Purpose: Although the value of community capacity building is widely accepted within scholarly literature, these initiatives thus far appear to have achieved very little impact in the achievement of community development aspirations. This paper aims to increase knowledge regarding specific priority areas which when targeted will result in more…

It has been argued that to remain relevant in today's society, Extension must expand its role to provide public issues education. We conducted a web-based survey to determine whether Extension agents in Florida were prepared to deal with contentious issues. Survey respondents identified issues affecting their clientele, levels of frequency with…

Increased development of wind farms in the U.S. has fostered debates surrounding the siting and support for the projects. Prior research demonstrates the importance of understanding the attitudes and opinions of community members when developing projects. This article reviews a case study of an Ohio community that integrated a local survey to…

The development of local wisdom based sensitizing reading material is aimed at penetrating one of the imperishable gaps between authentic and non-authentic reading materials dispute in an EFL teaching context. Promoting EFL learners' needs for the first semester students of English department at university level, who rarely or even never have a…

In this article, the author discusses why he is not preparing his students to compete in the global marketplace. For all the talk of "globalization" as the very engine of their generation's future prospects, his students seemed far more concerned about disappearing jobs at home, rising global temperatures, and a general anxiety about…

The National Education Association's Teacher Instructional Needs Assessment program surveys teacher concerns about instruction and professional development at the district level, processing data school by school at each level, in an attempt to reduce general concerns to specific issues that the Association can attack. (MB)

School financial elections are won by analyzing what people know and need to know about the ballot issue; developing a ballot issue that is salable; then organizing, planning, financing, communicating, and finally evaluating to see what went right and what went wrong in the campaign. (Author/MLF)

As an outgrowth of work to establish collaborative relations and to develop strategies for creating, monitoring, evaluating, and improving community programs, this planning guide has been developed to help Urban League chapters and others plan and implement programs for local needs. The guide is organized into the following nine steps: (1) build…

In June 1976, telephone interviews were conducted with members of 297 randomly selected Jacksonville households by the Florida State University Communication Research Center to provide Florida public television broadcasters with information for developing programming plans which deal with current local issues and needs. After giving information…

Survey responses from Arizona extension agents identified competencies needed for working with at-risk persons. In an experiential staff development process, agents conducted community assessments of issues, needs, and resources concerning children, youth, and families at risk and developed integrated programming for them. (SK)

This booklet is a school and community action guide designed to assist local communities in the identification of needs, exploration of alternatives, and implementation and evaluation programs to address issues affecting children and youth. The action guide is presented as a four-step process of: (1) conducting a needs assessment; (2) organizing…

For many small-town citizens the post office remains an essential institution, not only as a collector and distributor of the mails but also as a focal point of sociability and intimacy, as a news center, and as a provider of special neighborhood services and counseling. In order to provide data for the Postal Rate Commission (charged with…

In September 1991, the National Conference of State Legislatures surveyed the legislatures in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to identify priority issues for the 1992 session. The survey covered almost 1,000 issues in 18 topic areas. This report of the survey results includes sections on each of the following topic areas: (1)…

The Illinois Literacy Council's Long-Range Planning team interviewed more than 100 educators, business representatives, policy makers, and adult new readers to gather their thoughts about the state of literacy and how it might be improved. Their report raises 7 issues and presents 11 recommendations. The seven issues relate to the following: (1)…

This guide is intended to assist states and service delivery areas (SDAs) in addressing the new oversight responsibilities and opportunities stipulated by the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) with respect to planning a local evaluation. The following topics are covered in the individual chapters: the objectives and scope of JTPA evaluation…