Dr. Oscar L. Prater, President Fort Valley State University Fort Valley, Georgia 31030-3298     Phone: (912) 825-6215 Fax: (912) 825-6266 E-Mail: pratero@mail.fvsu.edu

Dear INTERNET Users: 

Fort Valley State University, a unit of the University System of Georgia, is a public, comprehensive, 1890 land grant institution founded in 1895. The college is committed to enhancing the economic, social, and cultural development of the community, the state, and the nation as well as the international community. 

Fort Valley State University continues to evolve as a facilitator of education, housing and economic development for the communities we serve. Community outreach and involvement are integral parts of our mission at Fort Valley State University. The Economic Development portion of our mission was enhanced through the development and funding of our Rural Business Outreach Institute by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Based upon the initial seminars several conclusion were drawn. These institutes afforded the participants an environment to further their knowledge and understanding of the rigors and requirements of starting and maintaining a business. Also, these institutes assembled a variety of resource persons from banking, consultants, college faculty, governmental officials, and business owners, to focus and address economic development for the target areas. Consistent with its goals, the institutes provided potential entrepreneurs with a networking system that linked them to available resources and information. 

These institutes addressed an array of business issues ranging from credit, accounting, taxes, investment, and marketing. As an outgrowth of these institutes, several participants were identified for further business development. Other business development candidates were gleaned through outreach effort and community advocacy. RBOI has identified twenty business candidates and/or other targeted businesses for immediate development. 

Further, these institutes helped the staff identify significant economic and community problems. Below is a succinct review of these problems. 

• Inadequate access to the latest technologies and information systems:
• Underserved individuals are not in the flow of business acquisitions.
• Exclusion from economic mainstreams
• Lack of capital and credit thwart underserved entrepreneurs from actuating their ideas and plan;
• Need for an umbrella program to service and act as an advocate for the underserved;
• Lack the infrastructure to receive and accommodate economic development; and,
• Lack the personnel needed to develop and analyze economic data, trends, and surveys that are necessary to induce businesses to locate in their communities.

Fort Valley State joins with all of the other 1890 Universities throuhout the nation plus Tuskegee and Hampton Universities and Fort Berthold Community College in this momentous endeavor of providing information and assistance through the Internet.