Course Information

The Rural Grocery Initiative sees the need to support rural grocers in business transition planning as essential to keeping the benefits of hometown grocery stores in rural communities. The Rural Grocery Transition Specialist program will train and deploy resource professionals across the country to better serve rural grocers through business transitions.

Upon successful completion of all requirements, you will:

• Become a certified Rural Grocery Specialist and join our network of specialists. Benefits of being in this specialist network include:
  • Access to an email listserv that includes all Rural Grocery Specialists from past cohorts. This listserv is a place to share resources, ask questions of other specialists and share success stories with one another.
  • Inclusion in map of Rural Grocery Specialists on the Rural Grocery Initiative's website. Inquiries and referrals for support in your service area will be routed through RGI.
• Earn a microcredential through K-State Global Campus.
• Receive a digital Certificate of Completion to add to your work portfolio.

Although the Rural Grocery Transition Specialist program is a non-credit course, homework assessments and discussion boards are used to assess and measure learning. These are graded using an assessment rubric, and in some cases, are required to be completed in order to move forward in the course.

Students should expect to spend approximately 20-25 hours total to complete the course over a 13-week period. To successfully complete the course and earn the certificate, you will need to do the following:

• Complete all of the modules, including any assignments contained within each module.
• Attend and participate in the two Zoom sessions.
• Pass with an overall score of 75% in the course.

Upon successful completion of all requirements, you will become a Rural Grocery Specialist , earn the Rural Grocery Transition Specialist microcredential from Kansas State University, and join our network of specialists.

The course includes two live, interactive Zoom sessions. These sessions provide opportunity to meet others in your cohort, network and discuss course topics.

Participation in these two sessions is mandatory for this course. The Zoom session schedule for each cohort is posted in the course description prior to enrollment. If you are not able to participate in either of these sessions, please enroll in a future course that is compatible with your schedule.

There will be an optional third Zoom session after the certificate course ends to discuss lessons learned during the course, connect with other Rural Grocery Specialists and celebrate the completion of the course. All past participants who have finished the Rural Grocery Specialist program are invited to attend.

Program Development Timeline:

• August to November 2022: Curriculum Development
• December 2022 to March 2023: Recording video lessons and developing online modules
• April 2023 to June 2023: Offer Pilot Program - available to a select number of Extension Professionals in the North-Central Region
• Fall 2023: Announcement of 2024 public course offerings

This curriculum development project was funded by North Central Regional Center for Rural Development through their Small Grants program.