Grassroots efforts were examined through a survey of 103 self-development projects across the United States, enriched by an indepth study of 8 successful and unsuccessful cases. They were as follows: Revolving Loan Fund, Mankato, Kansas; Orofino Unlimited, Orofino, Idaho; Center for Industry, Rome, Georgia; Windmill Market Farm and Craft Co-op,…

A study examined efforts to promote community-based economic development in 103 communities that adopted self-development strategies involving local governments working with other public and private entities providing employment, income, and services to local communities. Based on data collected from these communities, the study evaluated how and…

Seventeen papers review recent changes in the structure and performance of the rural economy and examine alternative policies to facilitate the adjustment of displaced people and their communities. Some point to economic structural change in the 1980s as the cause of financial stress in rural America, in sharp contrast with the 1970s when growth…

Farm policy alone is no longer a sufficient development policy for today's rural America. Rural economies have changed over the last 30-40 years from reliance on farming to greater reliance on manufacturing and service industries. Rural economic development policies need to reflect today's changed rural economy. (Author)

This paper analyzes the considerations that lead policy makers to undertake extension investments as a key public responsibility, as well as the complex set of factors and intra-agency incentives that explain variations in performance between different extension systems. The goals of extension include transferring knowledge from researchers to…

A 1996 workshop held in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, explored the challenge of creating an entrepreneurial economy in predominantly rural states such as Kentucky with little or no history of widespread entrepreneurial activity. Traditional approaches to economic development in such states, such as spending on relocation incentives for out-of-state…

Karl N. Stauber proposes three goals for rural development policy: helping the rural middle class survive, reducing concentrated rural poverty, and sustaining and improving the quality of the natural environment. In contrast to other visions, he advises policy that focuses on rural places rather than rural economic sectors such as agriculture,…

Over 250 rural leaders attended the conference "Beyond Agriculture: New Policies for Rural America," held in Kansas City (Missouri) in April 2000. The conference began with an assessment of where the rural economy and rural policy are headed in the new century. Speakers suggested that the rural economy is likely to remain a mix of…

Reviews a book that describes changes affecting rural America including the farm crisis, growing poverty, and in-migration of those who contribute little to the local economy. Addresses implications for rural service delivery and government policy. (LP)

"Teachers' Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-State" is an innovative account of educational and social transformations in politically tumultuous early twentieth-century China. It focuses on the unique nature of Chinese teachers' schools, which bridged Chinese and Western ideals, and the critical role that these schools…

The National Public Policy Education Conference is held annually to improve the policy education efforts of extension workers responsible for public affairs programs. The 1994 conference addressed the following topics: (1) ethical perspectives in public policy education; (2) transition of food and agricultural policy; (3) building human…

Written by some of the foremost experts on rural America, this book focuses on policy-relevant research on the problems of rural areas. In each chapter, rural policy needs are identified by examining the flow of events and rural sociology of the 1980s. Chapters are: (1) "Critical Times for Rural America: The Challenge for Rural Policy in the…

The major features previously used to define rural life now fail to describe much of rural America, as changes that place rural areas in the vanguard of American society are manifest in rural landscape, institutions, economic activity, and life. The principal policy thrusts of modernization and urbanization and the related theories of product…

In August of 1978 the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) published an annotated bibliography on Education Needs Projection and Rural Development; this synthesis paper follows that bibliography and is intended to relate some of the useful applications derived from the survey of the literature. Five papers are included in the synthesis. The…

Despite increased government investments in education, West Virginia continues to have one of the nation's highest high school dropout rates and is among the states with the highest unemployment rates. Human capital theory provides the conceptual basis for evaluating the relationship between investment in education and economic development. An…