Begun in 1997, the National Centers of Excellence College/University Partnership Project (NCE) is an initiative built around one-year cooperative partnerships among eight institutions of higher education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Offices, and rural communities with Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community designations.
The NCE project focuses on economic opportunity, sustainable community development, community-based partnerships, and a strategic vision for change. This innovative program provides each school with $20,000 of Rural Development funds to develop and maintain community and economic development projects relevant to their community.
Through the NCE program, OCD has partnered with rural centers of higher learning, which are committed to providing their communities more permanent community and economic development resources. Our common goal is to create a sustaining presence that will help empower their economically disadvantaged rural communities.
The long-term achievement of the National Centers of Excellence has been in serving their local rural communities, especially Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities, by creating a sustained institutional infrastructure for programs and new technologies, which promote community and economic development.
Currently eight institutions of higher learning are designated as National Centers of Excellence. Click on the links below to learn more:
