This report documents the status of information, computing, and telecommunications (ICT) technologies in the Appalachian region, assessing their potential relationship to economic growth and the federal, state, and local policies that influence their development. Key findings include the following. Leading producers of ICT products and services…

Information in these guides was distributed to participants in the Communicating for Agriculture Rural Knowledge Bowl in ten states: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Georgia, Montana, and Tennessee. The materials are designed for secondary students and deal with rural economic development and the impact of…

This study examined what would happen when rural librarians were given the tools and training to use networked information resources. Project GAIN demonstrates the effectiveness of linking rural communities to the Internet. Through the local library, six rural communities in New York were connected to a regional network (NYSERNet) and through…

This study examines economic development in Third World countries and the use of portable video systems in development projects. The study, conducted in 1985, attempts to measure the level of effectiveness of videotape programs as a communication tool for training rural subsistence women in Honduras in technical aspects of pig-keeping. Classical…

Local governments in rural areas of New York State, as in many other states, are struggling to keep up with the demands of a changing society and an increasing rural population. Relative poverty, increasing costs of essential community services, frequent turnover of elected and appointed officials, insufficient training, geographic isolation, and…

Rural America has been experiencing dramatic changes and is becoming an increasingly diverse society. To explore the process by which rural schools define and work towards change, case studies were conducted on two rural schools that have established unusually strong links with their communities. Information was collected by personal interviews…

Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC) is a public, comprehensive community college serving a six-county district in Northwest Iowa. The College offers more than 60 occupational programs and a wide variety of liberal arts transfer options, in addition to participating in community enhancement initiatives. The total population of the 6…

A strong local economy which allows residents of a community to work and shop near their homes is perhaps the best safeguard against the threats of urban sprawl, economic stagnation, physical deterioration and loss of unique identity facing many small towns. Utilizing a six-phase process advocated by the University of Wisconsin-Extension,…

Over the last 2 decades, the loss of population and businesses in many small, inland, and remote Australian rural communities has intensified, largely because of the stress and uncertainty of volatile world commodity markets. This manual presents a range of survival and revival strategies that some communities have used to build resilient…

This report presents findings from an evaluation of 84 educational projects funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) during the 1990's. Data were collected via document reviews, interviews, a mail survey completed by 78 projects, and eight site visits. Most projects provided services to rural areas or community segments most in need.…

This book reports on a study of rural community development policies and practices in the United States, Europe, and Canada in relation to multicommunity collaboration as a rural restructuring strategy. The study focused on multicommunity collaboration involving two or more small rural communities working together to attain social or economic…