Rural development is broader than just agriculture. Farm policy cannot solve rural community problems. Rural problems are sufficiently unique to require special emphasis and special programs. Since rural development has a broader focus than the local community, its problems need to be addressed by all levels of government as well as the private…

Poverty affects many rural two-parent families, even with one or both parents working. High suicide rates, increased violence, families separated in order to find work, homelessness, and hunger afflict the rural and small town poor. This document contains testimony from poor and homeless rural people; the director of the Center on Budget and…

In 1986, of 32 million Americans who were poor, nearly ten million, or 30%, lived in nonmetropolitan or rural areas containing only 22% of the nation's population. While metropolitan poverty rates have declined somewhat since 1983 as a result of economic recovery, nonmetropolitan poverty rates have remained relatively high. Rural poverty is not to…

Federal block grants and consolidated programs related to poverty reduction may compel states to streamline administrative structures and approaches that have deterred collaboration in the past. This report considers the block grant environment in making key policy recommendations for reducing poverty in rural areas, formulated during a Pathways…

This report tells the stories of dozens of low-income families from all parts of Kentucky. It is a personal report, compiled after 4 months of travel and interviews. The report also makes recommendations for improvements in programs designed to serve impoverished families. The introduction discusses the seeming paradoxes of poverty and generosity,…

This report describes problems West Virginia State has experienced in serving children, especially those in poverty-stricken areas, and recommends ways to overcome these problems. In confronting these issues, the task force made recommendations in four topic areas: Reorganization and System Change, Education and Child Care, Teen Pregnancy, and…