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March 2009

National Project

Proposals are now being accepted for breakout session presentations at the 2009 Grand Rapids AgrAbility National Training Workshop (NTW). If you are interested in making a presentation, please complete the application form and submit it to Paul Jones jonesp@purdue.edu by March 30.

Non-AgrAbility organizations/individuals may also have ideas for presentations that would be of benefit to AgrAbility staff members and customers. Please feel free to encourage applications from those that might fall into that category.

Finally, if you aren't interested in making a presentation but have an idea for a presentation that you'd like to see, please contact the Paul.


The first AgrAbility all-staff call of 2009 has been scheduled for Wednesday, April 8 at 3:00 EDT; 2:00 CDT; 1:00 MDT; 12:00 PDT. A variety of topics are scheduled to be discussed, including:

*Reporting issues: such as demographic data reporting to the NAP and reporting to USDA via the CRIS system
*Standing committees and communities of interest
*Web conferencing technologies
*Staff introductions and staff changes

AgrAbility staff members should receive call-in information at the beginning of April.


The NAP is planning to conduct an online survey related to AgrAbility standing committees and communities of interest. AgrAbility has traditionally had several committees addressing various issues, such as  marketing, diversity, and self-employment. Part of the NAP’s work plan involves evaluating the effectiveness of these committees and making adjustments to maximize productiveness and benefit to AgrAbility as a whole. The survey includes questions about past committee participation by staff members and future interest. Preliminary testing indicated that it should take less than five minutes to complete. Look for it during the week of March 16.

Staff Changes

Amber Wolfe is the new Arthritis Foundation, Indiana Chapter AgrAbility Coordinator. She is working out of the Arthritis Foundation office in Indianapolis, IN.

Previously, she worked for 6 years as an agricultural science and business teacher/FFA advisor. Amber is from Johnson County, IN and a 2003 Purdue University graduate. She is married to David Wolfe and has two daughters, Isabelle and Abigaile.