A Rural Youth Development Program was organized in 1965 as an agency under the New Jersey Office of Economic Opportunity to provide counseling, education, vocational training, and job placement for approximately 600 disadvantaged New Jersey rural youth. The first of two phases was designed to provide 450 young men, ages 16 through 21, with short term employment at publicly owned facilities, and was administered by the State Department of Conservation and Economic Development. The second phase, the Manpower Development and Training Component, which was supported by a contract with the Office of Manpower, Automation, and Training of the United States Department of Labor, was designed to provide on-the-job training with public or private employers for the 450 young men completing the first phase of the program, plus 150 additional youths. Aspects of the total program discussed in this report are: organization, sequential history, recruitment, field operations, counseling, job development, and education. A related document is RC 002 661. (VM)