Educational shortcomings in the Region show the need for closer cooperation between educational institutions and communities. (Author)

At southwest Virginia's new Appalachian School of Law, students volunteer 25 hours each semester on community service projects. Projects fall into two categories: pure service by sharing a skill or interest, and service that draws on legal skills, such as presenting legal seminars to senior citizens' groups or conducting conflict resolution…

In 1981, Jackson County, North Carolina, appeared on the first list of "distressed counties" in Appalachia. Since then, the rural county has made significant improvements by investing in its physical infrastructure (which also promotes tourism); fostering economic-development partnerships among governments, small businesses, and local…

Describes a rural West Virginia health-care center as a successful model program for integration between the clinic and community. Describes center facilities, funding sources, community cooperation, and cooperative residency program with regional medical school. Discusses implications for other medical-education programs. Describes differences…

Innovative solutions to local problems in Appalachia were highlighted at the 1999 Ideas That Work conference. Presentation summaries focus on computer literacy and access to computers for middle school students, collaborative services for preschool children, youth programs, motivating students to attend college, training and technical assistance…

REAL Enterprises, Inc. (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning) is an academic program that helps students learn the basics of starting and nurturing a new business. West Virginia is 1 of 17 states offering the program with the goal of preparing youth to take advantage of economic opportunities in their own communities. (LP)

In Tompkins County, New York, the Business Innovation Center (BIC) uses "intellectual capital" to help local entrepreneurs succeed. Founded by faculty from Cornell University and community members, BIC helps successful scientists start up businesses and uses the combined expertise of area businesspeople and college faculty to solve the…

Wayne Myers, director of the Office of Rural Health Policy, discusses Appalachian rural health and access to health care. The health manpower shortage in Central Appalachia still exists but is less severe than 10 years ago. The needs of underserved areas could be address by training local people in the community and through telemedicine and…

A panel on technology transfer considered ways in which educational instructions and industry could share attempts to innovate. Examples of technology transfer in action included Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin Partnership, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's program, and NASA's Technology Utilization Division. Results of an Appalachian Regional study…

The University of Alabama at Birmingham's (UAB) Linkage Program aims to increase the supply of health-care professionals to rural Alabama. Students attend a local community college for one year and UAB for another year. Major clinical internships are done near the students' hometowns. Seventy percent of graduates return to their home areas to…

Firms in the private sector utilize the resources of educational institutions to keep abreast of new technologies and to update employee training in those technologies, allowing them to remain competitive. Projects in Tennessee, New York and Ohio are examined, and methods of transferring appropriate technology to different communities are…

A number of Appalachian initiatives aim to recruit rural doctors. West Virginia's three medical schools require all students to spend time working in rural clinics, where they develop an understanding of and connections to rural communities. In two rural Tennessee counties, East Tennessee State University maintains teaching medical practices…

In rural Alleghany County (North Carolina), one of the state's seven "cyber campuses" provides an expanded curriculum and advanced placement college courses to high school students and an array of community college and 4-year college courses to residents, who otherwise would be deterred from further education by their isolated location.…

Rural Marion County (Tennessee), the town of Kimball, the Appalachian Regional Commission, and a local community college founded a regional skills center. The center offers a 2-year associate of science degree and classes in GED preparation, parenting, drug abuse prevention, cosmetology, and air conditioning and refrigeration. It has expanded…