This report presents the final results for the evaluation of the New Americans Centers (NACs) demonstration project in Arkansas and Iowa. It focuses on program operations and plans for program sustainability, while highlighting services provided through the demonstration projects in Arkansas and Iowa. It also documents outcomes for New Iowan…

A demonstration project to test the possibilities of ecosystem restoration as a tool for community development was evaluated in 1998 and 2001. The socioeconomic climate and community problem-solving capacity were compared in four demonstration communities and two control communities. Results showed economic development must be coordinated with…

This guidebook presents 64 profiles of successful economic development initiatives in the small towns and rural areas of 37 states. Intended for use by rural and small town leaders and rural economic development specialists, the guide provides ideas, encouragement, and an "insider perspective" on alternative rural development strategies.…

MDC's mission is to help organizations and communities close the gaps that separate people from opportunity. The organization has been working to create positive change in disadvantaged communities for 40 years--by conducting research and demonstrating effective programs at the community level. MDC focuses on three areas: education, economic and…

Describes Japan's New Sunshine Program and its contributions to three programs designed to produce international public good: the Action Program to Arrest Global Warming; New Earth 21; and the Relaxing Energy and Environmental Constraints in Less Developed Countries Program. (MDH)

The Alaska earthquake of March 27, 1964, had devastating effects upon the population and business economy of the entire South Central Alaska region. The project was devised to offer immediate rehabilitation planning and services for the area and to develop new and extended services consistent with the regrowth of the general economic community.…

The main objective of this project is to demonstrate how a community action agency can operate manpower and economic development programs with continuing impact. The program offers: (1) training in four areas, (2) supportive services, including counseling and basic education, (3) youth programs, (4) economic development efforts to help the local…

The winners of the Department of Education's Awards for Outstanding Vocational Education Programs are profiled. Eligible programs are either secondary or postsecondary, and address the areas of economic development, youth employment, equal access for women and minorities, and energy conservation. (SK)

Faced with the challenge of responding to shifting tides in the American labor market through the development of innovative and relevant educational programs that directly facilitate regional economic growth, numerous community colleges have identified the implementation of small business development and entrepreneurship education initiatives as…

To address the issue of student learning at the state level, an invitational forum of public policy, business, and education leaders was convened by James B. Hunt Jr., governor of North Carolina. The forum recommended that the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education initiate a "demonstration project" to determine whether or not it…

The Aspen Institute's ongoing action-research program, Local Employment Approaches for the Disadvantaged (LEAD), assessed 60 programs nationally. Local initiatives fell into four general categories, with numerous subcategories: self-employment, job training and placement, job creation and retention, and community-based finance. A second breakdown…

A study identified innovative and exemplary state and local practices linking economic development and job training through community colleges and other institutions of higher and community education. The project reviewed the literature of national economic development activities and local government practices to stimulate economic development and…

This collection contains 20 case studies illustrating some of the contributions Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) programs have made to economic development and job creation efforts in rural areas. The collection is a companion volume to the monograph entitled "Rural Job Creation--a Study of CETA Linkages with Economic…

This report presents the problems of rural Pennsylvania and proposes solutions to those problems. Because the news media does not systematically report on rural situations, the public lacks awareness concerning the problems in rural Pennsylvania. Rural problems include high unemployment rates, high welfare expenditures, out migration, low…

Nineteen Wisconsin counties were the site of the four-year Rural Development Demonstration Project, one of five such projects in the nation. Among the project's objectives were to accelerate sound economic, social, cultural and environmental development and to provide alternatives for living in non-metropolitan areas while providing greater…