Extension community resource development (CRD) is primarily public affairs education at the local level, dealing with local issues. Two methods of public policy education are the advocacy model which picks two people with opposing views on a subject and lets them debate the issue, and the public policy education process which provides all relevant…

Promoting coordinated and/or joint programs among local agencies is one strategy small, rural communities can use to cope with rapid population and economic growth. Interagency coordination is a process in which two or more organizations come together to solve a specific problem or meet a specific need. Coordination means more than just…

Local public officials may be confronted with the use of economic multipliers when asked to react to project proposals, to environmental impact statements, or to other studies containing economic impact analyses. Employment, income, and output multipliers are tools for estimating private sector economic impacts of a new development within a local…

Presenting concepts generally applicable only to small rural regions or to local economies, this publication explains multipliers, shows how they are used in calculating impacts, and provides some criteria for determining whether a given multiplier can be used in a specific situation. Following a discussion of aggregate multipliers, which lump…

Designed to assist leaders in their roles as catalysts, advisors, and resource persons for the Pennsylvania Youth in Action 4-H Community Development program, the guide provides complementary educational, craft, and recreation suggestions to enhance student workbooks for three community development activity units. The first section focuses on the…

To help government agency representatives and community leaders understand local population trends, particularly in rapid growth situations, this publication outlines a simple framework for analyzing population changes and provides useful criteria that can be applied when considering management and policy alternatives. It is noted that two…

Defining public services as the basic community/regional services which are provided to residents through tax receipts and service charges, this publication identifies variables for each service group and presents them in the form of questions that communities should find useful when analyzing impacts of growth. After listing questions dealing…

This document combines a facilitator's manual designed to train candidates for Local School Councils (LSCs) and others who want to improve Chicago (Illinois) schools with fact sheets, worksheets, checklists, and case studies (in English and Spanish) to be used by participants in the leadership training program. The following goals are outlined in…

Rapid residential growth in rural areas or on the fringes of urban areas brings both costs and benefits. Seven factors determine whether new homes and subdivisions generate more revenues than expenditures. Local governments can substantially influence four of these seven factors in order to reduce the public costs of residential growth. Less…

The guide describes an assessment procedure that can be used by sparsely populated communities located near a potential development to help predict where the incoming population will choose to live and shop. First, a numerical model, the "gravity model," is presented which utilizes community size and the distance from the community to…

Capital improvements programming is one financial managment technique for providing public services within the constraints of limited financial resources--a particular problem for communities experiencing rapid population growth. Long-range planning and improvement of public facilities for water supply, sewage treatment, parks and recreation,…

Designed to help local government officials, agency personnel, and members of citizen groups involved in the planning process for a rapidly growing community, this introduction to community needs assessment provides background information on the reasons for conducting community needs assessment, guidelines for determining which techniques are most…

This facilitator's guide explains how to lead a series of five sessions (study circles) designed to foster public dialogue and problem solving among citizens interested in meeting the challenges of community growth and development. The document begins with an introduction to the concept of study circles that examines the following: definition of…