Community-based prevention-oriented approaches that provide basic supports to families are needed to address rising rates of violence, child abuse, and other socially disruptive behavior. Weak families, weak neighborhoods, and weak economies are mutually reinforcing and lead to negative behaviors by youth and others. In proposing a community…

Williamsburg County, South Carolina, is an almost entirely rural area near the coast. Although nearly 50% of the population is under 21, there has been a sharp decline in population since its high in 1950. The outmigration, prounounced for black youth, is caused by a lack of industrial opportunities, although there is slow, steady industrial…

The Internet is a revolution unfolding before our eyes. There is concern that this revolution will increase class and racial differences and that a new digital divide between information haves and information have-nots will exacerbate existing levels of inequality in American society. This paper examines how the Internet has been tapped to deliver…

Draws on evidence concerning rural population, families, schools, churches, and communities to conclude that the conceptualization of rural as "different from urban" has no contemporary empirical support and that differences among rural areas are greater than rural-urban differences. Offers suggestions for refocusing social work practice on the…

This book addresses the need for research information that can be used as a foundation for rural development policy. Part I deals with the four components of rural development: education (human capital), entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure. Part II examines analytic methods of measuring rural development efforts,…

This booklet describes the issues and findings of a series of symposia on Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and in the United States. From 1988 to 1992, six symposia were held, three in the United States and three in Puerto Rico, on topics such as migration, culture and language, community characteristics, strengthening relations between the two…

The twelfth in a series of research reviews investigating adult education in Great Britain, this paper focuses on adult education activities in local geographic areas and on the concept of "community" and its enhancement of adult education services. After part 1 summarizes the other reviews in the series, part 2 discusses the role of…

Documents history of Lowell, Massachusetts, from the careful planning of town, the recruitment of farm family daughters into the labor force, the demise of the town, and Lowell's subsequent regeneration as a high technology center in the 1970s and 1980s. Suggests that the study of this town's history can illuminate the study of current U.S. urban…

Research on social capital and functional communities provides much needed information on the relationship between rural schools and their communities, and its impact on community viability. Schools are critical to the social and economic viability of rural communities; research suggests that social capital in rural areas has decreased…

In the last decade, there has been increased attention paid to the scope of mental and physical health problems that affect individuals at different points over the entire life span. This volume presents many problem areas and the range of their impact on individuals, families, and society at large. The impact of intervention programs is described…

This book, intended to serve as a professional reference work, proposes to define the field of Adult Basic Education in its evolution, its contribution to professional education, and the principal problems and issues. The volume contains the following treatises: "Definitions and Evolution of the Concepts" (Thomas); "Selected…

This edition of "Noteworthy" stresses the interdependence of rural schools and their communities, and offers ideas for developing both. Americans are becoming more open to school-community cooperation and to expanding the school's mission to include community development. Such cooperation involves communication among community leaders,…

This report explores issues related to expanding the roles of schools and youth in rural community development. It is suggested that rural schools, when working in partnership with local leaders and residents, can have a positive impact on community viability. The report is based on a project involving a partnership between a local school system…

The difficulties presently being faced by rural communities in the North Central Extension Region are well known. Many of these communities have economies which are closely tied to farming and therefore suffer economic hardship in direct relationship to those encountered by farmers. However, a dominant characteristic of communities in the region…

Case studies of local development projects in Scotland, Norway, Australia, and the United States (Minnesota) indicate that federal education programs of a "generative" nature (those linking educational improvement to other improvement efforts, emphasizing process, and stimulating grass-roots participation) are most likely to promote…