Focusing on vocational education as a facilitator of rural economic development, the author of this paper discusses how to develop a rural community that will attract new jobs. His discussion includes the following key points: the role of local development corporations; concerns about quality of living for employees; encouragement of home-grown…

Rural and economic development efforts are inadequate responses to changing rural conditions. They fail because they are often top-down driven and few influential people are involved. Minnesota's Project Future is designed to help distressed communities take charge of their own direction. Developed on the principle of collective empowerment, this…

Case studies of local development projects in Scotland, Norway, Australia, and the United States (Minnesota) indicate that federal education programs of a "generative" nature (those linking educational improvement to other improvement efforts, emphasizing process, and stimulating grass-roots participation) are most likely to promote…