The Oklahoma Center for Rural Development shall have the power and duty to:

1. Mobilize and enhance the appropriate resources of the colleges of Northeastern State University and focus the resources toward a single entity that shall be readily accessible to assist communities, organizations, and people to effectively address health, education, economic development, applied technology, community infrastructure, and entrepreneurial issues that challenge the improvement of the standard of living in rural Oklahoma;

2. Afford grant writing capabilities and other direct assistance to political subdivisions of Oklahoma, tribal governments, and public, private, educational, and faith-based organizations in the procurement of resources, to plan, develop and implement programs and services that improve the general well-being of persons residing in rural areas;

3. Develop a mechanism for transferring technology from Northeastern State University and other universities to support economic and community development throughout rural Oklahoma;

4. Develop a coordinated mechanism for collection and analysis of needs for workforce development that is consistent with the plans of local communities to develop economic and community bases for the future;

5. Develop an alliance among development organizations for the purpose of addressing the needs of community leaders from a common perspective, which shall be designed to serve as an engine of growth by utilizing targeted resources and capabilities existing within the northeastern portion of Oklahoma;

6. Develop and support long-term partnerships with rural communities, enterprises, families, citizens, institutions, and local, regional and tribal governments with the goal of strengthening commitment and collaboration to a community-based approach for expanding economic, social, and cultural opportunities in rural Oklahoma;

7. Evolve and implement a rural research and education agenda that enhances the use of state-of-the-art information to support policy decisions and program delivery to rural Oklahoma;

8. Create and support an enhanced rural policy analysis consortium to integrate, coordinate, and evaluate relevant programs and program delivery opportunities within a collaborative commitment to locally determined, sustainable development;

9. Coordinate and support a shared education and professional development program to address the needs of rural Oklahoma;

10. Create a shared system for resource acquisition, needs assessment, and problem resolution designed to meet individual community needs as well as common needs of other communities;

11. Develop and support methodologies for evaluating the social and economic impact and economy of scales of alternative public investments upon the quality of life in rural Oklahoma; and

12. Establish and implement an integrated program and performance evaluation system that will enable the partners to determine whether the Center mission is being fulfilled.

Added by Laws 2002, c. 167, § 7, eff. July 1, 2002.