Co-authors Lee and Peters collaborated across 2019-2021 on a community-engaged project with Carclew's ExpressWay Arts. They ask, when your creative practice is premised on relationship building, belonging and care, how do you step away from projects responsibly, meaningfully and carefully? This article explores how establishing rituals of closure…

There has been substantial growth in Education for Sustainability (EfS) in the United States over the past 10 years. Efforts within higher education have created thousands of new programs, majors, minors, specializations, certificates, and across-the-curricula integrations of sustainability learning with an emphasis on real-world problem-solving…

The First Impressions program was designed to help communities learn about their strengths and shortcomings through the "fresh eyes" of first-time visitors. This Extension-led community assessment program has been implemented in over 500 communities since the 1990s, yet scant literature exists regarding the program's theoretical…

Given the importance of the early childhood years, innovations to improve programs and services for this age range are vital, particularly for the marginalized populations in society.

Many counties of Western North Carolina have high levels of food insecurity that may be addressed by training communities to grow, prepare, and preserve their own food. A curriculum was developed and tested in 2016 at a Section 8 housing development in Polk County, NC. Research investigated successful community agriculture projects and assessed…

Academic researchers dedicated to contributing to quality improvement in professional practice need to find more effective ways to bridge the gap between research and practice. Bridging the gap requires understanding what encourages the use of research findings by practitioners and what discourages it, as well as understanding how practitioners…

Many states in the United States have mandated school health screenings for early identification and referral to professional services for a set of health conditions. Healthe Kids, a community-based program, began offering school-based health screenings to Missouri elementary schools in March 2007. The purpose of the article is to provide a…

Environmental education is a widespread, yet relatively unexamined strategy to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. We evaluated knowledge, attitudes and behavioral intentions toward bear conservation after five years of environmental education in a Quichua community. Conflicts with livestock predation created mixed attitudes and behaviors toward bear…

Family and community capacity building projects in Tasmania are attempting to address the disadvantage of communities marginalised by socio-economic and other influences. Collaborations between the projects, community members and groups, and education and training organisations, have resulted in a leadership process which has fostered reengagement…

The impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is usually understood in relation to schools and districts, but the legislation has also affected community-based organizations that operate school-linked programs. This case study of an after-school program in California demonstrates how educational accountability systems that emphasize students' academic…

Examined effects of Smart Start, a broad-based community initiative, on the quality of child care for North Carolina preschoolers. Found that care quality, as measured by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, was significantly higher in 1996 than in 1994. Child care quality in 1996 was related to the number of local quality improvement…

The article describes the county's efforts to promote flouridation and improve the general dental health of its citizens, especially those in the rural areas. It describes the development, philosophy, and growing popularity of Project SMILE, a preventive dental program largely funded by Appalachian Regional Commission grants. (SB)

A survey of directors of 61 Texas early intervention programs found that directors felt that program improvement should be the main reason for program evaluation efforts, that evaluating program goals and child progress are the most feasible strategies, and that evaluating program quality and family progress are the most difficult strategies. (DB)

Reports findings from a national survey of 385 day support providers regarding conversion of resources from segregated services to supported employment. Approximately 23% of all agencies and 37% of agencies with both facility-based programs and supported employment indicate that they had converted resources to community-based employment.…

In response to a state budget deficit, the University of Minnesota Extension restructured its field staff, establishing a new regional and county delivery system, shifting all supervision of field staff to campus faculty, and encouraging greater field staff specialization, program focus, and entrepreneurial efforts. Nine economic concepts and…