In April 2021, New America's Open Technology Institute (OTI) and the Philanthropication thru Privatization Project (PtP) released a joint proposal that the federal government should invest a substantial portion of the windfall proceeds from future auctions of public airwaves (spectrum) to seed a new Digital Equity Foundation dedicated to…

This paper isolates critical rural economic development issues and identifies needed federal policy interventions. Despite a long history of federal efforts to improve rural economic conditions, recent policies and programs aimed at stimulating rural development have had little impact. Reasons include: (1) narrowly focused economic development…

This report identifies factors that influence a rural area's economic success or failure, and evaluates whether federal programs efficiently address rural economic problems. Data collection included a review of federal programs that provide funding to rural areas, and interviews with federal and state agency officials involved with rural…

Planning for viable rural communities must seek elements inherent in a well-kept American home: lights, water, telephone, employment of the household head, children in school, access to transportation, sufficient food, clothing, health care, recreation, etc. If a community falls short in these necessities, the "needs gap" is where…

The United States government has no true national rural policy toward education and rural community development. The need exists for the federal government to assume a different role in these areas from what it has traditionally played. In the past the federal education enterprise has failed to relate the design, purpose, or implementation of its…

In March 1989 this working group explored how the federal government might better address rural America's problems. The WGRD consisted of key officials from relevant federal departments and agencies, who came together to explore the following areas of rural development programming: (1) rural education and training; (2) rural economic development;…

"Where the money is and what you'll need to do to get it," form the central theme of this citizen's guide to rural development. Designed to assist a community leader interested in implementing a development project, the guide concentrates on the sources which most frequently fund rural community development projects, i.e., the grant and…

This study describes the political environment that confronts rural advocates, and identifies the boundaries within which rural policy can be developed, promoted, and adopted with some degree of success. Congress designs and implements national policy; therefore, its composition affects advancements in rural policy. Rural residents comprise 24% of…

Economic pressures along with health, nutrition, housing, sanitation, and child labor problems contribute in large measure to the plight of the migrant population. The incomplete and fragmented education migrant children receive is further compounded by low expectations from teachers and inappropriate curriculums. Legislative action has attempted…

In 1989-90 three Congressional hearings received testimony on the need for modern telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas and the ways such infrastructure could foster rural economic development. A researcher on rural development reported findings that deregulation policies had removed incentives for telecommunications companies to serve…

A number of exemplary planning mechanisms and systems implemented by Native American Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) grantees to achieve coordination of resources for reservation economic development are highlighted in this handbook on integrated planning. Also included is an examination of the problems caused by the failure to…

Two views within the federal government regarding funding medical education--"just send money" and "prudent purchaser"--and their implications for rural America are discussed in the context of budget shifts toward pediatric training and National Institute of Health programs, different agency mandates, the high cost of health care and medical…

Problems in federal rural policy arise in a number of areas: the extreme economic adversity of rural America, failure to acknowledge the higher cost of providing rural services, failure to distinguish between rural programs and agriculture programs, and failure to address specific rural needs. Papers in this collection examine rural development…

The transportation needs of the 30% of the population living in rural America, particularly those of the elderly, handicapped, poor, isolated, young, carless, and unemployed, are more critical than the needs of their counterparts in urban areas because of the lack of rural public transportation. Yet, only about 1% of the capitol federal investment…

In recent years rural advocates have claimed that rural students do not get their "fair share" of the federal education dollar and that federal programs are sometimes poorly tailored to rural conditions. These claims of an anti-rural bias have led to a study of fiscal year 1977 federal funding patterns in the six sample states of…