County Improvement Project Includes $20,000 Fellowship Award
Texas counties face challenges emanating from budget constraints, an aging infrastructure, and a growing and diverse population. Intertwined with these issues are opportunities presented by advances in technology and recent economic prosperity. Texas county government is becoming an ever-increasingly complex world. Yet, these conditions also provide county government advocates a chance to be innovative as they seek solutions.
To help stimulate these ideas, the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas, in partnership with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s V.G. Young Institute of County Government, has developed the County Improvement Project (CIP), a fellowship program meant to encourage thoughtful answers to shared challenges.
County Improvement Project Objective
The object of this project is to provide original research on issues facing counties, with the expectation that resulting studies may be utilized by policy-makers for the improvement of county operations. Interest areas include, but are not limited to:
- Technical
- Management
- Policy
- Urban/Rural Issues
- Economic Development
- Intergovernmental Relations
Who Is Eligible?
Anyone interested in providing a thoughtful and researched solution to a challenge or opportunity facing counties is eligible to apply.
Fellowship Expectations
- Produce an original study on the county government topic submitted in the proposal.
- Present research findings as the keynote speaker during the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas Annual Conference.
- Supply a final written report.
How Do I Apply?
Research proposal applications will be available in early April at http://vgyi.tamu.edu. All submissions should be made electronically to vgyi@ag.tamu.edu by noon on Monday, June 2, 2014. The selected V.G Young Institute Fellow will be notified by Aug. 15, 2014. The fellow will be publicly announced at the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas Annual Conference. The fellowship term runs Oct. 1, 2014, to Oct. 15, 2015.
V.G. Young Institute Fellowship Award
A $20,000 award will be made to the V.G. Young Institute Fellow. Half of the award will be given when the fellow is publicly named. The other half will be awarded upon submission of the final written report.