In the experimental project reported, the U. S. Office of Economic Opportunity delegated its resources to the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs for the purpose of comparing public and private sector approaches to social planning in rural areas. A private agency, Community Services of Pennsylvania, was designated by the Department of Community Affairs to supervise the work of Rural Planning Specialists, one in each of two rural Pennsylvania counties. Two other Rural Planning Specialists were placed by the Department of Community Affaris with publicity controlled Planning Commissions in two other rural areas. Through a series of program analyses involving interviews with the four Rural Planning Specialists, their supervisors, and community leaders and chronological event analyses carried on over a period of nearly two years, preliminary conclusions are: (1) the introduction of nongovernmental social planners into rural areas can be accomplished in approximately six months less time than introducing the same social role through a public agency; (2) the selection of personnel for private planning role is more critical to program effectiveness than in a more highly structured public project; and (3) the review of proposed community development projects by nongovernmental social planners, while inhibited by their lack of formal structural ties with the public Planning Commissions, is possible through the establishment of informal relationships within the rural community setting. (Author/DB)