TOPIC: African-American Heritage Brochure & Web Site
LOCATION: Worcester County, MD
OUTCOME: African-American heritage brochure and website enhance tourism in Worcester County
Tourism is vital to the economy of Worcester County on Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore. Each year millions visit the County to enjoy pristine Atlantic beaches, the scenic Pocomoke River, and historic villages and towns. The African-American heritage brochure and web site are designed to enhance the experience of all who visit. 

The history of the African-American experience in Worcester County consists of a complex fabric of written facts and oral traditions as well as people of local, state and national prominence. The brochure and web site offer a glimpse of the wide variety of roles blacks have had in Worcester County and, at the same time, highlight the sites and people that have shaped this region's past. The Rural Development Center at UMES provided funding for this project which promotes Worcester County as a premiere tourism destination.
 

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TOPIC: Hydroponics Greenhouse
LOCATION: University of Maryland Eastern Shore,
Princess Anne, MD

CONTACT:

Daniel S. Kuennen

Director, Rural

Development Center 
OUTCOME:Hydroponics Greenhouse: An innovative mix of economics and environmental sustainability

UMES recently received a one million dollar grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the purpose of hydroponics greenhouse network development. 

The Small Farm Institute

 is responsible for the hydroponics facility (2 to 2.5 acres) located on the campus. The central facility will be the hub for a network of off-site, privately owned contract facilities. The campus hydroponics facility uses defense-related predictive controls technology to heat, feed, and water long-stemmed rose plants. The network houses are also fitted with these controls. The technology will be sold to new or retrofit greenhouses outside the network.

 The central facility on the UMES campus will generate the growing stock for network houses and as a training facility for prospective farmers and business people. The research components of UMES will be cooperatively involved to develop the awareness and understanding of the network, involve students in work assignments, and develop research programs in the facility to enhance its operations. UMES is a natural sponsor for the project as a historically black university, 1890 Land-Grant institution of higher education with a research and service mission. UMES is affiliated with the USDA through research grants and memoranda of understanding with the Cooperative Extension Service as the educational outreach arm.

 The central hydroponic greenhouse project has completed three grant agreements with federal and state grantor agencies:

• the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce;
• the Rural Business Enterprise Grant, Rural Development, USDA; and

the Community Development Block Grant, Maryland Department of Business and Employment Development.

TOPIC: Minority Business Incubator
LOCATION: Princess Anne, MD
OUTCOME: Business is blooming in historic Eastern Shore town

 
UMES in cooperation with with the Town of Princess Anne have launched a minority business incubator. The 18-month project promotes development of local minority-owned businesses, with assistance aimed both at start-ups and expansions.

 The newest venture, Copy Cat Copy Shop provides business and student photocopying, computer, & telecommunications services. This company grew out of a business plan and information sessions conducted by the Human Ecology Department and the Rural Development Center, both of UMES.

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