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About 200 participants will discuss, prioritize and strategize on how to solve issues impacting rural Ohioans during the Ohio Rural Policy Summit: Building on Successes, Overcoming Challenges, scheduled for Dec. 10 at Cherry Valley Lodge near Newark.

Three areas of concern to be addressed are agriculture, community and economic development and rural health care, according to meeting organizer Heather Reed, director of the state office of rural health within the Ohio Department of Health.

Keynote speaker for the event is Ohio native Chuck Fluharty, director of the Rural Policy Research Institute in Columbia, Mo. Reed said his presentation will "set the stage for the day."

The summit is being organized by the Ohio Rural Development Partnership, which is comprised of representatives from many organizations that represent rural Ohioans, including OFBF Vice President of Business Services Mike Pullins. Also collaborating are the Ohio departments of agriculture, development and health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The three committees within the partnership have held meetings discussing issues relating to those specific areas in the past, Reed explained, but this is the first time the three groups – agriculture, development and health – have come together "to address broader issues," Reed said.

After Fluharty’s presentation, the groups will break into more specialized sessions and will work with trained facilitators to develop a prioritized list of issues and possible solutions to address those topics.

Attendance at the event is by invitation only, Reed said. A pre-packet of issues and possible solutions will be distributed to participants before the summit.

USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr has been invited to participate, Reed said. And the lunch will feature an awards presentation honoring specific programs that support rural Ohioans.

Pullins said the summit has the potential of becoming an annual event, but those plans haven’t been finalized. A post-meeting report will be developed and distributed to policy makers and other key participants within the state, Reed said.

Other speakers will be Fred Dailey, ODA director; Bruce Johnson, ODD director; Dr. Nick Baird, ODH director; Randall Hunt, Ohio director of USDA’s Rural Development Agency; and Jim Buchy, ODA assistant director.