Decentralization and budget reduction in the public sector, and globalization and downsizing in the private sector have placed more responsibility on localities to address challenges to the health of their economies, ecosystems, and people. Community development theory and practice are also changing, evidenced by changes in vocabulary. Community…

Effective rural education depends on active community involvement. This ethnographic case study examines three models of community organization as an explanation of how community action occurs. The three models are: (1) individuals interacting in formal and informal groups; (2) networks of "weak ties" effective for diffusing information and…

Rural and economic development efforts are inadequate responses to changing rural conditions. They fail because they are often top-down driven and few influential people are involved. Minnesota's Project Future is designed to help distressed communities take charge of their own direction. Developed on the principle of collective empowerment, this…

This Caribbean Regional Workshop was organized to bring together representatives of private, voluntary, and community development organizations, governmental agencies, and other non-governmental organizations in the Eastern Caribbean who were concerned with environmental quality. The conference was intended to improve the level of citizen…

Rural communities are often dependent upon their agricultural bases, which have undergone drastic changes. For communities to remain viable as economic units certain measures must be taken. Strategic planning can assist communities in assessing their situations and in developing plans and implementation schedules. Initially used in the business…

A strong local economy which allows residents of a community to work and shop near their homes is perhaps the best safeguard against the threats of urban sprawl, economic stagnation, physical deterioration and loss of unique identity facing many small towns. Utilizing a six-phase process advocated by the University of Wisconsin-Extension,…

Asset mapping involves documenting tangible and intangible resources of a community viewed as a place with assets to be preserved and enhanced, not deficits to be remedied. Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) are credited with developing the concept of asset-based community development (ABCD) that draws on appreciative inquiry; recognition of social…

Of the total number of illiterate people in the world, half are in India. National programs for adult education in India are the Community Development Program, Farmers Functional Literacy Project, and National Adult Education Program, participants in which include voluntary agencies, state resource centers, and district resource units. When the…

This "Civic Index" is intended to help communities evaluate and improve their civic infrastructures, as well as look at the issues and find approaches to dealing with them. The 10 components of the Civic Index serve as a description of the types of skills and processes that must be present for a community to deal effectively with its unique…

This publication captures the thoughts, suggestions, and concerns Canadians expressed through an engagement process on behalf of the Government of Canada to animate discussion on Canada's innovation and learning challenges. The chapters provide summaries of what different groups had to say in relation to these key challenge areas and themes set…

This report provides a summary of the objectives, proceedings, and major outcomes of a summit meeting of over 500 leaders from across Canada convened to validate and prioritize strategic recommendations from an innovation and learning engagement process and to discuss key challenges to realization of Canada's vision to become one of the most…