Aurora, a village of 147 residents in north central Kansas, was the focus of a 1978 investigation of the community development potential for Kansas rural villages. Students and staff from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare worked with community residents to identify three programs the village wanted (a recreation program, a…

This volume contains summaries of presentations and excerpts from workshops at a conference organized by the Cooperative Extension Services of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. The conference brought together community officials and leaders from the four-state area to share experiences and gain new ideas about community development. Topics…

American rural communities are decaying, the underlying causes being chronic unemployment and inadequate infrastructure. The information age can cause the ultimate demise of rural America by further eroding local institutions or it can be its savior by revitalizing the sense of community. The link between community development and the information…