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 included: (1) the history of rural development since the establishment of the Cooperative Extension Service system in 1914; (2) a profile of the "futurist"--a person with the attitudes needed to properly plan for the future; (3) community development through the social action process; (4) water quality, risk assessment, and groundwater protection; (5) community revitalization and successful tourism projects in Hamilton, Missouri, Brownsville, Nebraska, Westmoreland, Kansas, Knox County, Nebraska, and Denver, Missouri; (6) Tomorrow's Leaders Today--leadership training in clusters of rural Iowa communities; (7) solid waste management and education in rural communities, toxic waste cleanup, and development of landfill regulations; (8) development of a small-scale venture capital fund; (9) starting home-grown businesses in small towns; and (10) preschool, child care, and adult day-care programs in nursing home facilities. (SV)