wynter Varner
What are your plans going forward for the future advancement of the center?
Paul Hill
Our plan is to continue to expand our reach and our capacity, and the way that we do that is through seeking external funding.
We receive funding from the legislature, the university, and federal and state grants. Through those grants, they allow us to hire staff, and then we can train more people.
We can really fulfill our mission of empowering rural communities through research-based education and these workforce innovations.
Our rural residents need help learning the technology that will enable them to expand their businesses. For instance, satellite internet access to broadband technology.
We need to train our businesses and our leaders on those skills, and they need help selling their products online and innovating and developing new products within their businesses. So that's what we build.
We also can't forget our community leaders who need technical assistance when it comes to helping write grants, or developing strategies and plans to help their communities grow in the way that benefits their communities the most.
We're constantly pursuing partnerships and grants that will allow us to provide this training and this innovation to our rural communities.
One thing that our rural communities have taught us is they're very entrepreneurial and they're very innovative, they just sometimes need a little bit of research and training to get them started. So that's where we fit in.
Wynter Varner
Thank you so much for coming on today, Paul!
Paul Hill
Glad to have the opportunity, thank you so much.
Wynter Varner
This has been Wynter Varner with the USU Extension Education highlights. Thank you for tuning in.
For more information on the CREDET center, visit extension.usu.edu/credet.
