In 1994 the Ford Foundation launched the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) as a "national demonstration project to help community colleges in distressed regions move their people and communities toward prosperity. It challenged community colleges to become catalysts for economic development and supported aggressive efforts to increase…

A survey of 135 small towns in Nebraska found that half had undertaken economic development projects; development activity and success were related to community size (with the smallest communities lacking both local resources and outside support); and most community leaders perceived their development efforts as unproductive. (SV)

A detailed examination of one agriculturally dependent Nebraska county was conducted to determine the changes believed to be underway as a result of the economic hard times associated with the farm crisis of the early 1980s. Fillmore county, with a 1980 population of 5098, was selected as it derived 25% of its total labor, salary, and proprietary…

This booklet contains summaries of workshop presentations at the conference on community development. This conference brought local community officials and leaders together with interested citizens to learn about successful rural community development activities occurring in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Sessions covered four main…

Transcripts of the 1971 Senate hearings on rural development held in Stillwater, Oklahoma and Lincoln, Nebraska are presented in this document. Derived from many sources representing the varied interests of each host state, representative testimony includes that of: university professors and administrators; State and Federal legislators; chamber…

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…

An in-depth study of five successful rural Nebraska communities with populations ranging from 450 to 6,000 was undertaken to determine why some rural communities are coping with fundamental restructuring while others seem to have surrendered to the current agricultural economic crisis. Background information was gathered on each community, and…

As a new form of infrastructure is being developed across the vast prairie of Nebraska, electronic pioneers are leading the way to the information age. This paper describes some of those pioneers and their work. The University of Nebraska has been among the leaders in developing the Internet and applications for it. The university established one…

Rural America has been experiencing dramatic changes and is becoming an increasingly diverse society. To explore the process by which rural schools define and work towards change, case studies were conducted on two rural schools that have established unusually strong links with their communities. Information was collected by personal interviews…

To test the hypothesis that costs are higher with a scattered development pattern than with a compact development pattern adjacent to the community's urban fringe, this study analyzed the private and public costs associated with each of these development patterns in the Gretna, Nebraska, area during the last 15 years. Cost data for each of the…

In September 2000, grantmakers from around the country traveled to three Nebraska communities--Albion, Crete, and Henderson--to see how community-based education can positively affect the economic, environmental, and cultural development of a rural community. In Albion, the school is an open laboratory in which students, teachers, and parents work…

This collection of conference papers covers various aspects of rural education in changing times. The conference focused on changes and innovations in rural education and on reasons why rural educators can be optimistic. The proceedings report includes brief papers and workshop summaries on topics ranging from rural public relations to…

Rural communities are often dependent upon their agricultural bases, which have undergone drastic changes. For communities to remain viable as economic units certain measures must be taken. Strategic planning can assist communities in assessing their situations and in developing plans and implementation schedules. Initially used in the business…

Rural Amrica has been experiencing dramatic changes in the transition toward a socially and culturally diverse society. This study is a first effort to explore multicultural reform in rural schools. Multicultural education is the process by which the school environment is modified to accommodate cultural differences as well as to teach the role…