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In the six-state region of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, 182 counties have been identified as having an agriculturally based economy. Characteristics of these counties have been identified using data from the U.S. Census and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Agriculturally based counties have lost population, whereas the region overall has gained population. Poverty is greater and more widespread in agriculturally based counties than in metropolitan counties. Residents of agriculturally based counties have significantly lower income and earnings compared to metropolitan counties and have a significant dependence on unearned income. Agriculturally based counties are extraordinarily entrepreneurial in character. A number of policy recommendations are made. States' development policies for rural and agriculturally based communities should be based on cooperation instead of competition. There should be increased support for family-scale farming and ranching that provides food directly to consumers. Federal and state initiatives should cultivate a new generation of farmers through incentives that provide access to agricultural assets. States should support programs that provide lending capital and technical assistance to microenterprises and small businesses. Conservation and community development programs should be integrated. Incentives to private investment in agriculturally based communities should be provided. Federal rural development policy should be regionally based rather than nationally based. Economic development of agriculturally based communities must be accompanied by the building of human and organizational resources. Poverty, income, and job growth are profiled for farm and nonfarm counties in each of the six states. (TD)

In six policy areas, states can better equip rural community colleges to serve their communities. In the area of economic and community development, states can use rural community colleges to promote community development efforts and service learning and to provide small business assistance and entrepreneurship education. States can improve access to education by keeping community college costs affordable; empowering colleges to serve a diverse student population; ensuring colleges have adequate staff to provide counseling and support services; helping rural students overcome the barrier of distance; supporting partnerships between community colleges and K-12 schools to prepare low-income youth for college; and funding developmental education, literacy, and basic skills instruction. Concerning workforce preparation, states can designate community colleges as presumptive deliverers of workforce education and training, mandate collaboration among workforce agencies, fund noncredit workforce instruction, and develop policies that enable welfare recipients and the working poor to attend community colleges. In the area of technology, states can ensure that rural areas have an affordable telecommunications infrastructure and provide funding to small, rural colleges to maintain their technological capacity. In funding matters, states can provide base funding to small colleges and those in low-wealth districts, help resource-poor colleges initiate new programs, and facilitate intercollegiate partnerships for greater economies of scale. Concerning governance, states can give state and local boards appropriate powers for shared governance; ensure that board membership reflects community diversity; encourage collaboration among colleges, universities, and K-12 schools; and place community and technical colleges in their own state system. Congressional delegations from states with tribal colleges should make adequate federal funding for tribal colleges a high priority, and states should reimburse tribal colleges for the education of non-Indian state residents. Sidebars describe successful initiatives undertaken by rural community colleges. (Contains 28 endnotes.) (TD)

The Duke Endowment's Program for the Rural Carolinas is a 5-year effort to assist the revitalization of rural communities. Guiding principles of the program are that the rural Carolinas matter, this generation of workers matters, effective community development involves the entire community, solutions must be locally determined, healthy communities focus on their assets, and change takes time. The first goal of the program is to increase employment, income, and wealth for people left behind by the economy. This is accomplished by thinking strategically, looking inward as well as outward for job creation opportunities, identifying competitive advantages, increasing access to jobs, and developing the existing workforce by making it easier to get more education and training and using federal funds to retrain workers. Communities need to be educated in financial savvy, and financial and civic infrastructures need to be strengthened. The second goal is building leadership, assets, and structures that support long-term economic renewal. Accomplishing this starts with building cadres of leaders that create a participatory structure to foster dialog, build shared understandings of civic priorities, and build trust across disparate sectors of the community. These teams must cultivate the support of policymakers, average citizens, and those affected by proposed changes. Assets inside and outside the community must be developed, and structures that support long-term economic renewal must be strengthened and developed. An appendix presents background and logistics of the program. (TD)

Over 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas, and most of these people are illiterate and undernourished. This paper calls for the international donor community and developing nations to combine for an all-out assault on rural poverty, and presents a proposal for education for sustainable rural development. Education for rural development must be placed at the core of the global and national development agenda with a focus on basic learning needs of rural livelihoods and on Education for All. Strategies must focus on expanding access to education, improving school attendance in rural areas, and improving the quality and relevance of education. Other essential actions and strategies include (1) strengthening institutional capacity to plan and manage education for rural development by supporting new partnerships at the national and international levels; (2) addressing education for rural development systemically across all levels of education; (3) helping traditional agricultural education adjust to changing labor market needs; and (4) inviting and involving new stakeholders. The role of international agencies and donors in this initiative is outlined, followed by reasons why the initiative is needed now and next steps in its development. (SV)

The Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) is a national program that supports the efforts of community colleges in distressed rural areas to move their people and communities toward prosperity. RCCI's goals are increasing access to education and developing regional economies. RCCI demonstration sites have produced a wealth of information about community change. The community engagement process used by RCCI is based on four basic principles: 1) to achieve significant reform, change must occur at five levels--individual, interpersonal, institutional, systemic, and public policy; 2) people-in-relationships, not individual crusaders, are the lifeblood of sustainable change; 3) communities, institutions, and their citizens are best defined not by their deficiencies and shortcomings, but by their assets, strengths, and creative imagination; and 4) change is a verb, not a noun, and it cannot be delivered overnight. The RCCI change process is premised on the development of leadership teams consisting of the college president, administrators, and faculty as well as representatives of local business, government, public schools, and community organizations. Leadership teams set goals, develop strategies, identify partners, implement a plan, and evaluate that plan. It's not impossible to tackle development problems with only technical solutions, but the long-term viability of communities rests on the ability of its leaders to learn, adapt, and behave differently. Leadership development is at the core of community change. When leadership teams work collectively, sharing power and resources, a stronger foundation of community-based change is established. The skills needed for leading change at the inner, interpersonal, organizational, community, and systemic/policy levels of leadership development are discussed. (TD)

This paper urges foundations and state and federal agencies to consider funding rural community colleges, in light of the successful experiences of the Rural Community College Initiative. Much of rural America is in trouble because educational attainment and job opportunities are low; innovation is stifled by poor schools, isolation, and powerlessness; and geographic isolation and poor infrastructure make it difficult to link to the global economy. The key to rural renewal is educational access, economic development, and civic capacity-building. Community colleges are perfectly positioned to provide these, yet they are seldom on the radar screens of foundations or government agencies concerned with rural development. Grantmakers can fund community-oriented programs at rural community colleges such as outreach to underserved populations, service learning, community leadership development, K-16 partnerships, curriculum development relevant to local culture and economy, and distance learning and technology. Funders can support institutional development and help break down isolation in rural colleges through professional development programs. Strategies for promoting systemic change include investing in administrator education and policy-oriented consortia. States can assist their community colleges without increasing state budgets by promoting community service and service learning at community colleges, encouraging community leadership programs, and using community colleges as institutional homes for small business assistance programs. Two appendices present selected public and philanthropic programs and lessons on design of rural development programs. (TD)

Rural communities have long experienced an outmigration of talented people to urban areas for better employment opportunities. The traditional rural economic model, especially prevalent in Appalachia and the rural South, involves outside capital promoting industrial development separated from community needs and culture. This, at worst, is exploitative and, at best, keeps the local economy less diverse and dependent on those outside the community. Globalization has resulted in low-wage, low-skill industrial jobs going abroad, further hurting rural economies. Access to telecommunications technologies and the Internet affords a variety of alternatives to traditional employment situations in geographically rural and minimally populated regions. The least distributed solution to employment opportunities in rural areas is the establishment of local technology centers, to which groups of workers telecommute to perform contracted work for companies located elsewhere. Individual telecommuting is more widespread--companies realize tremendous cost reductions through employee telecommuting, and telecommunications is also an advantage to self-employed rural artisans. For telework to succeed in rural areas, companies must provide training and a supportive climate in which to undertake such radical change. Several examples are given of initiatives for stimulating job growth in rural communities in Europe, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. These examples demonstrate that efforts to develop rural economies cannot be successful without involving community development as well. (Contains 33 references.) (TD)

The U.S. agricultural labor market is already, in many respects, a binational one, and it will become increasingly one in which workers who are born in Mexico will follow a variety of worklife trajectories that take them back and forth between both countries. Recognition of this reality has important implications for policy development and program planning. For example, improved research, program redesign, and innovation, coupled with a commitment to binational collaboration can give rise to more effective and cost-effective interventions that will improve the employment security and economic well-being of migrant and seasonal farm workers, especially teenage farm workers. Four broad areas of initiatives where action is needed as part of recognizing and responding to the current reality of a binational agricultural workforce can be recommended: immigrant policy, migrant education, farm worker employment training, and labor law enforcement. Several issues and options should be explored in order to improve transnational migrant teenagers' workforce security: (1) binational eligibility for unemployment insurance; (2) binational strategies to deter the employment of very young teenagers in the US farm labor force; (3) skills development programs to develop basic and transferrable skills for transnational migrant farm workers; (4) formation of a Binational Collaborative to inform transnational migrants about US labor law; and (5) education and employment training components in efforts to link remittances and public investment in rural development in migrant-sending areas. (Contains 31 footnotes.) (KC)

Rural development is rarely defined and there is no clear definition of what the development process intends to accomplish. The nature of the larger economy in which rural places must operate has changed in ways that reduce the relative advantage of most rural areas and have left them struggling to define new economic functions. The political process--the last great hope of rescue for too many rural people and places--is reorganizing in ways that will disappoint most rural communities. Economic development options for rural places are few. Those with high amenity value may become retirement or recreation destinations; places with good road and rail connections may capture a role as distribution centers; and the growing solid waste industry relies upon rural areas to accept waste. Many success stories in rural America are, upon closer examination, not really examples of rural development but of urban expansion. If rural America is to be competitive with other developed regions, it will have to improve the skill levels of the local labor force, and rural places will have to integrate themselves into markets. As the key factor in the future competitive position of states, education has become too important to be left to local control, and the independence of rural school boards is declining. Development entails specialization and scale effects, and rural places need to find ways to accomplish them without being captured by an urban center. To achieve scale effects and maintain local control, rural places will have to cooperate within some functional economic and political structure. (Contains 13 references.) (TD)

The "digital divide" refers to inequitable access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) between wealthy and poor countries and between privileged and underprivileged social groups within all countries. This presentation outlines global parameters of the digital divide, discusses the use of ICTs in education in "developing countries," and describes some activities of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) aimed at bridging the divide and making education for agriculture and rural development available on a more equitable basis. International statistics show that the great majority of the world's population remains untouched by the ICT revolution. The digital divide is partly an outcome of illiteracy and low educational quality, but it is also a constraint to the improvement of educational quality, equity, and access. With regard to the worldwide initiative Education for All, the use of ICTs has been most appropriate at higher levels of education and most cost-effective in the training of teachers and extension agents. Barriers to large-scale introduction of ICTs are not only financial and technical, but also cultural and organizational. FAO has identified ICTs and the digital divide as key issues in promoting rural development. FAO is using ICTs in various distance education projects, including rural school programs, training for farmers and farm families, and linking agricultural research and extension institutions. Five guiding principles for the development and implementation of distance education programs are listed. (SV)

A 5-year collaborative project between Missouri, Michigan State, and Nebraska Universities to provide new opportunities for rural community self-development through sustainable agriculture had mixed results. This happened because community members did not understand the principles of sustainability, and because the extension education system was unwilling to jeopardize its close ties with existing community and agricultural leaders by working with "fringe" groups such as organic farmers, small farmers, and opponents of factory hog farms. Future efforts to promote sustainable agriculture should be funded through existing rural advocacy groups already committed to change, and should focus on teaching the principles of sustainable agriculture and development to people of rural communities. Society is in the midst of a great transition. Terms such as the "information age" and the "new economy" mistakenly attribute this transition to changes in technology, when actually, changes in thinking created these changes in technologies. This new way of thinking reflects a holistic worldview that is fundamentally different from the reductionist worldview of the industrial era, and that has its roots in quantum physics and chaos theory rather than mechanical physics and statistics. This new way of thinking is fundamentally transforming society, as people realize that sustainability is not about sacrifice, but about a quality of life that values social and ecological objectives as well as economic ones. (TD)

Current rural policies at both the federal and state levels do not meet the needs of rural people and communities; they are designed for the past, not the future. Agricultural subsidies absorb most federal resources directed to rural areas, with no evidence of benefits for rural communities. The continuing state-level pursuit of low-wage, low-skill manufacturing jobs is no longer viable. Without public action, rural decline will continue, often leading to the relocation of those with the most intellectual, financial, and social assets. Therefore, we must change both why and how we invest in rural America. Public policy in rural America must produce three societal benefits: survival of the rural middle class, reduction of concentrated rural poverty, and sustainability and improvement of the quality of the natural environment. To achieve these benefits, several outcomes should be pursued: increased human capital, conservation of the natural environment and local culture, increased regional competitive investments, and investments in infrastructure that supports expansion of new competitive advantages. A policy framework is proposed that addresses each of these outcomes for each of four types of rural areas: urban periphery, sparsely populated, high amenity, and high poverty. Human capital strategies focus on the replacement of the land-grant university with postsecondary institutions that better serve rural areas and on the potential of immigrants as risk-taking entrepreneurs. (Contains 27 references.) (TD)

This paper examines the extent to which rural America is digital--has access to the Internet and to newer technologies such as wireless broadband--and discusses rural supply and demand for "going digital." Supply aspects include issues of both infrastructure and public policy. Demand aspects include entrepreneurs (business users) and others with the education and skills to take advantage of digital technologies. Much of the benefit of digital technology involves intangibles, not only products and services of an intangible nature, but also social well-being enhanced by new modes of information and communication. Telecommunications technology is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for rural economic growth. A more fruitful approach to rural development is to build and enhance the capabilities of local firms and to attract a share of experienced entrepreneurs, many of whom are looking for the quality of life offered by rural areas. Attracting migrants should be complemented with education and training of people in existing businesses. Building networks to encourage interaction among entrepreneurs, and between entrepreneurs and other local leaders in education and government will increase information-sharing that might not take place otherwise and will enhance business success. Telecommunications is but one piece in the more complex puzzle of rural development. Because the issue is wrapped up in human capital, it is far more than a simple infrastructure supply issue. (Contains 78 references.) (TD)

In the face of changing agriculture, an aging population, and the outflow of citizens seeking livable wages, rural Southern communities are challenged with how to enhance their economies to insure long-term business viability. Home-based businesses are an effective aspect of rural economic development. They allow flexibility and choice of work style while enabling families to remain in their community, and communities benefit by obtaining supplies and services that would otherwise not be available and because home-based businesses generate and spend money locally. However, home-based businesses need community support to make a marked difference in their community's social and economic well-being. Communities can facilitate the development and growth of home-based businesses by providing education and exposure to knowledge and skills that will enhance entrepreneurial ideas; building strong collaborations between state and private agencies and organizations, colleges, vocational-technical schools, and microlenders that are interested in strengthening businesses; increasing home-based business visibility and community involvement; facilitating networking of home-based businesses to other businesses in the community; increasing home-based businesses' access to financing; and developing local entrepreneurial leadership. (Contains 29 references.) (TD)

This paper describes four considerations for policymakers who wish to have public schools serve as viable partners in the rural development efforts of their communities. First, schools are a community resource. When rural students are given opportunities to engage in community-based learning, they develop responsible citizenship and leadership skills, increasing the community's social capital. Sustaining such opportunities requires the support of the local community and public policy. Second, how policymakers value rural places impacts how they think about and measure educational success. Our country seems to have forgotten that the top priority of schools is to serve the public good. Meanwhile, the chase for individual profit is depleting community after community as schools educate students to participate anywhere in the global economy, forgetting that "anywhere" usually means "elsewhere." Third, policymakers must understand rural development, strategies, and trends. Old sources of rural comparative advantage, such as cheap land and labor, are being replaced by quality of life; accountability for public tax dollars constrains the creation of large new rural programs; telecommunications can overcome geographic isolation; and small rural communities need to form new cooperative political units for education, service delivery, and public entrepreneurship. Finally, policymakers should study successful examples of rural school-community development partnerships to see which policy actions can replicate them. (Contains 26 references.) (TD)

Reducing the number of undernourished people in all countries to half its present level no later than 2015 is the commitment undertaken by the international community during the World Food Summit of 1996. In order to accomplish this goal, a common vision to work for sustainable growth that favors the poor and provides more resources for health, education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability worldwide is needed. Since the agriculture-only model of rural development has proven inadequate to address poverty education, rural development, and sustainable natural resources management, international assistance to agricultural education has declined. The latest good practices in such domains indicate that the empowerment of poor people, policy, and institutional reforms in the rural sector leading to participation of stakeholders need to be the starting point. At present, however, access to education is lower among rural populations, quality of education is lower in rural areas, and institutional capacity to address education for rural development and food security needs strengthening. In order to move forward, the following areas should be addressed: (1) targeting multiple stakeholders, focusing on Education for All and Food for All; (2) contributing to placing education at the core of the global and national development agenda and food security agenda; and (3) fostering interdisciplinary efforts and new partnerships. (Contains 38 endnotes.) (KC)

Fifty-one years of working in Appalachia on land resettlement and preservation of local values have taught Marie Cirillo the importance of not thinking in terms of either/or. It is not science/technology versus indigenous knowledge; it is how one connects the two so there can be proper balance. It is not capital versus labor; it is not commercialism versus do-it-yourself production; it is not poverty or wealth; it is not rural life or urban life. It is both/and. A consistent ethic is needed to support a holistic vision for Earth that values the diversity of its parts. As the industrial society changes into that which comes next, we need to keep connected as we try to find our new interactive relationship with Earth. Cirillo's tasks are to focus on population migrations and the impact they have on governance and land tenure; find allies; work for cooperative land reform and planning that serves urban, agricultural, and wilderness needs; and make Appalachia a place where both rural and urban people can learn. Community-based organizations cooperating with colleges can implement service learning and participatory research that breaks down barriers of class and place while developing a sense of interrelatedness. We must remember that rural resources are essential to building cities. It will take wise people to keep these resources healthy and productive. (TD)

Technological change, globalization, and localization have changed rural economies. They have increased labor productivity, reducing the importance of labor costs in location decisions; decreased the importance of distance; increased the importance of economies of scale; and increased the role of local conditions and choices in determining community prosperity. With farm income representing less than 2 percent of total income nationwide, rural communities are less dependent on farming. Increased industrialization of agriculture has weakened the ties between farms and their communities, with many nonfarm rural residents concerned about environmental effects, tax limitations, and the impact of in-migration to fill low-wage jobs. However, the growing spatial concentration of industrial agriculture is increasing the dependency of more isolated rural areas on particular firms. "Connected" rural areas are growing and diversifying due to in-migration of relatively affluent, educated people seeking the rural life style. Such communities face serious land-use issues as they become more suburban. On the other hand, isolated rural communities have stable or declining populations. Telecommunications infrastructure is inadequate and costly, yet businesses and schools are becoming increasingly dependent on the Internet. Tax bases are declining, leaving school districts and community services with inadequate financing. These factors suggest that agricultural policy cannot continue to serve as rural policy. With current policies, the divergence between connected and isolated rural communities will continue. A new, nonagricultural rural policy could take advantage of decreasing demand for proximate labor, decreasing costs of distance, and increasing demand for space and the rural lifestyle and help rural communities contribute to the national economy. (Includes discussion transcript.) (TD)

Past rural policies are reviewed, noting the effects of globalization and information technology. Rural business profits can be maximized by direct cost or value-added competition, but cost competition limits the development of productive capacity and leads to unequal income distribution. In contrast, value-added competition could create steep earning and learning curves, promote broadly shared prosperity, and strengthen civic society and democratic institutions. Two necessary elements of high value-added strategies are human resource development and telecommunications. The skills most in demand are computer, interpersonal/teamwork, and problem solving skills. Rural manufacturers have the most trouble finding workers with these skills in counties with low high school graduation rates. Rural areas have closed their educational achievement gaps with central cities, but both still lag behind suburban areas, and all fall short in preparing students for a more competitive and knowledge-intensive world. Rural enterprises are less likely than their urban counterparts to provide worker training. There is evidence that imaginative incentive regulations and competitive market disciplines would make it economically feasible to bring high-quality telecommunications to rural areas. Rural policy should encourage value-added competition by encouraging the development of high-performance companies through education and training systems and have safety nets for conditions over which people have little control. Rural policy should not give inordinate attention to agriculture, but should consider agriculture to be an important component of the rural and national economies. (Contains 32 references.) (TD)

Conventional notions of leadership have focused on the leader alone rather than on the situation that leaders must enable. The common threads to successful rural community development in Australia over the last few decades lie in the way the community develops its stores of social capital, which is based on trust, shared values, networks, and collective action. Models of leadership should refocus on situations that demand a leadership of enablement, rather than on any single person presumed to somehow "conduct" the leadership process from beginning to end. This refocusing provides an opportunity to include and value a wider group of people rather than just one "leader." Qualities of interactive processes that foster this leadership of enablement include building internal networks; building links between internal and external networks; building a history of shared experiences and understandings; building shared visions; building shared communication; and building each other's self-confidence. The main role of leaders under these circumstances is developing trust. Tools for community builders include relationship building, collaborative problem solving, and situational analysis. The results of situational analysis can be used to specify the leadership structure for the situation, and local solutions can be woven from the diverse and complementary threads of the overall community fabric. Power is distributed along with the leadership, not vested in one authority figure. An example describes how a community's situation defined its leadership needs during the development of a vocational skills center. (TD)

Rural communities face a dilemma in their efforts to keep pace with knowledge developments. Their remoteness makes access to knowledge of the outside world difficult, time-consuming, and costly. At the same time, the fact that there is access of a sort can mean that local knowledge becomes lost or discarded as somehow inferior. The pervasiveness of Anglo-American content on the World Wide Web amounts to virtual colonialism and threatens the survival of other cultures. The knowledge of indigenous peoples is particularly vulnerable. The challenge is to enable access to valuable knowledge globally and, concurrently, to mobilize resources that conserve the best of local knowledge and share that knowledge globally. The public library is situated strategically between community and globality. It is a portal providing access to information and knowledge resources through interlibrary loan networks and the Internet and, at the same time, collecting locally-produced information and knowledge resources unique to the area that it serves. However, no single agency alone has the resources for such a task. Collaboration is the key. Knowledge cooperatives involving businesses, communities, and state agencies, such as the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Cooperative, and cooperation and mergers among local municipal libraries can achieve the critical mass necessary to attract properly qualified personnel and amass an adequate budget for appropriate technology. (Contains 31 references.) (TD)

This paper proposes a model in which the rural school becomes an active agent in community economic development through leadership development and civic education. Families, school, and community are the three pillars of public education, and the concept of community engagement is crucial to rebuilding this educational partnership and creating an atmosphere conducive to building leadership that sustains both the school and the community. Whereas community involvement is coordinated by school officials to fill school needs and communication is from the top down, community engagement emphasizes two-way communication. School administrators provide leadership, but they also cultivate leadership in the community by coordinating talents and skills of community members, listening to citizens' concerns, and building the trust necessary to engage in reforms to improve the school's performance. Obstacles exist in four categories: systemic (inside and outside the school system) and personal (school staff and citizens). Because school officials hold the reins of power and finances, they have to take the first steps. This is not easy, because they often fear losing their power, but sharing power can actually enhance their position by broadening their base of support. Several models for reconstituting politics are presented that emphasize more democratic participation in schools, and ways of developing leadership, especially among youth, are discussed. The long-term benefits of school-community partnerships include leadership development, renewed civic responsibility, and a revitalized sense of community. (Contains 20 references and 18 related Web sites.) (TD)

This paper lays out a rationale for building local rural development policies that focus on potential strengths of school-community relationships, while empowering local citizens. Rural communities and their schools are caught up in trends that complicate policy at all levels. These trends include changes related to national and global economic restructuring, devolution of government, and systemic education reform based on higher standards and accountability. The rural school-community relationship is crucial to community sustainability. In rural communities buffeted by changes that have depleted capital, tax bases, institutional resources, and population, schools may be one of the few remaining vital institutional forces. Despite the perils and problems, the confluence of economic restructuring, government devolution, and systemic school reform offers schools and communities an opportunity to form new relationships based on their mutual dependency, the promise of improved quality of life, democratic ideals and practices, and the urgency of community survival. Rural school officials and community leaders must cooperate in formulating holistic community-development policies that address local needs, include diverse citizen participation, and build community capacity to enhance democratic processes. School governance is already changing, as efforts to increase accountability demand meaningful community engagement. In their role as a local institution, schools must also become community centers that engage the whole community in their operating decisions, services, and programs. Conversely, rural communities must use schools as democratizing institutions that train adaptable citizens and workers to sustain community life in an uncertain future. (Contains 41 references.) (SV)

Rural areas around the world face problems stemming from the globalization of agricultural and other markets, the resulting competitiveness for existing and shifting markets, loss of population, and consequent decline of economic and social infrastructure. Rural communities need to develop the ability to manage change, and this requires engaging in learning processes of both a formal and informal nature. There is a growing recognition that social capital is as important as economic capital in community development. A new model of leadership is needed that fosters social capital by drawing on knowledge and identity resources. Enhanced social relations produce social well-being and cohesion, as shown in a case study of a rural Australian town that revitalized itself through the whole-community activity of producing a huge silk tapestry. Based on 10 lessons gleaned from community development efforts in various U.S. cities, a model of "situated leadership" is postulated. Situated leadership does not flow from a predetermined "right" way to do things, but is determined by the nature of the changing situation at a particular location. The situated leader builds relationships across community sectors to establish common interests; develops relationships from qualities of historicity, externality, reciprocity, trust, and shared values; identifies relevant knowledge and identity resources; connects people with resources to plan futures; ensures the facilitation of networking across groups; and celebrates and documents successes. (Contains 16 references.) (TD)

Much has been said and written about the importance of local and community organizations for the development of access to learning opportunities in impoverished countries. Calls for greater self-reliance and for educational services relevant to local conditions and community needs and that meet the needs of all constituents have increased since the 1990 World Conference on Education for All. Central governments have not met these goals due to the following: (1) financial constraints; (2) lack of human resources, and (3) inadequate means of communication. Families, communities, non-governmental organizations, businesses, the private sector, and even the disadvantaged themselves must take a more active role in and contribute to the provision of educational opportunities in partnership with government. Finally, governmental authorities should delegate decision-making and try new approaches. (Guidelines in the document include community organization techniques and practices; voting procedures; committee organization; suggested learning opportunities with curricula; facilitator and teacher role delineations; fiscal considerations; materials and supplies; distance learning using radio; inclusion of women and women's organizations; use of cooperatives; and remuneration of professionals. Attachments include a community development questionnaire; a list of equipment and materials for locally administered education services; a list of accommodations that could be provided by the local community; and possible education services to be provided by the local community.) (AJ)

This paper considers the importance of information and communication in rural development programs, especially their centrality to building the knowledge, motivation, and skills that lead to behavioral change in health, nutrition, family planning, economic enterprises, and agricultural development. The countries of Thailand and Indonesia, for example, have worked directly on demonstrating the role that communication and information can play in improving the well-being of people in developing nations. Although the Indian government's National Informatics Centre has made great progress in establishing extensive databases and makes them available through telecommunication links to computer facilities at the district level, other information systems in India such as local radio and television broadcasting, the agricultural extension system, and indigenous community networks rarely intersect effectively with these databases. Two parallel communication revolutions are occurring across the world: one associated with the information superhighway and characterized by its interlocking networks, and the other being the emergence of local communication enterprises which provide rental videotapes and local and long distance telephone access. The Community-Based Communication Center seems likely to link grassroots people with relevant and important information most effectively and offers suggestions as to how such centers can be best used. The paper then focuses on the issues centering around Community-Based Communication Centers raised at the World Bank's 1996 "Think Tank." Includes 17 footnotes. (NKA)

Despite their significant role in African economies, women are still the victims of poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, and powerlessness. Most African countries are classified as "low" on the Human Development Index and exhibit a relationship between per capita gross domestic product and the adult literacy rate. Rural women appear to be the most disadvantaged group and are the least represented in political decision making. Factors accounting for gender inequalities include cultural attitudes toward women, colonialism, low levels of functional literacy, discrimination in employment, and lack of training and education. Development projects focusing on women have met with little success in the past, largely due to problems with participation. Educational systems should be planned to integrate women in overall national development plans and strategies. Educational activities should foster emancipation and empowerment for rural women and should involve work-oriented, functional adult literacy activities in areas of agriculture, livestock, and business enterprises. Other important educational needs are legal rights education, vocational education, and various nonformal education programs. National educational policies and priorities for rural women should focus on equal access and opportunities in national development. (KS)

This paper suggests that current paradigms and world views guiding research for social action are inadequate for directing rural community change in a high-tech, global community. For several generations, the agrarian and industrial paradigms have been accepted as appropriate for guiding social change and development. However, there are problems associated with these paradigms. First, "rural development" is a concept that embodies conflicting paradigms. The word "rural" generally brings to mind images of rustic, pastoral, agriculture-based settings for the production of food and fiber. On the other hand, "development" denotes patterns of growth, concentration, urbanization, and industrialization. The result is both "paradigm gridlock" and "paradigm obsolescence." The quality-of-life paradigm (QoL) addresses inconsistencies concerning rural development and change. QoL emphasizes sustainability as integral to economic and community development. The QoL paradigm differs radically from the industrial paradigm by emphasizing the end results of social processes; stressing quality and flexibility instead of quantity and standardization; emphasizing individual choice through customization, diversity, and flexibility in contrast to standardization; promoting decentralization of power and control instead of centralization; focusing education and employment on generalization and multiple skills; and allowing for individual discretion that is in harmony with societal values. The QoL paradigm sets the standard for success by appropriate scale, rather than the bigger-is-better, most-is-best principle, and focuses on the overall community as the target of development. Contains 23 references. (LP)

This keynote address suggests that the rural sector of Australia is, and will remain, absolutely essential to the well-being of the entire nation. There are misconceptions that the rural economy is no longer important to the nation as a whole and that rural people and communities are marginal to society. Australia's entire economy is heavily dependent upon foreign earnings, and rural Australia is the primary source from which these economic blessings flow. While only 15 percent of Australia's people live in rural areas, approximately 67 percent of Australia's foreign earnings are attributable to rural places, people, and resources. And yet, this disproportionately large, rural contribution to the nation's wealth and well-being appears to go largely unnoticed by the average politician. Adding injury to insult, rural people and communities are the last and least to benefit from rural development. Rural-oriented professionals should commit themselves to promote empowerment and well-being of rural people, both as individuals and as communities. Rural decline and exploitation are matters resting in personal choices and in collective choices as societies. A fundamental stage of rural development is the creation of alliances within and across rural communities, between rural communities and governments, between the public and private sectors, and across the urban-rural divide. Particularly important are alliances among rural professionals and between rural professionals and rural people. This conference can serve as a starting point for building such alliances. (LP)

This report presents the problems of rural Pennsylvania and proposes solutions to those problems. Because the news media does not systematically report on rural situations, the public lacks awareness concerning the problems in rural Pennsylvania. Rural problems include high unemployment rates, high welfare expenditures, out migration, low educational attainment, and high divorce rates. County commissioners can form a Rural County Caucus, become active in statewide rural groups, support rural legislative initiatives, network with other rural areas, encourage local cooperation among agencies, and involve counties in regional cooperation. Specific suggestions for economic development are: (1) locating rural demonstration sites; (2) creating a non-partisan Blue Ribbon Committee to study the problems and report to the governor and legislature; (3) setting up a renaissance fund for the revitalization of economically depressed Pennsylvania counties; (4) developing a symposium on rural problems; (5) expanding the Center for Rural Pennsylvania; (6) overseeing economic development across regions; (7) encouraging investment in Pennsylvania; (8) providing services to scout for new business; (9) developing school-based industries; (10) setting up a statewide entrepreneurship education program for rural areas; (11) immediately investigating new or redefined industries; (12) regenerating the local economy; and (13) building a state university system in rural economic development. The document includes a proposal for a bill for a renaissance fund for revitalization of economically depressed Pennsylvania counties. (KS)

This book presents an overview of the problems facing rural America and offers solutions at the national, state, and local levels. The combination of public lack of awareness and metropolitan-centered authority has created a view of rural America and its people that is contrary to both the data and actual living conditions. Rural education has been plagued primarily by limited financial resources. The needs in rural areas are national in scope and therefore require national solutions. Some possible solutions are: (1) to encourage local congressmen and U.S. senators to join congressional rural organizations; (2) to establish a presidentially-appointed blue ribbon committee to study the problems of rural America; (3) to establish a cabinet-level post for rural affairs; (4) to establish a national scholarship program for teachers to teach in rural areas; (5) to provide research grants to study rural problems; (6) to gather the captains of industry to listen to the advantages of investing in rural America; and (7) to create a national rural leadership center. State efforts could include: (1) entrepreneurship programs; (2) regional cooperation; (3) equalization of school resources; (4) research on effective rural schools; (5) distance education; and (6) school-based enterprises. Local efforts could include community-school collaboration and business-education partnerships. The book contains a bibliography of 30 references. (KS)