High-ability and gifted students are well-served by a focus on the development of community. The Academic Year Governor's Schools of Virginia were created with a formalized emphasis on the network of relationships built among the students, faculty, and the larger community. The power of these communities of learners was evident in a study of the…

As universities institutionalize a public mission, they seek strategies and opportunities to more deeply involve external stakeholders in all aspects of their work: teaching, research, and service. These partnerships support universities in their efforts to generate new knowledge, educate the citizenry, and to improve the well-being of…

In the struggle to remain true to their technical assistance and civic engagement missions in an era of shrinking budgets and increasingly complex accountability claims, land grant universities have developed different engagement strategies to contribute to the development of surrounding communities. Drawing on Flora and Flora's (in "Ann Am…

This paper examines a burgeoning network of organizations that is inventing new forms of community renewal and citizenship education. Their names vary--some call themselves public policy institutes, others centers for civic life--yet they share a common methodology, one aimed at tackling tough public issues, strengthening communities, and…

"Linking Workforce Development to Economic Development: A Casebook for Community Colleges" is a compilation of best practice examples, which illustrate what it takes for community colleges to achieve their goal of helping people acquire education and skills, helping employers, supporting communities, and building the nation. The book is…

Identifies three stages in Black community development: education, planning, and implementation. Reports on a study which explored Black citizen involvement in each stage. Found participation in planning and implementation to be positively influenced by household income and occupation, though education (sense of community) was negatively related…

A new 4-H program, developed and tested in Virginia, aims at teaching youth about their communities and how they function, and also seeks to involve them as part of that function. (Author)

Maxine Waller describes how concern for the children of Ivanhoe (Virginia) led her to become president of the Civic League. The Civic League has mobilized the town to renovate buildings and create a riverside park, promoted business ventures, and sponsored adult education classes and an oral history project. (SV)

This study investigates the planned and unplanned events and processes of the social impact of a new town on the suburban county in which it is located. The dialectic of planned and unplanned impacts is analyzed in the institutional areas of government, services, education, transportation, housing, leisure and employment. (BT)

Virginia is urged by the Rural Affairs Study Commission to improve the quality of education and health services and to support programs which will encourage population growth in rural areas. (SW)

In Wise County, Virginia, the If I Had a Hammer Housing Construction and Rehabilitation Program teaches the construction trades to local men and women receiving county housing assistance, while rehabilitating local housing. Trainees work for minimum wage, attend classes eight hours per week without pay, and receive support services and high school…

Nineteen papers are included in this document: "Potential and Impact: Assessment and Validation in Leadership Development" (Boatman); "Using an Organizational Diagnostic Instrument to Analyze Perceptions of the Virginia Extension Homemakers Council" (Newhouse, Chandler, Tuckwiller); "Image: Who Needs It?" (Hendricks,…

It was the purpose of this study to examine and evaluate the feasibility of involving cable television systems in central Appalachia with efforts toward rural community development. A variety of research procedures were employed, including a questionnaire on community needs, a telephone survey of cable facilities, a mail survey of programming…

The closing of local mines and factories collapsed the economic and social structure of Ivanhoe, Virginia, a small rural town once considered a dying community. This book is a case study that tells how the people of Ivanhoe organized to revitalize their town. It documents the community development process--a process that included hard work, a…

Conventional anti-poverty efforts have failed because they have not created the structures for the poor to help themselves, and they are designed and controlled by people outside of the affected communities. Introduced in 1968 by the National Association of the Southern Poor, the Assembly is a non-political structure that organizes community…