Medical schools have increasingly ignored underserved communities' needs. Descriptions of five demonstration programs show how community-driven approaches to medical education involve academic and rural communities, select students from underserved areas, and train learners in undeserved communities. The approach also supports underserved…

Offers background on rural entrepreneurship and incubation in the United States, with particular focus on rural incubators at community colleges and regional incubation systems. Explains how incubators, which provide shared services and business/management assistance for tenant companies, differ from other entrepreneurial development strategies.…

This theme issue includes 13 articles that discuss rural library concerns in Illinois. Topics addressed include strengthening library services; rural trends and their impact on libraries; partnerships; Cooperative Extension Service revitalization; financing; economic development; resource sharing in school libraries; and public libraries and user…

The Planning Alliance for Community Empowerment, a public-private organization, was formed to address the need for coordinated, efficiently managed social services programs in rapidly growing Henderson County, North Carolina. For small rural towns and counties, planning organizations lead to greater availability of services and efficient…

The Brushy Fork Institute at Berea College, Kentucky, helps develop the leadership skills that rural Appalachian communities need to solve local problems and spur economic development. Community members from 42 rural counties in 4 states (plus 2 student groups at Berea College) have attended weekend workshops at Berea College and returned home to…

Directed at the chronically unemployed, poor single parents, and welfare recipients, microenterprise programs provide access to loans and technical training for the express purpose of creating small-scale self-sufficient entrepreneurs no longer dependent on public support. Lessons from international microenterprise programs, federal funding…

Describes the Even Start Family Literacy Program in Immokalee, Florida, which has helped parents gain language skills, find community connections and services, and learn parenting and job skills, while also providing their children with positive educational experiences. Includes case studies of four families, as well as listing program…

This book contains 10 case studies of rural community development in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Catalonia, as seen from the perspective of community-work practitioners. Development projects encompassed such activities as promotion of tourism, establishment of community centers, vocational training for school dropouts, adult community…

This annual report of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD) highlights the Center's activities, programs, projects, and publications for fiscal year 1998. NERCRD receives modest funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other funds from private foundations. Funds are used to link rural development efforts of the 15…

This report summarizes 1992 activities of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), an independent agency of the U.S. government. The IAF promotes equitable, responsive, and participatory approaches to sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean by awarding grants directly to local organizations. Funding is provided to grassroots…

This report summarizes the 1991 activities of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF). The IAF is an independent agency of the U.S. Government created in 1969 as an experimental alternative to established U.S. foreign assistance programs benefiting Latin America and the Caribbean. The IAF works to promote equitable, responsive, and participatory…

In 1977, the government of the Sudan launched the Integrated Rural Development Project with the aim of ruralizing and vocationalizing primary school education. Integrated Rural Education Centres (IRECs) were the first attempt by the government to introduce vocational subjects as part of general education at the primary school level. Unfortunately,…

In 1980, the Office of Continuing Education and Public Service at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign acquired a W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant to establish a 4-year model Community Information and Education Service (CIES). Working with the university's Cooperative Extension Service and five community colleges, CIES initially focused on…

Although fiscal year 1981 was a time of uncertainty for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), Congress did appropriate $218.2 million for the highway program and $87 million for area development, research and local development districts (LDDs), and administrative costs. Coupled with other federal funds and funds from state and local sources,…

In many ways the 1977-78 third year of operation of the Rural Community Resource Centre (Brandon, Manitoba) closely reflected the stresses and dynamics of the society in which it exists. Fiscal uncertainty resulted in critical analysis of the objectives and operations of the Centre and increased accountability for government granted funds. The…