Although the economic expansion of the 1990s was felt even in small towns and rural areas, events in recent months point out that the economic health of rural America remains fragile. Rural manufacturing has suffered sizable employment declines in recent months and only modest expansion has occurred in the service sector--the lifeblood of rural…

Monumental social and economic problems confront the rural communities of the South. Diversification of the rural economy is the key to revitalizing the rural South, but new industries, anticipating the need for a more highly skilled work force, find the region's human capital resources to be deficient. Vibrant economies are not sustainable in a…