A strong rural arts project should be collaborative. Collaborative projects accommodate diverse needs and agendas, develop non-school project advocates, are sustained by and rely on several sources, and strengthen communities. Because local artists are accessible, have a special commitment to improving education in their communities, and…

"Place-based assistance" is not a new concept. Asking what people want and finding ways to give it to them sounds simplistic, but it can result in "win-win" solutions in which everyone involved benefits. This document is a guide to using networking and surveys of residents to determine community needs. Some case studies show…

Noting demographic pressures and increased poverty most countries experience, this report shows how parents and family members can work in their communities in developing countries to provide low-cost and efficient child care facilities for very young children and explains how such community-based early childhood programs benefit whole families.…

Noting the potential of family support as an effective agent for change, this essay explores family support as community-based services to promote the well-being of children and families designed to increase the strength and stability of families, to increase parents' confidence and competence in their parenting abilities, to afford children a…

This handbook provides AmeriCorps Promise Fellows with important information about their participation in this special initiative of AmeriCorps and America's Promise--The Alliance for Youth. Section 1 is an overview of AmeriCorps, including its mission, the mission of America's Promise--The Alliance for Youth, and the role of AmeriCorps Promise…

Based on the evidence that early intervention and support can reduce family breakdown, strengthen children's school readiness, and benefit society in the long term, the Sure Start program in England is designed to offer support enabling parents to strengthen their relationship with their children and to access more fully local community services.…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated the characteristics of 959 families participating in the Minnesota TEFRA program, a federal Medicaid option for children with disabilities which allows caregivers to purchase support needed to keep the children in the community. Findings indicate that families of children with special…

Prominent among the new models of social service delivery are organizations providing comprehensive, community-based supports and services (CCBSS) to children and their families. A needs analysis explored CCBSS sites' interest in and readiness to use a software tool designed to help them make more effective internal resource allocation decisions…

This sourcebook has been written to help workers and activists consider how they can introduce the idea of children's rights into their work of supporting and developing community groups. The sourcebook focuses on: (1) practical ways of introducing children's rights using exercises; (2) case studies of how some projects and organizations have…

This final report describes accomplishments and activities of a four-year federally funded project to provide technical assistance to Colorado children and youth with deafblindness. Accomplishments are detailed for each of the following six project goals: (1) identification of children with deafblindness; (2) development and maintenance of…

The past quarter of a century has seen wide extension of the use of schoolhouses for social, recreational, and community purposes, providing fuller utilization of school buildings erected usually at heavy cost. Thirty-two States have definitely provided by law for such use, and in the other States school authorities permit it under their general…

The Directory on Supportive and Rehabilitation Programs and Services for the Deaf usually gives names of contacts in listings for federal, state, and independent programs; social/recreational programs and agencies; and supportive organizations and agencies. (MC)

A community-based educational network was established to improve the deployment of physicians's assistants away from the original site of training in California's San Francisco Bay Area. The graduates' practice locations for a 7-year period was compared before and after the decentralization of the program. (Author/MLW)

Describes the problems of establishing a rural, public, educational radio station in Hyde County (North Carolina) and its potential benefits. Young people and adult volunteers will operate the station, providing a real service to the community in terms of communication, youth activity, educational programs, and decreasing isolation. (LC)

A survey, consisting of demographic, leisure, and personal data, was conducted on middle-aged-adults in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Questions were designed to elicit information concerning the subjects' expectations of increased or decreased leisure activity during the years preceding retirement. Results show that activity patterns for…