Deb Hanson (left) and AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer Billie Jo Collins represent UND on site in its collaboration with the Trenton Indian Service Area near Williston, N.D. (Photo: Chuck Kimmerle/University Relations)

"GRO-ing" rural America also grows new knowledge while providing public service

The “research of engagement” — the notion that university investigators can derive new knowledge as part of providing service to their constituents — is a concept that resonates with Thomasine Heitkamp.

A professor and chair of the Social Work Department in the College of Education and Human Development, her vita — filled with citations to peer reviewed journal articles, other writings, presentations to groups within and outside her field, and volunteer service on and off the campus — demonstrates that she has been involved in this kind of research and scholarship for many years.

Heitkamp, a licensed certified social worker who specializes in community organizing and social policy, joined the UND faculty in 1983. This past year she has tried something new: A portion of her contract has been “bought out” with external funds so she can work with the Government Rural Outreach (GRO) program. That’s an initiative in the College of Business and Public Administration to look into the potential of greater use of the Internet and other information technology to increase rural access to government services.

Heitkamp’s piece of the action is a collaboration with poverty-stricken communities in five states — especially those on American Indian Reservations — and the volunteer organization, AmeriCorps*VISTA. Several other UND departments outside the Business College also are participating. A subcontract with the GRO project reimburses her home department for access to 50 percent of her time. It uses the funds to cover her absence on a temporary basis. Heitkamp became a consultant to the project after Cynthia Lindquist, formerly at the Medical School, became president of Cankdeska Cikana Community College on the Spirit Lake Reservation.

Heitkamp says this kind of arrangement allows UND faculty members to bring their expertise to bear on important projects without completely disrupting their work in their home departments. It provides opportunities for research and scholarship in one’s discipline, which, she says, always makes you a better teacher.

The idea of the AmeriCorps*VISTA project, funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service, and other aspects of the GRO initiative, funded by the U.S. General Service Administration, is to explore new ways of improving access to government and related information in rural areas. It is recognized that there is a “digital gap” in many rural areas, especially those plagued with poverty.

Online service delivery is often available, observes GRO Director Glenn Miller, but adaptation to the new technology in rural areas is hindered by the public’s lack of electronic connectedness, basic computer skills, and awareness of online government services. Poverty is an additional barrier that hinders access to these services.

For example, 71 percent of households in North Dakota earning less than $15,000 a year do not own a computer. Community partners are needed to provide a place and assistance for electronic access to work. The AmeriCorps*VISTA collaboration will try to make that happen over three years in 26 communities in six states, most of them on Indian reservations. UND provides guidance and assessment, an organization in the community provides liaison with UND and local supervision, and AmeriCorps*VISTA provides the hands-on labor in the form of up to two volunteers per site.

The program focuses on four areas: workforce and asset development, education, technology, and the leveraging of existing resources, Heitkamp said. The first of the communities to be involved is the Trenton Indian Service Area near Williston, N.D. Deb Hanson is the local supervisor and Billie Jo Collins is the VISTA volunteer on site. Letters of agreement have been signed with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold, and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Negotiations are proceeding with a number of others.

The work at Trenton is particularly important, Heitkamp said, since the protocols are being developed that will guide the remainder of the project. If history is any guide, Heitkamp will likely publish articles in scholarly journals based upon her experiences.