The viability of rural communities is threatened by social change, particularly changes in values that have traditionally sustained small towns. For community leaders to successfully manage change and community development, they must communicate effectively, encourage community involvement, and efficiently manage available resources. Provides…

Reports on and responds to a list from the American Association of School Administrators detailing the "Top Ten Changes Affecting Students Since the 1960s." Argues that the list is part common sense, part nonsense, and part obvious. Concludes that there is almost nothing the schools can do about these problems because they are societal problems,…

In rural Llanrwst, north Wales, concepts of "traditional community" and local Welsh culture are felt to be threatened by inmigration of "English" outsiders. Interviews with secondary school students illustrate how cultural boundaries are reinforced by school structures and student behaviors and how cultural belonging is…

This article explores the way one youth leadership development organization has used youth-adult partnerships (Y-APs) as a practice to support youth participation in community-change efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California. The authors describe how Y-APs are used in two principal areas of the Youth Leadership Institute's…

This article introduces an approach to service learning based on students' collective engagement with a range of community organizations. We explore the particular benefits of this comparative collective community-based (CCC) learning model through a discussion of the "Possibilities for Change in American Communities" program, which was begun by…

Since the 1970s, participatory development has become part and parcel of most practitioner-oriented development studies programs. This reflects a shift in the field of development that has been going on for the past few decades. "Participatory Rural Appraisal" (PRA) is one approach to participatory development that has received much…

The current study sought to identify factors which contribute to Psychological Sense of Community (PSC) among students on religious collegiate campuses within the Christian Evangelical tradition. The researchers examined responses from 596 undergraduate students at 11 Christian colleges and universities nationwide. The results support the…

The suburbanization of employment is examined as a key change in metropolitan settlement structure. Settlement structure refers to the physical landscape of the city and the social landscape of boundaries and routes. The study seeks a middle ground between the breadth of a national study and the depth of a local study. Conditions that characterize…

Community leaders and government agency representatives need to understand local population trends, particularly in situations of rapid change. This publication outlines a simple framework for analysis of population changes, along with useful methods and criteria that can be applied when considering management and policy alternatives. Two…

This guidebook discusses the importance of building consensus in establishing outcomes for community reform to improve the well-being of children and youth, their families, and neighborhoods and communities. The guide is grounded in the premise that community collaboratives have the capacity to develop a set of measurable outcome indicators and…

The roles of change agents in community development are manifest (surface actions of agents interacting with clients) and latent (derived from undercurrents that give directions to the agents' actions). Manifest roles are as starter (facilitator, analyzer, leadership developer); go-between (informer, linker); and accomplisher (organizer,…

Strategic leadership is perhaps the area where undergraduate students have the least experience. Therefore, a focus on developing these skills is critical for college-level leadership educators. Teaching strategic leadership requires that educators design programs that make explicit, direct, and formal links between theory and practical…

This guide is written for teenagers who may be considering becoming active in their communities. It explains ways teens can increase their power and effectiveness in community life and some of the things they will encounter along the way. It begins by emphasizing the importance of community service, illustrating the ways that teens already may be…

This paper describes some of the tools that The Regeneration Project, in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, has developed for use in the process of local economic improvement. One or more of these may be of interest to other individuals in communities that wish to undertake similar projects. Regenerative development provides markets for locally produced goods…

Improved health care and family planning services, reduction in sociogeographic isolation, and increased economic development were found to be responsible for declining fertility rates in a rural Eastern Kentucky county during 1960-1980. Contemporary fertility patterns in an area historically exhibiting one of Appalachia's highest fertility rates…